pre-post, class date: 9/14/11; written date: 9/13/11

"Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language."

It's odd to realize how true this statement is. What captures our attention or interest- regarding anything, really- first starts with the appreciation of the beautiful. The more we become enraptured with whatever this noun is, the more we delve deeper and deeper into it- even into the ugly, which we eventually begin to find beautiful. And once we've gone so deep as to find what was first "ugly" beautiful, we realize that "ugly" was merely a disregarding word to label something that didn't immediately catch our eye or peak our interest. To be able to understand the quality of something- in this case, nature- you have to become enraptured, which will lead you farther and farther into inspection and appreciation.

".... expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values yet uncaptured by language."

Often I think about how bound we are by language. That no matter which one(s) we speak, we will never be able to accurately articulate our emotions, thoughts, opinions, etc. Specifically here, where we encounter something so beautiful, but our language doesn't allow us to fully communicate and, in a sense, paint its beauty to each other through words.