Friday 24 September 2010

The way we perceive

Beauty is a peculiar thing. It is what we like to surround ourselves with, what we hope to be and what we think is good. Now bear in mind that I do not refer to beauty in the traditional sense, the examples of which would be pretty women, landscapes and constructions. Instead I consider beauty to be the collective value of astonishment, pleasure and enjoyment these things can provide us.

Think of a pretty woman. The one that is pleasing to the eye and appears nice when viewed from a distance. Now think of a beautiful woman. Is there a difference? For me, the difference between the two would be that while a pretty woman may be aestethically pleasing, her prettiness doesn't tell anything about what kind of a person she is. She might be cheap and stupid or just have a horrible personality. However, while a beautiful woman would be aestethically pleasing as well, her beauty wouldn't be limited to the exterior. She would be classy and sophisticated, while retaining a certain level of cuteness. One could probably list a whole lot of attributes for a beautiful person, but that would only be appropriate. Beauty is, after all, personal.

The human will to surround ourselves with things we consider beautiful is a notable driving factor in our daily lives. Problems arise when a multiple people begin to desire the same thing. You cannot duplicate beauty even though you may try, for it arises from so many small things and experiences which led you to it. Competition exists, always. Nowadays many a people acquire money for the sake of acquiring money and are despised for that, but since the whole point of money is to sustain an easy system of trade, you could say that money is beautiful for it allows you to acquire the things you desire, the things you perceive as beautiful. But then again, is striving for acquisition of beauty a morally acceptable goal or just an excuse to deprive others of the things they appreciate as beautiful?