diving-in-the-depths

What's the point of life
What's the meaning of it all?

Does it stand or fall 
on whether anything lasts at all?

If a flower fades
Was it never beautiful?

A world in which a flower
bloomed
once,
Seems better than one that never saw a bloom
at all.

What about human beings? Are we flowers that bloom?
That even though fade and perish
brighten the universe's history for having been?

The question then is,
Is beauty real
and what would make it so....

Physical reality and something more... beauty upon that.
Mass, electrical charge, and aesthetics being properties of matter

Enter that into your physics journal

Won't you get a failing grade

And yet, life can't go on
for me without it:
Meaning, value, beauty to cast
the world in beauteous warmth

That even lies behind disaster
As a symbol, promise, hope
of a real thing that can be achieved. 

Interactions welcome.

If art does not reflect reality in some way, why do we bother with it?

If it has no relevance to reality,
does not speak of (or intend to speak of) truth:

How I feel (tired, angry, joyful, cheerful)
What the world is like (beautiful nature, bigoted people, wonderful creativity)
How we should live (love more, treat others fairly, love the environment)

What is its use if not to express some idea of truth?

Escapism? (indulging in an imaginary world that has no relevance for the real world)
Therapy? (recovery from emotional pain)

Any others?

Personal enjoyment. Giving enjoyment to others.
Relaxation.
Training a skill (confidence)
Art as a means of earning a living.

But art reflecting reality is still important right?

Alessandro Volta (inventor of the battery in 1800s):

"I do not understand how anyone can doubt the sincerity and constancy of my attachment to the religion which I profess, the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic religion in which I was born and brought up, and of which I have always made confession, externally and internally... I have, indeed, and only too often, failed in the performance of those good works which are the mark of a Catholic Christian, and I have been guilty of many sins: but through the special mercy of God I have never, as far as I know, wavered in my faith. In this faith I recognise a pure gift of God, a supernatural grace ; but I have not neglected those human means which confirm belief, and overthrow the doubts which at times arise. I studied attentively the grounds and basis of religion, the works of apologists and assailants, the reasons for and against, and I can say that the result of such study is to clothe religion with such a degree of probability, even for the merely natural reason, that every spirit unperverted by sin and passion, every naturally noble spirit must love and accept it. May this confession which has been asked from me and which I willingly give, written and subscribed by my own hand, with authority to show it to whomsoever you will, for I am not ashamed of the Gospel, may it produce some good fruit."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessand…

    The sure truth in the goldfish bowl was that water was to be found everywhere.

    Water and a thin surface of air. Don't you forget it, blurped Goldie. That's all there is.
    And the hard thing I hit my head on when I tried to swim far?
    That's just the limit of your knowledge. You cannot go farther.
    Doesn't this mean there is something there?
    What is there? Can you see it?
    No...
    Then there is nothing. It's just a fact, the fact of the limit of everything.

    The new goldfish swam around. He had been bred in a fish store. He knew the green of algae and the softness of plastic, the soft fall of space before the plunge here. He knew there was more.

    Blub, blub, blub. The fish gubbled, plumply swimming in rings.
    While the cat watched.

I think this is quite true. 

If a parent corrects a child
Too often
When he tries to take initiative,
Because the parent knows a better way,
After a while the child gives up
Taking initiative.
The child's effort is not recognised.

Also if correction is given
when one can learn independently, and so independence learn,
One might instead feel stifled.

This is not cause for blame,
And guilt,
But serious reflection.