Suppose that you were standing by a beach at sunset and you become deeply moved and utter the words, "This is beautiful, this is glorious." You are ultimately pleased by a feeling that we as a culture refer to this response as, beauty. A feeling that possesses an enormous power to touch us deeply while holding a tremendous potential to grip and transform us. For beauty stirs and satisfies our deepest longings as well as attracting us, provoking our adoration, and inviting us to adorn ourselves with its luster. Indeed, our society naturally celebrates beauty automatically through experiences that arouse affections for that which we find attractive. But what is it that poses us to allow us to obtain such a feeling? The reason for this, I think, is that there is in every person a God given sense that beauty must have meaning that is larger and more enduring than short felt satisfaction. That this urge for ultimate meaning is evidence of God’s creation of beauty. Therefore, if God has created all things and has given everything its form and its purpose, then I define beauty as a relation to God. For to know God is know beauty, to know beauty is to know God. Just as God is the source of all truth and goodness, God is also the source of all beauty. God is the Supreme Artist – the Creator of all. Thus, everything that is beautiful reflects God’s artistry. The Church Father, Hilary of Poitiers, wrote: “Surely the author of all created beauty must himself be the beauty in all beauty.” -2- Born and raised a strong Catholic, I feel God’s presence in my everyday life and I am blessed to be encompassed with this company. His power in my life allows me to unquestionably declare him as the sole individual who most ... ... middle of paper ... ...s ago has opened the path to eternal life for all who believe in him. In every human sole there is a place where we yearn for beauty’s power and presence. We need beauty. We need to be overwhelmed by it and drawn into its inexplicability that arouses our desire and captivates our affections. For I believe that we all want to be moved by some rare glimpse of greatness. We long for a vision of nirvana, something that endures our soul and bring peace to our hearts. I am persuaded that the reason it is there is because God is the ultimately beautiful one and he made us to long for himself. And we can know that our desires are remnants of this urge for God because everything less than God leaves us unsatisfied. Only one vision will be sufficient for our avid hearts, the glory of God. For that we have been made, and it is for this we long, whether we know it or not.
Servomaa, Sonja. “Nature Of Beauty—Beauty Of Nature.” Dialogue & Universalism 15.1/2 (2005): Academic Search Premier. Web.
that he could forever remain just as handsome as he is in the painting -- that the
When one observes the beauty of something, they may tend to want to cling to its being. Everyone enjoys beauty, but there also needs to be an appreciation of ugliness as well. The beautiful and the ugly are not opposites from one another, but features of the same thing. Beauty, however one defines it, is not necessarily attractive, and ugliness is not always distasteful. Tastes differ and the tendencies of taste go back and forth. This truth is so irritating that many assumptions about art are immediately and disastrously sabotaged. If everything were beautiful, nothing would be. There is beauty in all things, even death for those who will allow God to be a guiding force in their existence. The Christian view considers death a beginning, not an end,
In many cultures the word "beauty" is plastered across tabloids and televisions with little thought given to the true nature of the
By these verses of scripture, we see that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, and is not dictated by the changing winds of society; that beauty is most valued and sought after when it has been cherished and saved behind a wall; and that romantic love in the deepest sense of the word, is found not in endless resources such as Solomon but in appreciation of one
In brief, beauty is something that is aside from you. It is something you do not have to worry about. Nevertheless, we must be afraid of the sublime because we cannot understand it and therefore, is dangerous to us. We must at least decide is it poses as a danger to us. Just as Maureen Rousseau restated from Kant’s “Critique of Judgement” about the notion one can fear God without being afraid of him because we cannot resist God. It makes sense what Maureen Rousseau says when she explains that we can be fearful of the sublime but we can also determine if it something be afraid of. Maybe that is why we have the quest for beauty because we have nothing to fear from beauty. Beauty is ultimately something we admire and want.
beauty before we can truly cherish other forms of beauty around us. “Two or three things
What does it take to feel beautiful? Perhaps a little bit of time, make-up, and a breathtaking dress; or at least that's what we have been programmed to believe. Without a doubt, all of the magazines, advertisements, and make-up beauty tips have influenced women’s beliefs about what it means to be beautiful. An artificial image of beauty has been imposed on each and every woman in our culture.
