As I was shaving this morning a few bars of an old song were drifting through my idle mind:
"Why do birds, suddenly appear,
Every time, you are near?"
Never occurred to me before, but this is a mood related question. Perception of beauty around us is heightened by our own elevated moods.
It's one of the most fundamental aspects of our consciousness that we don't really experience the world. We experience ourselves reflected by the world.
If we're feeling happy, we experience happy parts of life, like singing birds.
If we're feeling down, the world is a bleaker place, without such inspiration.
