What Is The Most Beautiful ‘Thing’ In The World?

[mechman48Participant @mechman48]

Watching the birth of one of your children takes some beating.

George.

[Ron LadenParticipant @ronladen17547]

Difficult to answer, I dont know about the "most beautiful" but something that completely took my breath away was Michelangelo,s sculpture of David.

I was working in Florence a few years back and I went to see it and just couldnt believe what I was seeing. It is 17 feet tall and the detail is beyond belief and to consider this was carved from the solid with hammers and chisels over 500 years ago. I stood looking at it and my mind wouldnt stop thinking how could a man do this..?

I know Michelangelo was considered a true genius and when you stand in front of the sculpture of David there is no doubting that to be true.

[richardandtracyParticipant @richardandtracy]

Posted by mechman48 on 05/08/2018 11:44:00:

Watching the birth of one of your children takes some beating.

George.

As an exercise in needless horror and pain that caused flashbacks followed by panic attacks, the birth of my two couldn't be bettered. A pleasurable or beautiful one was the last thing to describe it. Seeing my wife turn into a mindless being trying to climb the walls while bleeding seriously to get away from the unbearable pain is a sight that will stay with me forever. That would describe being present for the birth of my two. How I wished for the days when blokes were kept well away from the birth. First brat was 10lb 2 oz and the medics believed she was small despite the ultrasound scans – and they obviously knew better – so no need for much pain relief in a natural birth. The birth process at Medway was characterized by medical arrogance of the first water from start to finish and it was a thoroughly horrible experience.

Regards,

Richard.

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

The most beautiful thing that I can remember was one day early in May 1960, sailing into Hong Kong harbour through the early morning mists, just as the dawn was breaking, and seeing Kowloon and Victoria spread in front of us, it seemed to have an air of magic about it. My impression of Hong Kong then was a truly magical place, no doubt my dream would be shattered if I went back now.

Dave W

[RevStewParticipant @revstew]

My first love. Rebecca. Nothing beats that feeling where your heart beats out of your chest when you see her. After that probably a Spitfire at full tilt, and then a cold pint after a long walk!

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

Two beautiful Red Setters in full flight across a green field !

You,ve never seen it ? You dont know what you,re missing !

Second best A bottle of good red wine,and a friend to share it with !

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

Two beautiful Red Setters in full flight across a green field ! You,ve never seen it ? You dont know what you,re missing !

Second might be a bottle of good ed wine and a friend to share it with

Third might be a clean part off !

No 1 Can get this anytime

No 2 Now and then..

No 3 Once in a while if I,m lucky !

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by larry phelan 1 on 05/08/2018 18:08:59:

Two beautiful Red Setters in full flight across a green field ! You,ve never seen it ? …

I know what you mean Larry – I have the same effect on women…

[Ian WelfordParticipant @ianwelford58739]

the birth of both my sons.

Followed very closely by the pure , trusting gaze of my faithful dog.

The view from the White Horse above Thirsk on summers morning through the mist takes some beating too.

Ian

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

It must be difficult to pick a winner but it's going to be something created by nature and not by man. We are surrounded by magnificent creations of nature so let's enjoy them before we succeed in destroying them all.

Mike

[Barnaby WildeParticipant @barnabywilde70941]

Posted by Mick Charity on 04/08/2018 20:18:39:

With the Gestapo likely to shut down any thread that is in danger of veering towards politics, I thought it might be nice to start one that cannot possibly go anywhere near the subject.

It is part of a course I used to run titled "Things You Should Be Thinking About".

So what is the most beautiful thing in the world?

The course was part of a graduate management trainee program & was intended to spark disscussion amongst them so we could identify the free thinkers.

Your grandaughter is not my most beautifull thing, neither was the birth of your child, the day you met your wife etc.

It has to be all things to all people, the question is "what is the most beautiful thing in the world"?

Many groups all over the world are asked this & the answer that nobody can beat (so far) is 'mutual, unconditional love'.

Another question along the same lines that got them going is : "What is mankinds greatest invention"? Many of us go off to ponder the wheel & internal combustion engines yet very few think about the one thing that made all this possible.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

"Mutual, unconditional love". Not sure it is universally accepted as No.1. The Buddhists speak of "loving kindness" and the closely allied "compassion", neither of which is a perfect translation of the original Pali terms, apparently. But in their eyes, requiring the feeling to be mutual is a form of attachment, which is the source of unhappiness (also not a perfect translation of the original Pali, apparently.) So maybe just "unconditional love"?

Heavy stuff, maaan. As Neil from the Young Ones would say. More manageable maybe, mankind's greatest invention. The one thing that made the wheel and IC engine possible? Maybe fire. But that was a harnessing of a natural phenomenon rather than an invention. From a utilitarian point of view, the greatest invention would be the one that has done the greatest good. What would that be? Modern drugs such as antibiotics and vaccinations that have saved countless millions of lives? The Green Revolution of high-yield, disease and pest resistant crop strains combined with modern fertilizers that saved millions from starvation in Asia in the 1960s-70s?

