Somebody has to start. So why not us?
The Renaissance didn’t happen because everyone accepted reality as it was. It happened because people had had enough – of control, of misery, of mediocrity. They craved aliveness. They craved truth, freedom, beauty. As the old feudal structures crumbled, explorers, artists, scientists, and lovers of wonder began forging new paths. What drove them wasn’t fear of survival – it was something far more powerful: Beauty.
But what is beauty, really?
Beauty is a transcendental experience – a fleeting moment where the inner and outer world come into perfect resonance. It’s not just something we see. It’s something we feel with all of our senses. It stops time. It brings us home to ourselves. It dissolves fear.
As Dr. Zach Bush reminds us: “At the cellular level, and below that at the atomic level—built into the fabric of nature – is the drive for beauty.”
That is why nobody is immune to beauty. Because it’s already in us. It is what we are made of.
When we witness true beauty, we experience love. We remember the sacredness of life, of nature, and of ourselves. Beauty is not an escape – it is a return. A homecoming. A moment of being fully alive, with no masks, no roles, no filters.
The Second Renaissance has already begun.
As the old systems of domination and depletion – neo-capitalism, hyper-consumerism -cling to relevance, more and more people are waking up. The pressure is growing, and with it, a new kind of courage. A new kind of motivation. Diamonds form under pressure. So does evolution.
We are rediscovering that we are not isolated individuals, but part of a larger living system –a superorganism in motion, in coherence, in awe. We are remembering how to move together, not in competition but in harmony. And it is not just a dream. It’s happening.
At the heart of this movement is the timeless trinity revered by ancient philosophers: Beauty, Truth, and Goodness.
These three are like tuning forks for the soul – when they vibrate in harmony, they awaken something deep in us. A sense of AWE. A feeling that we are part of something more than ourselves. That we belong; a feeling of unity. They are the door back to our innocence, seeing the world through the eyes of a child.
As Roger Scruton beautifully put it:
“Beauty matters. It is not just a subjective thing but a universal need of human beings.”
And here’s the paradox that lights a spark in us:
The things we often call “useless” – like art, love, friendship, music, or beauty – are the very things that stay with us forever. That inspire us. That shape our world into something worth living in.
Creations made purely for function disappear when their function fades. But what is made with beauty at its core – what is made from a place of meaning, wonder, and love – lasts.
It lives on. It continues to move us, even generations later.
Or as Scruton said so playfully and profoundly:
“Put usefulness first, and you lose it. Put beauty first, and what you do will be useful forever. Nothing is more useful than the useless.”
So let’s not be afraid to create things that don’t need to justify themselves. They speak to our soul.
Because in beauty, we find truth. In truth, we find goodness. And in goodness, we remember who we really are.
I think that inside every adult is the heart of a child. We just gradually convince ourselves that we have to act more like adults.
SHIGERU MIYAMOTO – Video Game Designer