A lot of people talk about love, even though it's almost always mixed up with some other animal/vegetable/mineral traits, even thought it's always being conveniently redefined to conform to our clumsy expressions of it. Most people, if pressed, probably could not swear that they absolutely, positively, know what it is. Its existence is taken for granted, as if the study of love was not worth the effort of, say, the study of economics or politics.
If we recognize love, it is by its beauty. If we recognize truth, it is by its beauty. The meaning of life is beauty. When we sense and experience beauty, we are looking straight into the face of the creator. We achieve transcendent union with the mind of God. We were born to be aware of it and to create more of it. Money, health, power, comfort mean nothing without it. The beauty of love and truth are what make the ugly parts of life worth enduring.
Todd Rundgren, songwriter, video artist and record producer, is founding member of the rock group Utopia.