Art!

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by skip spence

But seeing a sunset is an altogether different thing, because that is an individual interpretation in our brain, something our crude (in comparison to the human mind) scientific methods are powerless to predict or explain. A sunset isn't objectively beautiful, it becomes beautiful because your mind interprets it so.

Ah, but appreciation of a colourful sunset, or a quiet waterfall experienced in solitude far from noise and distraction, are things pretty much universally enjoyed by the human race, I think. Not so with 'art', and things made by human hands and minds.
For instance, I actually have very little appreciation for 'art', when you're talking about the painted canvas and the sculpted clay. I am most moved by music, with the written word coming in second. And the music that causes an emotional response in me may make you want to retch, and vice-versa.
But if we both are looking at a bright Moon in a star-strewn sky, or the Sea pounding a rocky coastline, the effects on each of us will probably be quite similar.
I think 'nature' calls to all of us in much the same manner, whereas finding beauty and meaning in the works of Man is indeed an individual exercise.