A pen, for instance, is a banality. We see it everyday, we use it to write everything from theses to love letters, rendering it uninteresting and mundane.
However, the ability to see beauty, means to alter our perception, even if it means defying convention and welcoming ignorance.
Now we see the pen waving with a conductor's hands leading an orchestra. Or perhaps a man being stabbed to death with it. The pen, becomes something else. Now see the towering skyscrapers, as reflected from the bay waters, upside-down.
Beauty is all around us, opening our eyes to it, however, is a choice waiting for us, everyday.