Can beauty save the world?

A friend of mine invited me to an award ceremony at the Bower Center here in Berkeley, for an organization that protects the mangrove forests and islands called Seacology.

As I entered the building I was captivated by by what I thought at first to be some giant paintings but then when I reached out to touch it (old textile designer habit) I realized they where giant photos of nature that looked like paintings. So beautiful and captivating.

One of the pictures was of a beach bathed in red light. Written under it was the thought provoking sentence…

”Can Beauty save the World?”

I was still in awe of the beautiful photos when a gentleman, seeing me spellbound, approached… “It’s a great conversion starter ist it? What do you think? Can beauty save the world?” I didn’t have an answer and returned the question. Listening to his points, he was clarifying first what “beauty” means, then went on to elaborate on what “saving the world” means. He seemed to have a sharp mind and logic with which to approach the question but I couldn’t quite think this quick.

Much later I was thinking why would there even be a need to save the world? What if the world is just perfect as IS and it is us who is in danger. Or what if the world is a reflection of our being? And what if we aren’t actually separate from the world and what we actually need to save is us.
Perhaps it is overdue to clean up our act.

Listening to the speakers I was amazed if the many projects they had completed with such a relatively small group. You can watch the whole ceremony on their facebook page.

But what blew me away was the award winner Gina Lopez. When she told us about how she entered the airport when she came in and there was a long line at the immigration she heard the news of the shooting in Las Vegas. She kept thinking what can be done about the evil in this world and a very powerful feeling overcame her. LOVE! So she has started a movement to protect what she loves and encourages others to do the same. What a brave soul!