In this essay I ponder one of nature’s most intriguing mysteries: why is so much so beautiful? Why all those luscious colors, gossamer wings, silken petals? Why rustling waves of grasslands, filled with flowers, chirping crickets, soaring meadowlarks?

Beauty is an aspect of the universal power that cosmologist Brian Swimme calls allurement, the great attracting force of our cosmos. Allurement takes us deep below the beauty we see and treasure. It connects us to the powerful forces that brought us here. And can lead us into the world we yearn for.

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