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What is Elegance?

July 31, 2018 General Insights No Comments

Elegance is beauty, strength, wisdom, oneness. Of course, this is all hugely subjective. This text says perhaps more about me than about anything else.

Finding something elegant

is definitely animalistic yet it is what no other animal can do better than a human. Apparently, one needs a ‘very complex processing system’ to do the trick. Even so, the appreciation of elegance doesn’t come for free. Deep culture can heighten sensibility. Without it, one may confuse elegance with snobbery. Elegance is not just in the eye of just any beholder.

When I think of especially ‘worthy’ people, names come up like Dr. Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela… You may not agree but in their own way, I find them all ‘elegant’. Is this a coincidence? Elegance is not a surface thing. It’s a sign of ‘depth’. It’s a mind thing and from there, an everything.

Though elegance is beautiful, beauty is not always elegant. What is the essence of the ‘something more’ that is needed?

Infinitely many things can be elegant

A line, a hand gesture, an idea, the curve of a woman, a mathematical proof, an argument in a discussion, jewelry, a dress, a philosophy, a smile, a design, a face, an ornamentation, a procedure, an analysis, an architecture, a look, a fashion, furnishings, manners, a swan, a lake, a total person, a pair of shoes, a countenance, a work of art…

Each of these is ‘elegant’ inasmuch as it has identity as described below in a personal kind of mindscape.

You cannot be elegant one day without being open to it every day.

Elegance is Beauty

sensitive while striving for simplicity

consistent: also a form of simplicity in the abstract

tasteful, graceful, dignified by a deep striving

focus on essential features, nothing superfluous, no commercialization standing in the way

showing refinement, exquisiteness, sophistication, no ‘ordinary beauty’, no showing off in order to appear more beautiful than is the case

not striving to be ‘easily found beautiful’

pleasing to people who are able to appreciate elegance.

never fading

beauty coming from inside, showing itself everywhere

Elegance is Strength

‘much with little’: effective and efficient

pure, with appropriate restraint and as such being able to ‘cut through’ without distraction

no quest for ‘easy power’ but for ‘deep power’, being open to power in less evident ways

striving for ‘perfection’ in a very human way

effortless because the effort has already been done

confident, authentic, showing presence

refusal to give in, not backing down

daring to encounter oneself

fearless with a dash of daring to be beautiful also when not appreciated

giving oneself in openness, so that feedback can be used to better oneself

being ready when unexpected things emerge

not getting easily hurt, mostly knowing its own worth

humble in ego, not in total self

Elegance is Wisdom

sophistication without overload

showing oneself in deeper layers

no search for easy comfort and fun as if this would be all that is worthwhile

timeless, carrying wisdom of ages

not needing change in order to remain interesting

growth towards more and more what one really is

poetry, a communication to inside

being carried by a deeper knowing

Elegance is Oneness

being ‘emptiness’ – not nothingness! – from which other characteristics originate.

not a combination but a synthesis of not necessarily evident associations

multiple layers of meaning working together

total person needed, no superficial ‘persona’

in depth being associated with everything in harmonic ways

undivided, in-dividual

open communication

Open Leadership.

In proper environment, elegance can be a huge factor of change.