JD
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Hi, this is a relevant topic, as the recent video about beauty here on this site brings up, beauty is not on the surface. Looking for beauty on the surface can lead to frustration, anxiousness, fear, self-condemnation, and even a sense of lack.
This morning as I was entering an entrance at work, I patiently allowed a woman to pass in front of me to enter the building. She didn’t have to say hello, but she did and her smile was, to me, a beautiful thing.
I immediately asked a coworker, “How do you stay true [to yourself, religion, etc.] when you see beauty expressed in another person?” Then I repeated the question in a different way, “How do you appreciate beauty without idolizing it or becoming enthralled with it?”
Just yesterday I had a discussion with a different coworker saying, “I think beauty is a mental thing. When someone is clear and calm, pure (not holding onto baggage) that’s beauty. It’s not a physical thing.”
Then this morning I was thinking to myself, that it’s OK to appreciate beauty, but maybe unlike what can be the supermarket tabloid’s projection of beautiful people, that they always have to seek out romantic relationships with each other, is to look deeper within and realize that we have that beauty within is. It’s not something we need to try to manipulate on the surface.
This is a big lesson. But thank goodness we have Christian Science to teach us that the more we keep thought focused on God’s constant Love and provision and protection of us, as His ideas. The less concerned we’ll be of thinking we are a separate entity that has his or her own concerns to deal with in life. The more comfortable our thinking will be, and the more clear and secure our thought is, the more that we are going to express our true beauty. :-)
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This reply was modified 28 days ago by JD.
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Gordon
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I was talking with a teacher of Christian Science a little while ago about beauty. She had known a man named Gordon Clarke, who had been another Christian Science teacher/lecturer. (He actually lived very close to where I grew up, and I think I met him when I was very young.) He passed away some years ago, so this whole story takes place a couple of decades ago.
This woman had attended one of his lectures with a friend, and was commenting to her friend afterwards, “You know, Mr. Clarke is really handsome!” The friend thought this was a little funny, but she insisted, “no really, I mean it; he’s really quite handsome!” Her friend was then very frank with her, saying, “Look: he has a hook nose, a scar on his face that’s never healed, one of his eyes bulges out more than the other,” and so on with a laundry list of physical defects. But then she added, “what you’re seeing and admiring in him is his Godliness.”
The point this teacher was bringing home to me as she recounted this story was that even though this man would not be seen on any magazine covers and didn’t really stack up to the definition of being classically handsome, that didn’t stop her from seeing him as handsome. She implied that his character and qualities expressed were what was truly beautiful about him, and she could actually see that more than any physical defects. The qualities he expressed couldn’t help but shine through.
The same can be said of both men and women. The world certainly rewards physical beauty. And when mortal mind is dwelling in the lowest level of understanding, referred to by Mrs. Eddy as “depravity,” certainly physical beauty is what is most focused on (see “Scientific Translation of Mortal mind” in S&H 115:19). But those rewards are fleeting, and not to mention enslaving.
I really like what you had to say, @JD , on not idolizing physical beauty. That’s certainly a problem I’ve seen in my own experience, and I know others have had to deal with as well — almost like “falling under the spell” of a physically beautiful person. It can be a very strong and magnetic pull, which is why “animal magnetism” is such a perfect description.
But expressing our Godliness right now is a beautiful thing, and in reality, it is the only beautiful thing. A person’s spiritual beauty might not be rewarded as immediately as someone else’s physical beauty, but it is the only thing that is really lasting or meaningful.
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JD
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Thanks Gordon :-) Yeah, I really think that beauty is in thought!
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itsaboutgood
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RIght on, brothers! Great topic here. Definitely timely.
First off, definitely check out Gordon’s recent article about true manhood. It beautifully addresses this very issue: http://time4thinkers.com/man-up-to-real-manhood/
Next?! I’ve often thought about what we perceive as physical beauty as a kind of spiritual survival of the fittest strategy. Meaning, if we have a spiritual or divine mission in sharing Truth, Life, and Love with one of God’s children, where are we going to go first? What appears to us to be unattractive or attractive? Isn’t the whole purpose of communication knowing, feeling, more of The Word of God? So we should be attracted to and want to do that no matter what the physical appearance!
Rather than be intimidated by beautiful women, I am trying to engage with those beautiful women more as beautiful ideas than beautiful THINGS. Almost always it reveals a deep spiritual connection that allows me to learn more about God.
There’s a track on the next Itsaboutgood album called “Feeling’ Live” that is about this exact thing. It comes out around March and I’ll definitely include a link when the time comes. In the meantime, I am so happy to share this passage from Proverbs that describes the truly ideal woman.
The entire second half of chapter 31 is about this woman, but this line just explains it all with some spiritual interpretation thanks to Mrs. Eddy’s translation system!
“Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that [loveth] the [Truth], she shall be praised” (Proverbs 31:3).
Right on, Solomon. Thanks again for this topic! And thank goodness for the beauty of true womanhood!
