Beauty is one of the most difficult terms to define yet one of the easiest terms to understand. We all know what is beautiful and what is not. It does not take a second for a person to say if a girl, a child, a man, a place, a song, or a poem is beautiful or not. Yet, we hardly know why it is lovely. We all know we like beautiful things and feel good when seeing or hearing something beautiful.
Random House dictionary defines “beauty” as a characteristic present in a person, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction to the mind or the eyes, arising from sensory manifestations such as a shape, color, personality, sound, design or rhythm.
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Yet, no one knows what characteristics make a thing beautiful. Since beauty is based on the person’s perception, it is often said that beauty lies in the beholder’s eyes. Beauty is also considered to be only skin deep, which means that beauty is superficial and lacks any substance. The opposite of beauty is ugly, i.e., what gives us a bad feeling. When we see an ugly thing, we don’t like it and want to close our sensual perception and mind from that thing. Everyone wants to see beauty and become beautiful, and dreads become ugly. When we see a beautiful thing or meet a lovely person, we want to keep looking. Einstein used the concept of beauty to explain the Theory of Relativity, i.e., how time can expand or contract.
Beauty is so important to humans that they can do anything to look beautiful or achieve beautiful things. The pursuit of human life seems to become attractive or acquire beautiful things. Beauty has such a powerful attraction that it bewilders all logic and rationality of the person, and sometimes, the attraction becomes fatal. Why is beauty such a powerful force?
Beauty means Truth and Good.
In ancient philosophies, the material body is believed to be the reflection of the soul, the spark of the universal soul or God. Hence, if the person is good, it is because they have a beautiful soul. People do good actions in this world because of the beauty of the soul. People find their parents and friends beautiful because they are good to them. We can hardly find beauty in our enemies as they are not good to us. When a friend turns enemy, the same person ceases to be beautiful.
In Indian philosophy, God is said to have three manifestations in this world: Truth, Good, and Beauty (Satyam, Shivam, and Sundaram). Hence, when we find something beautiful, it is only because it has truth and goodness. Scientists discover secrets (truths) of nature because they find the universe beautiful (Difficult to imagine?). Einstein said, “I have deep faith that the principle of the universe will be beautiful and simple.”
Jules Henri Poincare, a famous French mathematician and scientist, said:
Therefore, the discovery of truth is due to the beauty it holds. The universe is not a dead object for a scientist, but he sees beautiful patterns and aesthetics in nature, which helps him find nature’s secrets. While most people find the world ugly due to its imperfections, like inequality, injustice, and disorder, a poet sees the same world as beautiful and creates poetry. A poet can only make beautiful poetry if he finds beauty in nature and human beings. A logical person or a critique of the world can never find the world’s truth as he can never see the beauty in this world.
The Evidence of Beauty:
Since beauty needs no logic, people often accuse beauty of being superficial. Rational people or scientists accept no facts to be true unless proven objectively by experiments and investigations. They usually blame the perceptions of beauty as biased and prejudiced, which has developed in the people in evolution.
We all know that a human body looks beautiful if it is within a particular body weight range, depending on the person’s height. We don’t find the body beautiful if it is too thin or fat. Yet we can’t say why only a particular weight should make the body beautiful. However, scientists have discovered that what we perceive as stunning is the best body weight for health and longevity. A study conducted by more than a million participants by the US Cancer Prevention [1] concluded that
Thus, the perception of beauty is not superficial, as it is supported by robust scientific research. Suppose we can imagine how we can perceive the beauty of the body. In that case, we can easily notice that our perception of beauty perhaps varies in proportion to the effect of body weight on health, as if our mind already knows what is good for the body even without going through the long research process. Once, a scientist described to Einstein how many years of experimentation and research led to the discovery of scientific theory. Einstein’s wife promptly remarked that her husband (Einstein) would have developed the same theory on a piece of paper. Einstein never conducted any experiments but developed the scientific theories’ soundest from the imagination of his mind as the man himself a replica of the universe.
We all can distinguish good from evil and truth from untruth through our ability to see beauty. When we eat an apple, we don’t have to send it to the laboratory to know if it is rotten or fresh. By looking at it, we see that it is fresh. A beautiful apple is also a good apple for health.
What is Good?
The first thing to understand is what is good. We can define goodness from the perspective of self and the world. One can be good to the world if his actions are for the good of the world. Similarly, one can be good if his actions are good for him. Therefore, an ugly man must be bad for the world and bad for himself.
