I planted a “fairy meadow” mix in a pot outside my front door and the first flowers to bloom are California bluebells. I am utterly enchanted by these royal blue, purple flowers. Is the fact I’m so enthralled a happy quirk or is it by design?

I’m finally reading Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book Braiding Sweetgrass, where she talks about this phenomenon. Her book blends scientific knowledge with Indigenous wisdom, exploring the reciprocal relationship between humans and the natural world through essays on botany, ecology, and Potawatomi culture. In it, she describes how much she adores the combination of goldenrods and asters. The vibrant purple and yellow combination attracts her eye. Is that just true for her? Or for everyone?

Scientist and poet Goethe wrote an 1890 treatise on color perception and said “the colors diametrically opposed to each other … are those which reciprocally evoke each other in the eye.” Purple and yellow are one such reciprocal pair and that means our eyes are more drawn to them. But does it really matter what we humans are attracted to? Don’t the flowers care much more about the bees and other pollinators?

There is a reason for all this beauty. Photo by Ingo Doerrie on Unsplash

Wall Kimmerer writes:

“Bees perceive many flowers differently than humans do due to their perception of additional spectra such as ultraviolet radiation. As it turns out, though, goldenrod and asters appear very similarly to bee eyes and human eyes. We both think they’re beautiful. Their striking contrast when they grow together makes them the most attractive target in the whole meadow, a beacon for bees. Growing together, both receive more pollinator visits than they would if they were growing alone.”

That means beauty serves a purpose. Beauty keeps us alive. My spiritual teacher says, “Each unit being is vulnerable to attraction but the cause of this attraction is the imperative urge for self-preservation . . . And this urge for self-preservation, too, arises due to the desire for happiness in every living being. So it is clear that behind every attraction between one entity and another, which we call by the name of káma, lies the pure desire for attaining happiness.”

“Kama” in this sense isn’t the sexual or sensual passion that we so often think of when we hear that word because of the Kama Sutra. It’s attraction in its simplest form. It’s the attraction of a bee to a flower or a moth to a flame.  

Returning to beauty specifically, when I’m in my low moments, it’s beauty that pulls me from the depths. Beauty is an enchantress that brings me closer to the feeling of magic, joy, happiness. Noticing the soft petals of a California bluebell, or the play of shadows on the wall, reminds me there is good in the world, that there’s more to life than the horrors we witness with far too much frequency. And that’s something I think we could all use more of.

I dream of a world where we understand beauty isn’t just beauty – it’s also self-preservation and a gateway to something more. A world where we understand nature is beautiful by design. A world where we not only stop to smell the roses, but we acknowledge them for what they are. A world where we can say hello to beauty.

Another world is not only possible, it’s probable.