The Transcendentals

               Here I just want to record a thought I had recently.
              
               Repeatedly, I've run into a problem that seemed to have no solution, and one that only baffled me more the more I learned about it. I'm talking about the concept of Beauty. Every time I tried to find a definition for it, I failed. Whenever I dug into a book or article about music, I always came away thinking that I understood less after reading it than before reading it. But I have discovered the reason that this appears to be such a frustrating problem.
               The solution appeared in the form of Peter Kreeft's Socratic Logic. As Kreeft points out, there are some things which we simply cannot define. One of these things, says Kreeft, is Beauty. Beauty is one of the "transcendentals".
               
                "We can describe the transcendentals but not define them. E.g. the transcendental 'one' means 'not divided in itself and divided from others,' and beauty means 'that which, being seen, pleases' (id quod videtur placet)." (Socratic Logic, Peter Kreeft, 2010 [St. Augustine's Press, South Bend, Indiana] p. 130.)
               
               This book made me think, "Why can't Beauty be defined?" Then it dawned on me: beauty cannot be defined because God is beauty, and if we could define Beauty, we could define God. But of course we cannot define God!
               Now that I know this, I have come to accept that Beauty is mystifying and will remain mystifying, because it cannot be defined. This truth should lead me not to appreciate beauty less, but to appreciate it more.
               I have one more thing to say. There may be an error in my reasoning. If anyone sees one, please tell me.