Or was it the animal-drawn plough that allowed the agricultural revolution of 6,000 years ago that enabled the civilization of the Northern Hemisphere? Gave the city dwellers the wealth and leisure time to pursue arts, philosophy, science, education, medicine and the like, including democracy. One theory is that today's high poverty level in most of the Southern Hemisphere goes back to the lack of any kind of native beast of burden to haul ploughs or carts. So the invention that made the difference between the life of the average person in Europe today and the life of the average person in most of Africa, for example, is certainly pretty great.

ISTR at the turn of the millenium, Caxton's printing press was lauded by the media as the greatest invention of the past millenium, bringing the spread of knowledge and education through books at a scale hitherto unseen. But the media may have had its own biases about the importance of the dissemination of information, clouded by the big enthusiasms everyone had for the internet at that time.

[Barnaby WildeParticipant @barnabywilde70941]

Posted by Hopper on 06/08/2018 08:23:24:

"Mutual, unconditional love". Not sure it is universally accepted as No.1. The Buddhists speak of "loving kindness" and the closely allied "compassion", neither of which is a perfect translation of the original Pali terms, apparently. But in their eyes, requiring the feeling to be mutual is a form of attachment, which is the source of unhappiness (also not a perfect translation of the original Pali, apparently.) So maybe just "unconditional love"?

Heavy stuff, maaan. As Neil from the Young Ones would say. More manageable maybe, mankind's greatest invention. The one thing that made the wheel and IC engine possible? Maybe fire. But that was a harnessing of a natural phenomenon rather than an invention. From a utilitarian point of view, the greatest invention would be the one that has done the greatest good. What would that be? Modern drugs such as antibiotics and vaccinations that have saved countless millions of lives? The Green Revolution of high-yield, disease and pest resistant crop strains combined with modern fertilizers that saved millions from starvation in Asia in the 1960s-70s?

Or was it the animal-drawn plough that allowed the agricultural revolution of 6,000 years ago that enabled the civilization of the Northern Hemisphere? Gave the city dwellers the wealth and leisure time to pursue arts, philosophy, science, education, medicine and the like, including democracy. One theory is that today's high poverty level in most of the Southern Hemisphere goes back to the lack of any kind of native beast of burden to haul ploughs or carts. So the invention that made the difference between the life of the average person in Europe today and the life of the average person in most of Africa, for example, is certainly pretty great.

ISTR at the turn of the millenium, Caxton's printing press was lauded by the media as the greatest invention of the past millenium, bringing the spread of knowledge and education through books at a scale hitherto unseen. But the media may have had its own biases about the importance of the dissemination of information, clouded by the big enthusiasms everyone had for the internet at that time.

Some of the Buddhist writings about love make truly interesting & thought provoking reading. I'm surprised that this is not a more popular choice for those who 'find' religion & not just carry on where their parents left off.

Fire, agriculture & also shelter are good ones, but without mankinds greatest invention they are irrelevant & nothing can progress into what we call civilisation. There exists today communities & societies that are denied this invention & it is the reason IMO why they cannot progress.

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Crawled out of bed to go on watch after we had anchored during the night somewhere off Yugoslavia in the 1980s

Stumbled onto bridge and onto bridge wing before coffee number one

We were in a perfect bay, on a perfect morning, tiny warm breeze, steep green hills, sea flat and blue, you could only marvel at it

Never forgot that 5 minutes, 35 years ago

[David Standing 1Participant @davidstanding1]

Posted by Mick B1 on 04/08/2018 20:55:51:

Posted by Mick Charity on 04/08/2018 20:44:40:

Posted by Mick B1 on 04/08/2018 20:40:07:
Because needs vary with time and circumstance, and beauty is a subjective attribute, there can be no definitive answer.

And you knew that.

OK then smartarse.

What's the best day of your life?

Perhaps it should be the day I was born, but like everyone else I don't remember that.

For the same reason as my first reply, I can't answer that, and only people who come upon sudden exceptional joy after a long period of unhappiness can do so validly.

And you knew that, too.

Is Mick taking the Mick?

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Ady1 on 06/08/2018 09:16:07:

…

We were in a perfect bay, on a perfect morning, tiny warm breeze, steep green hills, sea flat and blue, you could only marvel at it

…

I had a similar experience visiting a ship in Portland Harbour. Crisp sunny day and the water was Mediterranean blue, it was breathtaking.

Mentioning Canaletto to a crusty nautical professional, he looked at me and said: 'Dave, if God was going to give England an enema, this is where he'd put the hose'.