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John
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I remember sitting in a group discussion during college about this idea of beauty and how it’s qualities and thought, and feeling a definite division in the atmosphere, with half the folks there nodding and smiling, and the other half feeling like ‘That’s great, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m still not considered attractive.’
My reason in bringing this up is because it’s so important to understand, or even to willingly begin exploring, the fact that these are not just happy pick-me-up words, or excuses, or whatever. This isn’t a topic that should just be left on the discussion forums. (Really, NO topic should ‘just be left’ on the forums!) This really is the truth! Beauty, vibrant womanhood, steadfast manhood, innocent childhood, steady employment, blossoming health…these are all fundamental, inherent aspects of who we are as the immediate expressions of God, divine good. But to see this, we have to live it.
Like JD’s example, we need to live out that recognition of beauty in others – like itsaboutgood’s example, we need to practice seeing ideas, not things – shoot, like Gordon’s whole blog, we need to live out the immediate relevance of the infinitude of qualities gathered under the umbrella of manhood and womanhood. We won’t discover how beautiful we all are by sitting at home just thinking nice thoughts. (Not in any way undermining the importance of quiet, sacred prayer – you get my meaning and the distinction between the two, I hope.)
We have the immense privilege and pleasure of living Life! We get to enjoy the sacred permanence of all God’s work – including the inherent beauty of God’s expression.
Thanks for this conversation! Excited to see where we keep living it :-)
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Gordon
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John, I LOVE your honesty and frankness about the division you noticed in the room! It really reminds me of something Mrs. Eddy says in S&H:
The sharp experiences of belief in the supposititious life of matter, as well as our disappointments and ceaseless woes, turn us like tired children to the arms of divine Love. Then we begin to learn Life in divine Science. Without this process of weaning, "Canst thou by searching find out God?"
What that tells me is that all those heavy and dark clouds that enter in and make us compare ourselves with those around us (and constantly come up short) are doing is helping to dissolve the belief of life in matter and force us to go up higher. God is only ever pouring out His love, acceptance, and praise, but so long as anyone looks for that in matter they won’t find anything lasting.
And I also love your call to action, to start witnessing the beauty in others each day, every day. This is not too difficult to do with the people that we already find beautiful, that we already agree with, or that we’re already impressed by. But it can be more difficult with the people we don’t think about as often. Or the people we disagree with. Jesus said, “what ye do unto the least of them, ye do unto me.” I’ve always taken this passage to mean that you have to cherish even the people who, it seems, can do absolutely nothing for you.
Then He also said to him who invited Him, "When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you."
Luke 14:12-14 (to ;) NKJV
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tyler
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I want to begin by saying thank you to everyone who has responded! Everytime I come here I feel better and am so grateful for that.
I love the quote Gordon gave above ,The sharp experiences of belief in the supposititious life of matter, as well as our disappointments and ceaseless woes, turn us like tired children to the arms of divine Love. Then we begin to learn Life in divine Science. Without this process of weaning, “Canst thou by searching find out God?”
As someone who has dealt with issues of self esteem and depression it really hits home. As a new and growing Christian Scientist I am beginning to break the erroneous thoughts that clouded my vision. And , what I got from the above quote is that these supposed “bad” things that happened serve a purpose , driving me into Divine Loves arms. I always find with myself and many friends that the biggest mistake is when we begin comparing ourselves with others. In doing that we are essentially stating that God is a liar for all that Mind created is perfect! Like everything else beauty is spiritual. We are bombarded by the medias and Hollywood with what is beauty and we never reach that false sense of beauty. For that kind of beauty is like putting makeup on a pig…. The outside can be what society calls beautiful and yet if the inside is out of alignment its just ugliness. Now whenever those erroneous thoughts come I replace them with truth. The truth of Christian Science is the only answer to this dillema.
The only one we should ever compare ourselves with Mind/God….
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AmyRio
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@Gordon: I remember Gordon Clarke very well! I attended several of his lectures, and he was one of the most dynamic lecturers I’ve ever heard…the halls were always packed when he spoke. The funny (and interesting) thing is I can’t even remember what he looked like! :)
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Amy
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I remember Gordon Clarke, too. And I would’ve said he was a nice looking man, if someone asked me. What I really remember, though, is a funny part of a story he told. He knew how to bring a spiritual message home! :)
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Amy
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Here’s a new blog on this topic that’s worth checking out:
http://time4thinkers.com/you-are-a-treasure/
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Amy
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Here’s an article from The Christian Science Journal that’s good on this topic, too:
http://time4thinkers.com/the-beauty-of-holiness/
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Gordon
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That article, “The Beauty of Holiness,” is very interesting to me. I knew Bonnie (the article’s author) in college. Not all that closely, mind you, but what I remember of her is that there was never a time when she wasn’t smiling. I had no idea that some of the inner turmoil she describes there was going on at the time; all I remember of my few interactions with her was that she just always seem to radiate joy. It just goes to show that you never really know what people might be going through.
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