Is beauty only skin deep?

We hold pageants and select beauty queens. We are quite familiar with Miss Sri Lanka, Miss World and Miss Universe contests. All these contests are held because there is something called ' beauty' - a highly abstract term we can ever think of.

We call something beautiful because of its relation to our appetitive faculty. A beautiful person or thing is perfect in some way. To measure the beauty of someone or something we apply our own standards, using our intellect and knowledge. What is more, beautiful people and things bring us immense pleasure. That is why we hang beautiful pictures on the walls of our sitting rooms. We also attend beauty pageants or at least watch them on television.

As 'beauty' itself is an abstract term, we find it difficult to define it. If you look up a standard dictionary, beauty is defined as "the quality of being pleasing, especially to look at, or someone or something that gives great pleasure, especially by being looked at."

St. Thomas Aquinas describes beauty through its effects. He says, "The beautiful is that which is pleasing to behold." His description comes very close to the dictionary definition of beauty. In metaphysics beauty is a "transcendental perfection which results from the act of being of things, and the richness and variety of its diverse forms stem from the different degrees and modes of being."

In religion we refer to the supreme beauty of God but it is quite different from the mundane beauty of a woman or a flower. In other words, we find different levels of beauty. There is an intelligible beauty of a person who leads a spiritual life. In all other people and things beauty belongs to a lower rank. This is because intelligible beauty is closely connected with morality. But we do not see any link between the beauty of a woman and morality.

St.Thomas Aquinas describes beauty through its effects.

There is beauty in nature. Cascading waterfalls, flowering trees, rivers and many other natural creations are beautiful. And we are in no way capable of adding anything to their beauty. God or nature has created a beautiful world for man to live in. We see the beauty of nature with our main sensory organs - eyes. When we see beautiful sights and listen to beautiful sounds a message is immediately passed on to the brain. Then we feel a sense of pleasure or delight.

Philosophers say that there is a link between beauty and goodness - a special type of goodness. In other words, this is different from other types of goodness. For instance, when we eat a ripe mango, we feel a sense of pleasure because it satisfies our taste buds. However, when we see a beautiful waterfall, we feel a kind of eternal happiness because it will exist for another century or millennium.

Think of a beautiful woman. A man may be attracted to her beauty. His ultimate aim may be to marry her. Through marriage he wants to keep the beautiful woman in his possession. On the other hand, another man will appreciate her beauty without the idea of possessing her. This shows that beautiful women and things are bound to bring appetite to play. It is this appetite that gives rise to pleasure and enjoyment.

When a man does not wish to possess a beautiful woman, he derives only aesthetic pleasure.

A question might arise whether the contemplation of beauty is always accompanied by delight. By now we know that beauty is not the pleasure itself. Things would remain beautiful so long as they remain a pleasure to us. It is incorrect to say that things remain beautiful because they are pleasing. The truth is that things will remain beautiful whether we appreciate their beauty or not.

Another question often asked is whether there is a nexus between beauty and perfection. For that matter, all beautiful things have a semblance of perfection. There is also some degree of harmony or proportion in all beautiful things.

A beautiful person or thing should have completeness. For instance, a woman with physical defects will be disqualified in a beauty contest.

On the other hand, there should be some clarity in a beautiful object.

Clarity refers to physical or spiritual beauty.For instance, a beautiful rose should have colour and brightness. Similarly, a beauty queen should have physical attractiveness and charm. There are degrees of beauty. So, in a beauty contest we select the winner, first and second runners-up. Our eyes perceive such degrees of beauty. However, if you happen to meet a truly enlightened person such as Jiddu Krishnamurti, you will see the supreme beauty which is incomparable.

If we look at it very broadly, everything created by God or Nature has some kind of beauty. Even a ferocious tiger has a beautiful body. However, human beings are very fuzzy when it comes to the perception of beauty. They look for a certain proportion between their knowing powers and the beauty they perceive. As a result, one might say, "Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder." There are some aspects of beauty that elude us. Similarly, there are religious truths which are beyond our comprehension. Therefore, our eyes have to be trained to perceive authentic beauty. So, "Beauty is only skin deep" has to be viewed in a broader spectrum.

Beauty is a complex and multifaceted entity. The Maker or Nature has endowed all the creations with immeasurable beauty. Enjoy it!