Today we are going to analyze beauty. We will try to find the main definition of it? What is beautiful and what is not? Let us find out…
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder…
We all have heard that but is there a definition of beauty that works all the time? Simply put – everyone finds different things attractive. Most people find the most common ideas attractive because of their familiarity with them. Then we can find something attractive because of the characteristics that it brings to us, for example, we can associate success with well-dressed and good-looking people so we are attracted more to that if we want to have our own success unfold. Finding something beautiful is a psychological phenomenon which if analyzed comes to one simple thing – context.
The beautiful and the ugly
Why do we find something beautiful but other things ugly? The answer is – it depends on how well it fits with everything else in it. Context is key for beauty because some things feel natural in one place but unnatural in other places which makes one thing both ugly and beautiful depending on the context. For example, our beauty standards work in society's current context. The standards change as society evolves which changes its context of it. In Bulgaria, most men have short hair and that is found to be a beauty standard right now. In America, most men have medium-sized hair, that is their standard. Whenever you go though, you hear the idea of beauty being a metric of symmetry…
Can symmetry define beauty?
No! Symmetry cannot be the definition of beauty because it can change with our generations. In the future, people may value more non – symmetrical faces. It is a fact that currently, symmetry is something that we find beautiful but it is because its idea is being widespread. Everywhere, everything is created or is being modified to be more symmetrical but the idea of symmetry on its own isn’t naturally put in the brain – it was developed with years of us trying to replicate nature through it. Yes, it is a logical path for us to find symmetry beautiful because of us trying to replicate nature but it is not encoded naturally in us, we choose to do it because we found nature to be beautiful, it is somewhat of a paradox but the idea that we can choose to find something non-symmetrical beautiful tells us that the definition of beauty is not symmetry – it is context.
The importance of beauty in our culture
I am reading this book called “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde which heavily implies the idea that beauty is the most important thing in the world and nothing else is. I can agree that our current society has adopted this as its motto. There is nothing wrong with valuing beauty but being addicted to it, to your own beautiful face, will lead to a depressed phase once that prettiness is gone. If we actually acknowledge and act upon the idea that beauty is just context, you can find it everywhere at any time. I have never fallen in love with people, places, or things because they are symmetrical but because every detail of it fits well with one another. Its creativity, context, and poetry is encapsulating its uniqueness which makes it a living piece of art. And every person is a beautiful piece of art, and everything is a beautiful piece of art, not for everybody, but for its own context, its own world, and its own place where it belongs. As always, thanks for reading, love, light, and eternal happiness <3
When you said symmetry, I remembered about that my father has a friend with a strange nickname. And actually his nickname is "The Jesus" :D. When I was a boy, once we were guests to my father's friend. I was very confused and didn't understand the reason for father calling him "The Jesus". Then 2 years ago my father was looking for someting in some kind of an old cardboard box. He found a picture, it was of this "The Jesus" guy, - he said :). And when I exemined it closely, I found-out that he has very symmetrycal face structure, which makes him look like un alien. :D Take care! Godspeed!
Aahahhaha what an awesome story! Thank you for sharing it. Maybe some of us are really aliens in disguise? We can never know. You take care too! The song is amazing also. Godspeed!