Volume VII of the Middle Way Philosophy Series

To be published by Equinox, early 2027

Beauty is often thought of as either an aspect of a beautiful thing, or alternatively as merely ‘subjective’, in the eye of the beholder. The development and application of mindfulness can help us to avoid both these polarities. In this book, Robert M. Ellis applies the Middle Way approach developed in the rest of this series to offer an understanding of beauty that is practical and inspirational. Beauty is understood as experience, particularly the experience of having our attention opened and gathered in our interaction with things, just as it can be in the course of effective meditation. This view of beauty is applied to our understanding of different kinds of beauty and ugliness, to the role of the arts as an appreciative and creative practice that cultivates beauty, and to the different values we may apply in our practice of the arts. Whether we are thinking about the forms we use in the arts, the details we engage with, or the experimental breaking of rules, it is argued that beauty can be cultivated by reframing and integrating our approach to refresh our attention.