Is beauty in the color, the shape, the bones of the face, the clarity in the eyes, and the skin and the hair, in the expression of a man or a woman? Or is there another quality of beauty which may transcend all this beauty; and when that is part of this life, then the form, the face, everything has its place? If that is not captured, if that is not understood, the outward expression becomes all important. We are going to find out what that beauty is, if you are interested. You know, when you see something like a marvelous mountain against the blue sky, the vivid, bright, clear, unpolluted snow, the majesty of it drives all your thoughts, your concerns, your problems away. Have you noticed that? You say, “How beautiful it is”, and for two seconds perhaps, or even for a minute, you are absolutely silent. The grandeur of it drives away for that second the pettiness of ourselves. So that immensity has taken us over. Like a child occupied with an intricate toy for an hour; he won’t talk, he won’t make any noise, he is completely absorbed in that. The toy has absorbed him. So the mountain absorbs you and therefore for the second, or the minute, you are absolutely quiet, which means there is no self. Now, without being absorbed by something—either a toy, a mountain, a face, or an idea—to be completely without the “me” in oneself is the essence of beauty.
J. Krishnamurti/On Love and Loneliness, p 88
