Beauty has been a topic of discussion since time immemorial and various scholars and thinkers have offered their perspectives on what real beauty according to them is about.
"Beauty and folly are generally companions"- Baltasar Gracian
"It is better to be beautiful than to be good. But ... it is better to be good than to be ugly"- Oscar Wilde
"The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw"- Havelock Ellis
"Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it"- Confucius
"Beauty in the flesh will continue to rule the world" - Florenz Ziegfeld
It is, however, left to our discretion to define beauty for ourselves. Im sure many will differ on my viwepoint thats about to follow, I would love to here and understand your perspectives too..My definition of beauty is as follows:
" Real beauty is a mix of generous amount of inner beauty and miniscule amount of outer beauty. None of the two can exist in isolation in today's context.Both need to coexist though in varying degrees to bring out the real beautiful you."
What is real outer beauty?
"Had the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked." - Ralph Ellison
Being drop dead gorgeous...having symmetrically placed features in just the right shape, size and dimensions....possessing the stereotypical perfect figure of 36-24-36..... having a soaring 'oomph'-o-meter...... being a prototype of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan?
Real beauty is actually that; that exudes an aura of 'pleasantness'. A graceful, presentable personality. You donot have to be gorgeous to be beautiful rather you should be 'presentable' to appear beautiful. A person deemed to be 'ugly' can also look beautiful if they tweak their visual appeal as per the situation. Presentation is an art mastered by few. Real outer beauty according to me is the art of presentation and can be acquired..its in your hands!
"Beauty comes as much from the mind as from the eye." - Grey Livingston
Inner beauty is the true you- your inner self unleashed. A heart cleansed of its vices to metamorphose into a beautiful mind. All of us have the goods and bads residing within us. There are some inherent beautiful traits within, untouched by evil where positivity resides. Thats the inner beauty. None of us are divinely pure and hence our goodness represents our inner beauty.
Im talking here from the viewpoint of common people like you and I who are repostiories of goods and bads, are physically appealing and unappealing. I am seeking real beauty in a contemporary and realistic context and not painting a utopia where inner beauty personifies Mother Teresa and outer beauty Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. We are the people who inhabit the terrain between the two ideal extremes of beauty. We are mix of positives and negatives. We have our moments of goodness and moments were Satan dominates and we become the Devil's advocates. Inner and outer beauty are coloured by our deeds and an extension of our demeanours.
Real beauty hence is a potpourri of the presentable external you and the holy inner you!
"Beauty deprived of its proper foils and adjuncts ceases to be enjoyed as beauty, just as light deprived of all shadows ceases to be enjoyed as light." - John Ruskin
This is an entry for the contest 'What does real beauty mean to you?' presented by Yahoo India, Dove and IndiBlogger. Check out the Yahoo Real Beauty site.
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'Real beauty hence is a potpourri of the presentable external you and the holy inner you! - How beautiful was that!..Lovely post! :)You've got a vote :)
ReplyDeleteCheck my post at - http://www.indiblogger.in/indipost.php?post=59346
Well written. We forget that what we have inside us makes us beautiful......The outer beauty is important but no competition to the inner one. Very well expressed. Waiting for the next...
ReplyDeletevery well said! Real Beauty - Its in your hands! So True! Good luck :)
ReplyDeleteSometimes people argue that inner beauty is all that matters.. and sometimes all effort is put on improving appearance. You have said rightly that they both matter. Good luck for the contest
ReplyDeletehttp://chaptersfrommylife.blogspot.com/2011/05/what-does-real-beauty-mean-reflection.html
Nice post. I quite liked how you write. Of course, the quotes simply add to all that. Oscar Wilde's quote always does great justice whenever beauty is questioned! :D
ReplyDeleteNice one. :)
thanks amar, sneha, aarti, farila and abhishek! :)
ReplyDeleteappreciate your feedback... thanks!
Beauty is a matter of perception, what is beautiful for me may not be so for some one else.
ReplyDeleteHi Prerna,
ReplyDeletewhat you say is true.. absolutely ..how much we stress that inner beauty is the most important thing, but i guess, we are always, looking for that superficial outer beauty.. There is a saying, " its nice to be important, but its more important to be nice." similarly if a beautiful person can make him/her look ugly by the way she talks and acts, and vice versa :)
~sauvik
"Real beauty hence is a potpourri of the presentable external you and the holy inner you!" Very well presented beauty here.. Love it so promoted and liked it. Hmm, Real beauty hence is a potpourri of the presentable external you and the holy inner you!
ReplyDeleteVery cool Prerna. Like how you compared internal beauty with the external aspect. Plus, asking one to challenge their own views and look beyond certain set parameters. :-)
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do not accept with few of the points you've mentioned that was a good read Prerna. :) All the best for the contest :)
ReplyDeletevoted!
ReplyDeletehttp://twistingthetail.blogspot.com/2011/05/hello-beautiful.html
vote for this if you like it.