4 Doorways: Beauty

Beauty is one of the most powerful—and overlooked—doorways to presence.

In this episode, we explore how great works of art can pull us out of the small self into something much larger. When we truly immerse ourselves in music, painting, or performance, the ego softens and we become receptive to the source of creativity.

I share a curated playlist from my YouTube channel, Third Eye on the Prize, called Embodied Artistry—featuring extraordinary performances from artists like the Beatles, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea & Gary Burton, John Batiste, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Hornsby, Eric Clapton, Wynton Marsalis, Oscar Peterson, and Sarah Vaughan.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjGo6MEjTb6B02rteolUlioDv4PscztUp 

These aren’t just great performances—they’re living examples of what it means to be fully embodied in the creative act.

We also explore:

• How beauty can dissolve the ego
• The idea of artists as channels 
• The connection between art, science, and truth
• How openness and humility allow us to access deeper presence

When we meet great art with receptivity, something shifts.

We’re no longer observing—we’re participating.

And in that space, presence reveals itself.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Welcome to Third Eye on the Prize. In this episode, we continue exploring doorways to presence. This time through beauty, especially that found in great works of art. This is one of my favorites. Losing the small self through immersion in great artists' work. Ego takes a back seat for a while. We connect to something bigger. Natural beauty can do this too. But here we're focusing on art. On my YouTube channel, also called The Third Eye on the Prize, there's a playlist called Embodied Artistry. It's 10 videos of musicians performing at a high level. I urge you to check it out. Seeing these artists is a special treat. Listening is powerful, of course, but watching them reveals something else. What embodiment looks like. The first clip is John Lennon and Paul McCartney doing an irreverent version of She Came In Through the Bathroom Window. It's a blast to watch. They're riffing off each other, goofing around in joyful improvisational play. Fun is the one thing that money can't buy. I love behind the scenes stuff like this. How songs are recorded and changed, what really happens when movies are made? Once something gets released, we only see the end result. We are not privy to that rich, surprising process. The second clip is Keith Jarrett, the jazz piano master, in a solo performance of Over the Rainbow recorded in 1984. Throughout this video, his eyes are closed, his entire upper body bowing over the keyboard. If that isn't a demonstration of devotion, I don't know what is. We get to witness every fiber of his being channeling something profound. The third clip is a delightful duo, Chick Korea on piano and Gary Burton on a vibraphone. These guys played together many times, and whenever they did, something magical happened. The clip I've included is a tiny desk concert, part of the great NPR series. The fourth video is John Batiste performing Blackbird. Just marvelous. He's up there on a high level, that guy. Connected to some real divine energy. Next is the song Real Men by Joe Jackson. Joe Jackson is a great songwriter. In my opinion, when he's at his best, he's up there. Lyric, melody, harmony, and rhythm with Lennon and McCartney, Elton John, Billy Joel, Paul Simon. He's not as famous, partly because he doesn't always do what's commercially easy, like going directly from one song to the next on an album with no breaks between tracks. Real Man is about what the freak is going on with masculinity, the shifting expectations, the confusion, and how as a man do you make sense of that? It's insightful and funny. Number six is Bonnie Wright and Bruce Hornsby collaborating on I Can't Make You Love Me. So moving. His marvelous piano backing up her transcendent vocal. Next is Tim O'Brien and Daryl Scott doing a song called Time to Talk to Joseph. It's about death, getting ready to leave your body, and it is just beautiful. Then there's Eric Clapton and Winton Marcellus performing a slow bluesy version of Layla, a song born out of deep heartbreak. Two virtuosos, showing reverence for each other, the rest of the band, and the creative process. Next is the ultimate piano master, Oscar Peterson, and his trio, performing C Jam blues live in Denmark in 1964. Listening to him always fills me with reverence. The last clip is Sarah Vaughn singing Stephen Sondheim's Sendin' the Clowns from A Little Night Music. Much of the video is an extreme close-up of her face, and she is sweating profusely. Embodied artistry, every cell alive, creativity flowing through this human form. It's like watching a birth. There's effort, intensity, and then this miraculous, awe-inspiring thing appears because it's life taking form before our eyes. So please go to Third Eye on the Prize on YouTube and sample these incredible clips. Real artists and scientists are after the same thing. Truth. They go about it in completely different ways, but they're really both seeking something that hasn't been done or seen before. No interest in copying or repeating. That seeking is driven by a passion for something that hasn't yet been born. Whether that's the general theory of relativity, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, a symphony, a novel, a poem, the form doesn't matter. So how does this help us be more present? Because we can fall into beauty. And in so doing, forget about our small self. It's actually a relief. Standing in front of a Rothko painting, I can be immersed in those fields of color. If you're open to it, it's not just paint, it points to something vast, something beyond explanation. But if you're standing there thinking, oh, I could do that, you're not really receiving what's in front of you. If you are able to open even a little, you might be rendered speechless, moved to tears, awestruck. A key piece of this experience is being humbled. As the artist was humbled in the creative act, all great artists know they're not the source. They're channels, they're receiving something, allowing it to come through their vehicle. And we can feel that. The movie Amadeus captured this beautifully. That sense of this is coming in fast, I have to get it down before it disappears. And it will disappear. In that state of receptivity, you can't be an ego at the same time. It's not possible. That is the power of beauty. That is how it is a doorway to presence. But we have to be open. If we're removed and analytical, we're not fully experiencing it. Not everything asks this level of attention from us. We're talking about the great works. Put yourself in front of them, sit with them, listen deeply, look without rushing. If you're open, they can take you somewhere. As always, thank you for listening. Until next time, keep your third eye on the prize, and remember, truth is beyond belief.