Inner Beauty – A reality or just a myth?

I had written an article for the Taylor's University weekly newsletter. Don't ask me how did I get in there but I actually exceeded my word limits and was told to cut my essay short. Nevertheless, here's the full version of it. Take your time to read and comment.

Inner Beauty – A reality or just a myth?

The subject of inner beauty presents an awkward dialectic. On the one hand, there is the ultimate desire to enhance one’s physical beauty to impress oneself; a truly altruistic ideal. Yet, on the other hand, this is negated by firm believers who endorse ‘inner beauty clearly outweighs physical beauty’. The search for this elusive balance has proved difficult at best. How far then, have we come, from a starting point of almost blatant refusal and just how far have we left to go to achieve the ultimate aspiration of an equitable synthesis?

Beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture. An "ideal beauty" is an entity which is admired, or possesses features widely attributed to beauty in a particular culture, for perfection. The experience of "beauty" often involves an interpretation of some entity as being in balance and harmony with nature, which may lead to feelings of attraction and emotional well being. Because this can be a subjective experience, it is often said that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." In other words, the definition of ‘beauty’ in a person, regardless gender or age, is viewed subjectively.

Marilyn Monroe, being an influential woman of her time once said, “Boys think girls are like books, if the cover doesn’t catch their eye they won’t even bother to read what’s inside”. What a hard-headed Marilyn is… but true to some certain extent, her saying does carry an expressive and realistic meaning. When looking into one’s person beauty, it is often said that physical beauty comes first before inner beauty. In fact, it takes only 3 seconds to judge a person’s physical outlook! It is no wonder why mankind will try their best to improve their looks just to gain ‘acceptance’ or ‘acknowledgement’ in the society. Girls put on thick make-up all day long and guys waxed their hair up and wore expensive check tees just to impress the persons around us. We signed up for gym memberships and constantly took care of our diet. We consistently improve and enhance our physical beauty appearances because we strive for perfection, or near to perfection. From trying botox injections to liposuctions, some even go as far as to spend a large sum of money and put themselves under the knife to achieve golden ratio of the perfect human face. It is a common human nature to look good and feel good of us in front of everybody Undoubtedly, if we can agree about one thing today it is surely the world we inhabit today is not the same world as we inhabited in 1950. Plastic surgery maybe viewed as a taboo during the mid-nineteenths but it is widely accepted by the society nowadays. The definition and expression of ‘beauty’ has thus evolved over the time. Society’s attitude on ‘beauty’ has changed and the ‘ideal beauty’ set by a wholly different society and way of life defines us.

Be that as it may, should we allow the so-called ‘ideal beauty’ to define us, regardless of age or gender? “People often say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I say that the most liberating thing about beauty is realizing that you are the beholder. This empowers us to find beauty in places where others have not dared to look, including inside ourselves,” said Salma Hayek, a Mexican-American film actress, director and producer. 

Clearly, she is firm believer in inner beauty. Sometimes, being beautiful does not mean you have to carry expensive branded goods, having a fit body or a good-looking face. Beauty can be expressed in many different forms and elements, say gestures, actions or words. Audrey Hepburn provides the perfect illustration. Born in the Netherlands, she nearly died of hunger during the World War II but fortunately was rescued by the United Nation refugee programme. When asked about her beauty secrets, she replied with remarkable grace: ‘For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day. People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed. Never throw out anybody. The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole. True beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion that she shows, and the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows.’

Conversely, many people think inner beauty is just a phrase "used for ugly people to make them feel better about themselves." People who think that are sorely mistaken. Beauty is viewed in many different ways. Not all people who have inner beauty are "ugly," in fact; many people with inner beauty also have outer beauty. So you cannot just look at someone and know if they have inner beauty, you have to get to know them first. For instance, a person who owns the value of altruism and generosity will eventually bring out the best in them. This is because oxytocin is produced when we are touched by the example of someone we admire through his or her acts of generosity and etc. Oxytocin is a hormone that creates bonds of affection. The brain reacting to emotions creates such hormone that make our heart beat faster. Doubtless, this love hormone reminds us that it is through our bonds with other people that we get in touch with everything that are good in us. Indeed, “the best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched…but are felt in the heart,” said Helen Keller.

To conclude, you do not need to wear Prada or carry a MCM backpack to look and feel good. Always tell yourself that you would like to be remembered as someone who accomplished useful deeds and who was a kind and loving person. While we may not be able to control all that happens to us, we can control what happens inside us. Always leave the memory of a human being with a correct attitude and who did his or her best to help others. Also, whenever you feel that you are not beautiful, always remember our good old Confucius once said, “Everything is beautiful, but not everyone sees it”.

Audrey Hepburn, international actress and world-class humanitarian.

Image source: www.biography.com

Written by,

Low Gin Tung

2nd Year Law Undergraduate

Brickfields Asia College