The Pagan Path

Those who wonder are not lost; they are trying to awaken! 'The Sleeper must awaken!'

Friday, March 27, 2015

Beautiful Creatures

Have you ever heard the saying, 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' ( or, if one happens to frequent bars, 'beauty is in the eye of the beer holder' )? While this statement is somewhat true, it tends to do two things ( no, objectifying women is NOT ( necessarily ) one of them ); it tends to make beauty a mere outward observance, and it turns beauty a relative emotion!

It is true, in a sense, that 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder ( or beer holder )'! As beauty can apply to either sex, it is, in that sense, dependent on the observer as to whether a certain human being ( or animal, for that matter ) holds any beauty! In the case of the beer holder, the more one drinks ( this too can apply to either individual ), the better the person or object of their desire ( lust ) looks! On the other hand, the beauty of any given individual can also decrease ( exponentially ) the more they drink!

Beauty, in the sense outlined above, then, is a relative emotion; one person may find another very attractive, very beautiful, so to speak, while a different person might find that other person, the object of that other's admiration to be quite hideous, quite distasteful! Then, on the other hand, one person may look merely on the outward appearance, while the other admires inner beauty ( remember, this applies to both sexes )! While a person may have the appearance of being beautiful ( here's where relativity comes into play ), he or she may be 'as ugly as sin', so to speak, inwardly! On the other hand, an individual may lack that outward appearance ( relativity, again), but they might have the kindest, gentlest, most loving ( beautiful ) demeanor, thus being more truly attractive than the one who is merely beautiful on the outside. Again, in this sense, beauty is relative, but is it really?!

God created all things beautiful! Most people would not say that the mosquito is beautiful, that it is part of the curse, but if you looked at its wondrous workings under a microscope or muse about God's wondrous purpose for even this lowly creature, you might change your mind! Relativity makes its appearance here, once again, because most if not all human beings would rather swat them out of existence than study them and see what makes them tick!

Speaking of human beings, the central concern of this blogpost, it could rightly be said that all human beings, in the above context, are beautiful creatures! Whether in the outward appearance, the inward demeanor, both or neither; God created every human being on this planet beautiful! And really, when you think about it, everyone is attractive or attracted to someone; the ugliest person, in either way and of either sex will always attract others! That's just the way it is!

Being the emotional creatures that we are ( yes, that's the way God made us ), we naturally find members of the opposite sex attractive! Men tend to bristle when a women with the appearance of beauty enter their field of vision. The same often happens to a woman when they see a 'cute butt', on a guy, or 'wowzers, look at those gorgeous......eyes'! More often than not, that's as far as it goes, the object of their affection passes out of their line of sight and that 'beauty' is all but forgotten!

Beauty, although in a sense relative, is more, much more than a passing fancy, though; it is inherent ( some just keep it under a bushel basket while others set it on a candle stick )! Our emotional response to beauty is too often mistaken for beauty itself! Relativity makes a person beautiful to one, but hideous to another, depending on any number of things, but this is about the appearance of beauty and not beauty itself!

God created all things beautiful! God created human beings to be attracted to the opposite sex as well! The appearance of beauty is most often what any given person will notice about another. Upon closer examination, that person might decide that the object of his or her affection ( emotional attraction ) is not so beautiful as first thought, that the attraction was merely to their ( outward ) appearance of beauty, yet that person will most likely still be attractive to someone, and most definitely beautiful to their Heavenly Father, their Creator!

When we ( men and women ) appreciate the beauty that God has bestowed on His Creation, usually on the opposite sex, although it may be based on general appearance, it sometimes kindles a spark within that make us want to get to know the true beauty that is that person! Other times we just turn on our heel, so to speak, thinking, 'oh, that person is probably only beautiful on the outside'!

Charles Haddon Shank

2 comments:

bill said...

Hey again a great article and let me tell ya i felt the sting of it if you catch my drift. Do you know of a good article or sermon about the souls under the alter......thank you

Charles Shank said...

Thanks, Bill; cannot think of any off hand, but I believe I have made some comments about that phrase in the past!😃