Beauty matters

Image by Rikard Öqvist

Last summer, we moved to a house in the countryside in the north of Sweden. The house is located literally next to the sea, surrounded by dense forest and no neighbours in sight. Before, we lived in the middle of the city with walking distance to everything. The contrast is huge. I grew up in the countryside and so did my wife, so I suspect that is why we consider this to be our dream. I actually visited this place many years ago and the very first thought that entered my head when I saw the place was “I want to live here”. It was true love at first sight.

It did not take long after we had moved before I realized that this change in our environment from city to nature also had a huge impact on my body and soul. There is just no comparison. We belong in nature. It cannot be denied, no matter how much we try and fool ourselves. The sights, the smells, the sound… I believe that the single most critical factor is that I have learned how to see beauty once again. I am constantly exposed to it in nature. The shapes and the colours and the dynamic shifting impressions that the art piece we call nature puts on display every single day. When I look out towards the sea and the horizon, I see the sun rise every morning. As the sun rises, the colours of the light changes intensely. By illuminating our surroundings in an ever-changing dynamic light, a single view out of my window will present an infinite number of beautiful art pieces to look at.

A change in perspective can change your world. I remember when driving in my car a couple of years ago and suddenly I see an enormous bird on the side of the road. It was a male mallard and it was about 1,5 meters high. I kid you not, I swear to God this is what I saw. But when I approached the gargantuan bird it started to dissolve and break apart. Consequently, I realized that there was no bird, it was a collection of objects, stones, trees, signposts etc. that in the perspective from the exact point on the road where I by chance happened to look in precisely that specific time while driving 90 km/h, created a perfect image of a giant mallard. Had I been standing still, it would have been difficult for me to dismiss the existence of gigantic mallards, as I would have been able to clearly see one. But the change in perspective changed everything. The story clearly shows that we need to keep moving to experience and enjoy the world to the fullest.

Just as a change in perspective while keeping other parameters constant can create infinitely many projections, the view out of my window towards the sea is similar to the story about the great mallard, with one important difference. Here, I keep my perspective constant and let the world change instead. The challenge is about being in the right place at the right time to catch the experience when it happens. It all goes by so quickly. A sunrise with magical colours is gone in a matter of minutes. For me, it is a perfect representation of beauty. It is a glimpse into the divine. It is perfect, yet unattainable. I believe that all components of civilization can be organized in value hierarchies. I believe that beauty is a part of civilization. The top of the beauty hierarchy is a representation of the ideal and the ideal is more important to Man than reality itself.

Since I moved to the countryside, I now see beauty everywhere. I have reconnected with nature. When walking at night I am often blessed with a magical view of the Milky way above. When walking in daylight, I often observe the composition of colours in the forest, the brown, the green, the blue and use the canvas of nature as an inspiration when creating my suit combinations. To be reminded of beauty is critical to our survival. The ideal beauty gives us an eternal direction to strive for. If we know the direction, we can get moving – Together. If we lose our ideal, we will create our own and start moving in different directions. With time, this process can disunite us and shatter civilization as we know it. I therefore consider it my duty to share my thoughts with the world and help others to discover the beauty that can be found everywhere, if we just know what to look for.