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I'm talking about physical beauty here, the statistical, that which you can see and touch. It's important to make this distinction here. It is hard to discuss Beauty as a silo subject without the common arguments about its better half, "inner beauty" complicating things. Yes, many things add to how attractive a person is. Be it Intellect, Kindness, Humour, Character...
I recognise that Inner Beauty has a grace beyond the physical.
But this is not what this blog is about.
This blog is about the Physical. The stuff we were born and live everyday with, perhaps struggle with and want to change, or love and fear losing. Everyday of our lives.
Our physical Beauty. Or the lack thereof. And why it's been a persistent pursuit of such physical "perfecting".
Hard-wired into our brain is an incarnation of Beauty Personified. This is as much a projection of what we understand Beauty to be as it is our denial of the disproportionate, fat, darkened, wrinkled and old.
Beneath this often irrational, slightly psychotic and crazy way we pursue Beauty is a rational knowledge that Beauty, in its perfectly proportional state is not a possible achievement. We deeply understand that Beauty is only skin-deep. We acknowledge much of it is has been "genetically" determined. Yet we cannot help desiring it, even if it is only SKIN-DEEP! Even if it means Botox and Nip-Tucks and Lift.
Why?
Power.
The innate need to exercise Power. Power to alter, effect, influence and enhance our lot in life. We generally do not have to settle for what Nature has bestowed. The more affluent and developed we become, the more options are made available and the more we are able to exercise these, in the face of the things we feel negatively about.
I actually find this attitude towards Beauty both liberating and empowering. It's what makes you get up extra early in the mornings for a healthy sprint or a stretch on the mat, it's what makes you watch your diet and count your calories. Or maybe it's what gives you the courage to finally admit you hate being fat/flat and you need some help. It propels Action, positive, active Action. With Goals in mind. Never mind if these are only skin-deep.
This kind of motivation is way better than the age-old adage that you accept who are you and live a life of pent up resentment and misery - thinking you were born with less Beauty and you're just going to have to live with it.
No way!