Many people are called beautiful. My mother was beautiful; my grandmother was beautiful. Most babies are beautiful (and don’t say anything to the mothers of those that aren’t). Actresses are generally called beautiful, often synonymously with glamour. Beauty can also refer to animals, birds or other creatures– a beautiful blue jay or cardinal, a beautiful pet dog or a deer grazing in the yard. Even dangerous animals can be beautiful. Think of a majestic cheetah running across the savannah. Yet, does the word mean the same in all of these cases?
However, the sense of sight is not the only sense of beauty. Mozart, Beethoven, Opera and much popular music is absolutely beautiful. I wouldn’t include hip hop, but I suppose some people would. A rose or a perfume can smell beautiful. The outdoors on a crisp autumn morning can smell fresh and beautiful.
Further, a person reading poetry can find it beautiful, but it is not the way the words look on the page that is beautiful – the beauty lies in their meaning and in how it makes the reader feel. And, now we have finally arrived at the meaning of beauty. Beauty is not a sense. It is a feeling – it is a connection to the perfection of the universe that connects to your soul.
I believe that beauty is all around us in many different forms. Nature can be beautiful. Some of the most beautiful things to see can be the sky, the sun, the ocean, or flowers. Beauty found in human beings comes from within. It reaches all the way into the depths of the soul. It can be through love, kindness, humor, and charity.
This definition brings up a difficult question. If beauty can connect you to the universal ideals, then is the “idea” of beauty universal. After all, the definition of human beauty has changed over time and between cultures. I think it is universal, but that doesn’t mean that people cannot falsely seek beauty on the surface and miss the deeper connection. When someone looks at a model or a celebrity, their first thought is “oh they’re so beautiful, I wish I looked like them.” However, if you were to get to know that person, they may not be as beautiful on the inside as their appearance may have you believe. They might be mean. They might scream at people. They might treat people badly. They might order someone around. Once you get to know someone like that, they no longer look beautiful to you. You start seeing them for more than their looks and what you previously thought was beautiful, disappears quickly.
The opposite can be true as well. When you’re around someone who is lovely and makes you feel good, that person, no matter what they look like, becomes beautiful. This is because that beauty comes from the inside and shows who they truly are. The person with beautiful looks will get old and tired. Their outer beauty might fade, but someone who is beautiful inside will always be beautiful. Therefore, we must not focus on outward looks, but instead what is inside.