#Beauty. Day 22 of #Lent. Beholding Beauty.
Philosophers claim the highest forms of beauty are purposeless. That means we see something and universally agree that it is beautiful and find pleasure in viewing them.
Michelangelo’s David will overwhelm you with its beauty regardless of your knowledge of the sculpture, where its marble was quarried, who sponsored the art, or what sources of inspiration or goals Michelangelo had in sculpting it. We don’t need art training to identify the beauty we see or a course in philosophy to recognize how beauty is observed. Recognition of physical beauty is an exercise through observation that is independent of the knowledge of how the object came into existence.
This view can easily be applied also to the appreciation of beauty among human beings. To see the beauty of a person you need not know their story. No need to learn about their origins, education, occupation, how today’s been going for them or if they sought, worked or suffered to be beautiful. Beauty may reveal itself in a person simply by observing them even at a glance.
Purposeless beauty, however, may lead to deep misunderstandings. You may believe that you are indeed appreciating the beauty of Michelangelo’s David, but because of your art ignorance, you miss the real values of beauty that it expresses. It often happens with people too.
So what exactly is beauty?
The Dove Campaign asked women and found that:
77% strongly agree that beauty can be achieved through attitude, spirit, and other attributes that have nothing to do with physical appearance.
89% strongly agree that a woman can be beautiful at any age.
85% state that every woman has something about her that is beautiful.
The study found that 2/3 of women strongly agree that physical attractiveness is about how one looks, whereas beauty includes much more of who a person is.
In a glance we can say someone is attractive.
Through a relationship we discover someone is beautiful.
We need to be more intentional with our word choices.
Especially when the World seeks to praise physical beauty and links it to pleasure and power. Vanity, seeking beauty as a means to achieve pleasure can lead to hedonism, the typical symbol of decadence. Eros or physical love is sensual in nature. It is defined as a longing which in contemplation becomes an appreciation of the beautiful, or even becomes appreciation of beauty itself. Eros is always looking only skin deep. The Agape love that Christians are to pursue is a selfless love that seeks to connect with another through relationship. Our knowledge of another allows beauty to be discovered and we smile and say, “You are so beautiful.”
Beauty is defined by God and He set the standard for beauty.
Song of Solomon 4:7 You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.
1 Peter 3:3-4 Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.
Proverbs 31:30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time.
It takes time to discover beauty, through relationships that look deeper than the skin. Do you realize yet how beautiful you are to God.
Live Loved beautiful.
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