BEAUTY IS OBJECTIVE:

The more that we learn the language that beauty speaks, which is ultimately the language of the Logos, the more will our subjective preferences converge into the objective presence of goodness, truth and beauty Himself.

The claim that beauty is in the eye of the beholder is an expression of philosophical relativism. It confuses and conflates goodness, truth and beauty with preference, prejudice and opinion.

Preference has a kinship with prejudice and is often kindled by it. It can distort our ability to see beauty. Many young people prefer rock and rap to Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini but such preference says nothing about the objective merits of these forms of "music". The attraction to rock or rap might have more to do with the rhythm-driven message of the less than lyrical "lyrics". The ugliness and brutality of the form reflects the ugliness and brutality of the message. This should remind us that there is no direct connection between attraction and beauty. We are all attracted to certain sins and there's nothing uglier than sin.

By way of contrast, we do like the music of Rachmaninov because of its beauty, which is inseparable from our sense that it is also good and true. It violates our sense of reality to say that Rachmaninov's Rhapsody is ugly or bad; it is clearly neither, whether we prefer it to other forms of music or not. There is something about what it is that transcends our opinions and prejudices.

This transcendent presence of beauty is apparent to an even greater degree in the primal art of Creation. When we see a sunrise, or leaves washed with sunlight, we know that we are experiencing something beautiful that reflects something that is also good and true. And such knowledge also transcends our preferences, prejudices and opinions.

 The human brain can predict the future, at least when it comes to music. Researchers with the Association for Psychological Science report that when a "musical phrase" has an unresolved or uncertain quality, our minds instinctually and automatically predict how the tune will end. Simply put, your brain fills in the blanks missing from a song.

Prior research on neural patterns while hearing music reveals that the brain perceives musical phrases largely by looking back, not forward. This latest study, however, takes things a step further. Yes, the mind looks back when we hear a song, but only to help it anticipate what is coming next from the melody.

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