Beauty must surely be in the eye of the beholder!

Dave

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by David Standing 1 on 06/08/2018 09:21:02:

Is Mick taking the Mick?

Well, I certainly was. I think this thread's a mind game.

[Barnaby WildeParticipant @barnabywilde70941]

Posted by Mick B1 on 06/08/2018 09:35:54:

Posted by David Standing 1 on 06/08/2018 09:21:02:

Is Mick taking the Mick?

Well, I certainly was. I think this thread's a mind game.

If you look up the dictionary definition of 'mind game' . . . .

Here's something to 'think' about that almost nobody can argue with.

We all love elephants & we all get distressed when people kill elephants to gain their ivory. Ivory is beautiful, elephants are magnificent & we happily drop money into the pot to help stamp out the killing of elephants for their ivory.

Why are we wasting that money ? Why are we not tackling the problem at its very source?

I don't claim to have the definitive answer, but doing it this way would work out a whole lot cheaper & result in many more elephants not being killed for their ivory than how we're tackling it today.

P.S. This method would work for many other 'wrongs' in the world.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Depends on what you see as the source of the problem.

Getting back to the Buddhists, they might argue the source is desire. Poor Africans desire food to eat and money to buy basic essentials like food, clothing, school for their kids etc. Wealthy Chinese, and others, desire ivory as a decoration, talisman, perceived medicine etc. Plenty of middlemen to jump in to bring those desires together, while fulfilling their own desire for a cut of the profit along the way.

What's your plan to eliminate human desire? Good luck with that one.

(Of course, the Buddhists also say the greatest thing in the world is nirvana: the cessation of all desire. But so far those who have achieved it are few and far between from what I understand.)

Edited By Hopper on 06/08/2018 11:19:16

[Cornish JackParticipant @cornishjack]

I smell 'consultant' codswallop!

A discussion akin to the nonsensical standard – 'what can you make with paper clips?' opening gambit.

de Bono has a lot to answer for with his 'lateral thinking' nonsense! To anyone with even half a working brain, 'lateral thinking' is nothing more or less than commonsense – a commodity in desperately short supply nowadays. Possibly the worst utterance from those indulging in this sort of philosophy is "We all" If I were ever to subscribe to 'We all' tenets, I would hope someone would put me down and dispose of the remains!!

It may be a pretty poor example, but the 'I' in individual has a significance beyond correct spelling

rgds

Bill

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Bill,

Bad news – put your affairs in order.

You said: 'If I were ever to subscribe to 'We all' tenets, I would hope someone would put me down and dispose of the remains!!'

Unfortunately you also said: 'To anyone with even half a working brain…' This fully meets your criterion for self-extermination. It's common sense, 'we all' and 'anyone' are identical. If you can name anyone on the forum who doesn't have half a working brain I might allow a reprieve.

Dave

PS Otherwise, I agree with your objection to 'We all' thinking. I also agree with Mick that shooting elephants for ivory is shameful.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by SillyOldDuffer on 06/08/2018 12:30:16:

…

PS Otherwise, I agree with your objection to 'We all' thinking. I also agree with Mick that shooting elephants for ivory is shameful.

So do I, in today's world; but there was a time when such sentiments would've been regarded as sanctimonious – when elephants were plentiful, frequently damaging to human agriculture and occasionally to communities, and several significant components for what was regarded as civilised life, such as piano keys and chessmen, didn't have such ready alternative materials to ivory as they do now. Hunting elephants for ivory was not regarded much differently to slaughtering cattle for shoeleather.

That's another qualification that's needed for 'We all' thinking – time context.

[David Standing 1Participant @davidstanding1]

There is a huge amount of work done attempting to set up anti poaching patrols etc in Africa.

Sadly, virtually none of the many governments involved are interested in funding the issue to a scale where the poachers could be eliminated, or at least permanently discouraged.

Rhino horn is currently a much bigger and urgent issue than elephant ivory.

Whilst there is a demand, and the price is high, poachers will always continue to take the risk to attempt to obtain the horn. Life in Africa can be very cheap.

[MWParticipant @mw27036]

Posted by David Standing 1 on 06/08/2018 15:27:48:

Whilst there is a demand, and the price is high, poachers will always continue to take the risk to attempt to obtain the horn. Life in Africa can be very cheap.

Given the standard of living for the average joe, in many of those countries where rare animals call home, it shouldn't be entirely surprising that they go after them like it's solid gold.

Michael W

Edited By Michael-w on 06/08/2018 15:40:15

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

the Buddhists also say the greatest thing in the world is nirvana: the cessation of all desire

Interesting stuff

Mother Theresas final will and testament (possessions)

Two saris and a metal bucket

also

The world has enough for every mans need but not every mans greed

Gandhi

2cents

[Author]

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