Sometimes, we ask good questions: What’s real? What’s worth loving? What’s worth living for? If we slow down, we can begin to see the answer in three simple yet astonishing realities: Truth, Beauty, and Goodness.

These are often called the transcendentals and smart folk have thought about them for a long time. Here are a couple of reasons why you should too.

They’re Objective

Truth isn’t something we create. It’s something we discover. It doesn’t bend just because we want it to. The Earth orbits the sun whether we like it or not. A promise broken is still broken, even if we try to justify it. Beauty isn’t actually in the eye of the beholder. It exists in real life and waits to be found and cherished. When we see a sunset or paint a canyon wall in fiery reds and golds, our awe is a recognition, not the creation, of the beauty they express. With goodness, pulling someone out of danger, feeding the hungry, or acting justly aren’t subjective ideas or personal preferences, they’re are real expressions of what’s really is praiseworthy. Truth is not subjective, but objective. It cares not a wit and is changed not an inch by your preferences.

They’re Universal

True, beautiful, and good realities don’t care what time, culture, or continent you live in. Gravity pulls the same way in Paris as it does in Peru. A Beethoven symphony stirs hearts across generations who are able to detect its intrinsic beauty. Justice is understood in every heart that sees suffering and cries, “This is wrong!” They aren’t negotiable. They’ve no expiration date. They don’t depend on whether we “feel” them at the moment.

They’re Inseparable

You cannot warp truth without without twisting goodness or beauty. If something is good, it also must be true and beautiful. Tell a lie and your sense of beauty dims. Cheat to win and the goodness and beauty of your victory evaporates. Injustice feels ugly because it is. It distorts both truth and beauty. These realities are a tightly woven tapestry. Tug one thread and the whole cloth ripples. They’re triplets who never leave each other’s side.

They’re Divine

Finally, these are not mere ideas floating in our heads. Truth, Beauty, and Goodness are not just from God. They are who God is. He is Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. Any expression of them is a revelation of Him. Every moment we recognize them, we glimpse His character. When we behold the sunrise, applaud courage or faithfulness, or act with justice or wisdom, we are seeing, reflecting, and participating in the life of God Himself.

These aren’t philosophical puzzles to debate endlessly. They are realities to behold, to love, and to let shape our lives. The world’s chaos, our own doubts, and the noise of culture can make us forget this. But slow down. Look, listen, act. Truth is waiting to be learned, beauty is calling to be adored, and goodness stands as the standard all should aspire.

These eternal realities are not far from you. They are the very ground beneath your feet.