Edmund Burke was one of the primary Enlightenment figures who wrote on these two topics. In the excerpts from The Sublime and Beautiful, Burke made five descriptions about aspects of the sublime and another eight about the beautiful. His basic point was that beauty is the quality that causes love. This, in turn, makes us need to question what love is. The first distinction that Burke was sure to make was that love is not desire or lust. Desire and lust are “an energy of the mind that hurries us on to the possession of something”. He then proceeds to describe love as “the satisfaction that arises to the mind when you see something beautiful”. Well, based on these two definitions, we have fallen into a sort of circular course of thinking. Beauty equals love, but love comes from seeing something beautiful, then you cycle back to questioning beauty, and so on and so forth. Burke also points out that perfection does not cause beauty. He finally goes on to say that beauty is “some quality in bodies acting on the senses”. As he goes through the rest of the sections that we read through, Burke states and defines some qualities of beauty. He uses words such as smallness, smoothness, and delicacy, as well as explaining the “beautiful” colors and sounds, which are softer colors and sounds without any darkness with them. After taking in all of this from Burke, the final conclusion to be made is that beauty inspires affection and
There are many misconceptions about beauty and its importance, in todays society. In a time when physical beauty can be of utter importance, we seem to be at a loss of it. What is beauty and where can it be found? Can we see it in the air we breathe, the brilliant oceans, in the striking sunsets, or even in one another? With the weight of beauty in today's society, the common use of expressions used to describe life's brilliance is expected. The many expressions used to discuss beauty such as "beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder" and "beauty runs only skin deep" all stimulate different opinions and create controversy, but the most notorious of all, being that "beauty doesn't last forever." Sheri S. Tepper's Beauty reinstates the many questions regarding beauty and it's value, regardless of the time in which it is present. As time goes on, all that is beautiful and magical in the world will eventually become extinct. In her web review of the novel, Amanda Holland-Minkley, a professor at Cornell University, argues that the guiding theme throughout the novel is "the presence of magic and beauty in the world, and the risk we run of allowing them to disappear." As Beauty lives through the 20th century, her new experiences cause her to view life from a different perspective. Her once peaceful and simple life in the 14th century at Westfaire was now changed into a life where famine, drugs, violence, disease, overpopulation, and pain were all too common. In this world, beauty and magic are non-existent, so much so that the standards of beauty have minimized to almost nothing. Beauty says, "The worst part of living here is that nothing is beautiful. Magic doesn't work" (101). The time in which Beauty is living through is completely voi...
An elevation of beauty is treated as a form of improvement, both for men and for women. Simply put, women emphasize their differences in order to gain a sense of equality and avoid comparison from men. However women are limited in the sense that beauty in itself is very restricting. And the fact that women direct their beauty towards men shows us that men are the basis and the end means of beauty. In which this beautification is not really a form of self-improvement; there is no real flourishing...
Beauty means something different to different kinds of people and cultures. The meaning of beauty is influenced by our environmental surrounding, society, media, peers, culture and experiences. When people think about beauty they think about the physical visual appearance. Actually is “beauty in the eyes of the beholder” (Hungerford, 1878), but perhaps it is more accurate to say that beauty is also in the geography, as cultural ideals of beauty vary drastically by region.
The first and most popular interpretation of the word “beauty” is seen as outer appearance. On that perception, “beauty” and “attractiveness” have a significant difference even though they are word cousins. A beautiful looking person may be attractive, but an attractive person does not need to be beautiful. One person may look at someone beautiful with “deep satisfaction in the mind” because that person admire how beautiful the other is. Someone, who is not striking beautiful looking, may attract other people just by how they express their personalities. The others who are attracted to that particular individual because they feel connected, happy, and comfortable around that person. While attractiveness may result in long lasting relationships, physical beauty only brings short term pleasant feeling in the mind. Yet, beauty as outer look conquers many societies around the world. For instance, American culture tends to value the way a person look. That value is transmitted from one generation to the next by families, peers, and media in the process of enculturation. Young children come to adapt ways of thinking and feeling about physical beauty from their families first. The show
“Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” This saying first appeared in the 3rd century BC in Greek. It didn't appear in its current form in print until the 19th century, but in the meantime there were various written forms that expressed much the same thought. This famous saying implies that everyone has their own definition and recognition of beauty. What is seen as a marvel to one person might be the complete opposite to another, just like a dress that I found very beautiful but my Mum found it not at all nice which explains the saying “One man’s garbage is another man’s treasurer” (Aighearach).Beauty… some people believe that beauty is all physical, having great looks, having all the guys and girls fawning all over you because you are the hottest bloke or chick in the school or wherever you are. Some people believe that beauty is the clothes you wear, the make-up you put on. I say those things are just physical beauty. Inner beauty is of the heart, it’s the person you are, you actions and reactions to other people, your way of life. Inner beauty is the beauty of the heart, being selfless, reliable, loving and caring and always willing to help even if you don’t know the person. Real beauty is about always being willing to assist anyone even if there is nothing in it for you except the pure pleasure of seeing satisfaction, content on the other person’s face, that person has inner beauty. It represents goodwill and kindness.
Beauty is a concept. An idea that changes from person to person. We put on makeup, do our hair, paint our nails, and buy the latest clothing in an effort to satisfy those around us and conform to their idea of physical beauty. By doing this, we often forget who we are and lose our inner beauty. Although many people focus on physical beauty, inner beauty is more important because it is permanent and a representation of a person’s true self.