However, we can argue why one would like to do anything harmful to oneself. Yet, there is no shortage of such actions. For example, if one eats too much and becomes obese, it is surely not good for his health. Similarly, smoking, addiction, etc., are also not good for one’s self. All selfish actions are initially good for the person but gradually become bad for him if they are not good for society. Thus, the challenge lies in finding a good way for oneself and society. Successful people and people in business find a way to see their good in the good of others.
For example, Bill Gates is the richest person in the world, not by harming society but by bringing tremendous benefits to society. As a consequence, he also became a rich man. However, when a person focuses only on selfish benefits without concern for the world, he creates an imbalance that makes the person bad. This leads to the path of untruth and evil. Such a person gradually becomes unattractive and ugly as the evil reflects on his body and face.
What is good also depends on the person and the situation. A sunny day may look beautiful in the cold winters and cold countries but extremely unattractive in tropical and warm countries. The woman may look extremely beautiful to a lover. Still, they are only ordinary to other men and women. Hills may be attractive for the people living in plain or hotter places but may look unattractive to the natives who may find the modern world of malls and urban life more beautiful. Western music may be appealing to some but repulsive to others.
Thus, our perception of beauty also has a purpose. The attraction depends not only on the object of beauty but also on our mental makeup. We find beauty in things that complement ourselves. Its force of attraction due to beauty can be compared with the attraction of the electric changes. The opposite attracts, and once they meet, they neutralize each other. So often, we are attracted to something which we lack. We are usually unaware of what is missing unless we find something attractive. Beauty is thus a guide to achieving the missing something in us to have a more fulfilling and contented life.
Yoga: The Secret of Beauty:
Natural beauty’s secret lies in the mantra truth, good, and beauty (Satyam, Shivam, and Sundaram). To look beautiful outside, one has to be good inside. The good feeling can come only by being good and truthful. If one becomes bad for others, he has to pay the price with his beauty. Yoga, one of the ancient methods for good health, means union. It defies all scientific theories as people use yoga to reduce weight and become healthy not by burning calories in the gym or by medication but simply by effortless postures of the body designed many thousands of years ago that require the body’s disciplined mind. Yoga means union, i.e., the union of body and mind with the soul on a personal level and the union of the individual soul to the universal soul or the soul of the world on another level. Yoga is used worldwide to make oneself beautiful, bringing goodness and truth to the person. However, once the person becomes gorgeous, he automatically gets the proper body weight, fitness, and good health.
The Challenges of Being Beautiful:
Some people are born beautiful, but others acquire beauty by conscious effort. Often, people become unattractive due to their lifestyle and evil actions. Who would find beauty in an obese man or woman or a criminal? However, very ordinary-looking people often become beautiful because of their achievements. This is particularly true of men, who seem to become more attractive because of their accomplishments and good deeds.
According to Indian philosophy, beauty is the manifestation of God in this world. Hence, if a person starts doing evil, he drifts from God to the Devil. Soon, the person would begin looking ugly, too. His face and body would transform so that he would lose all beauty. He would lose health and fitness. He would fall sick frequently. He would become overweight or underweight to lose his vitality and health. His face would become cruel or pale, devoid of serenity and beauty.
It is not a mere coincidence that no dictator or evil person has ever been beautiful. Conversely, a lovely person can not be cruel. One proof of this statement is that women who epitomize beauty can hardly kill innocent people or commit murder. Women represent beauty; hence, they also mean what is good for society. They risk their own lives to create a new life. We also find that all children are beautiful. It is not a mere coincidence that all children are also good. They love every creation of the world, including innate objects like dolls, toys, and animals. Most of the cartoon films and children’s films show kindness to animals. Yet, as a man grows, he loses his beauty if he starts losing goodness.
Secret of Beauty
Beauty is one of human beings’ biggest desires, hence, it is a great business opportunity for businesspeople. The cosmetic industry is a multi-billion dollar business today all over the world. Yet, can any cosmetics make you beautiful? The beauty due to cosmetics is truly superficial and often causes long-term harm to the person. The true secret of beauty lies in discovering truth and goodness in the world and within oneself. Once a person has acquired inner beauty, his body and face emit the soul’s beauty to the world. One must also use their perception of beauty as a guide to achieving a more fulfilling life. Beauty is, therefore, the most beautiful thing in the world. It comes to every person naturally without any training or study, yet it represents the truth and goodness of this world.
