A form may be considered well-shaped or beautiful when the proportions of its constituent parts are harmonious, according, of course, to the aesthetic values of the cultures that create it, as well as to the natural sense of beauty shared by human beings.

Yet a well-proportioned form is not necessarily beautiful. Beauty is not merely a matter of proportions and measurements. It is a temporal category, related to the mode of existence of the form and of the thing that reveals itself through that form in relation to those who behold it.

For a form to be beautiful—whether well-proportioned or not is secondary—it must be timely rather than untimely; that is, it must exist at the right moment, in the best season of its being.

When a thing is at its finest hour, it is beautiful because it is functioning at its fullest potential and can contribute most effectively to the growth and continuation of life.

Take, for example, the fruit of a tree. When it is beautiful—when it is ripe—it possesses its finest shape, its richest color, its best flavor, and the highest nutritional value. At that moment it can be eaten and offer the greatest benefit to life. And what remains, the seed? It will be buried, so that it may decay and give rise to a new plant, allowing life to continue. Do you see?

Function, in the end, is the very reason for the existence of things—and perhaps also the foundation of aesthetics.

When a form is both well-proportioned and beautiful, we encounter something remarkable: an ornament of life, a measure by which people and things may be judged, and by which they may take pride accordingly.