Beauty and the beast

"Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god. "

~ Aristotle

Beauty and the Beast (French: La Belle et la Bête) is a traditional fairy tale. The first published version of the fairy tale was a rendition by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, in 1740. Since then, several variants and adaptations have proliferated throughout the literary world. However, I am not concerned with the original story or its adaptations. What matters for the purpose of this article are the qualities of beauty, and beastliness' that engulfs and possess - Homo sapiens, human beings. By whatsoever name one may call them, no matter what gender, every single individual of the species has the essence of both: beastliness and beauty. As to which of these two characteristic predominates the behaviour pattern of an individual is, determined by the circumstances of one's birth, living, and culture.

Thus, this is where, due to the traits of a human being, the theory of karma takes effect; apart from that brought forth with birth. Any of those qualities of objects, sounds, emotional or intellectual concepts, behaviour, that gratify or arouse admiration to a high degree, especially by the perfection of form resulting from the harmonious combination of diverse elements in unity; grace or charm, notably in women, is said to be beauty.

When referring to males, we use the term manliness or masculinity, instead of beauty, because the characteristic of strength, frankness, and intrepidity are those befitting a true man. The beast, when referred to beings, connotes animal characteristic or animal nature: a cruel, rude, or filthy person - be it man or woman. A beastly person is someone who is brutish; vile; degraded; disagreeable or unpleasant; nasty and hence abominable. The beast, in fact, corrupts the soul.

A beast does not know that he is a beast, and the nearer a man gets to being a beast, the less he knows it. To be a "beast" means to be motivated by: animalistic affections, not spiritual attachments.

The mark of the beast today is noticeable in and represented by our very lifestyle. In Sri Lanka these days, most people have become, not beastly in character, but beasts of burden. Their lives - the Lankan beasts of burden: the ordinary citizens - are nothing but filled with affliction, anxiety, sorrow, strain, stress, trouble, worry. It is the lash of hunger, which compels the poor man to submit. To live he must sell - 'voluntarily' sell - himself every day and hour to the 'beast of power.' The poor are saddled with oppression; weighed down with the burden of life; loaded with hidden forms of taxation; encumbered with too many problems, due to inadequate income: all because a few brethren - fools they may be, but beasts lacking beauty of conscience certainly they are - wish to live like kings, at the expense of the commonality. A fool never knows that he is stupid. A fool is too dumb to realise that he is indeed a fool. If not, will anyone vested with the authority to oversee the lives of their brethren, overlook their sorrow; and themselves live luxuriously, on the tears of his compatriot, his countrymen? "An insincere and evil person is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil person will wound your mind," said the Buddha. As to manliness, or masculinity, it is neither good looks nor great wit that makes a woman happy with her husband, lover, or any male for that matter; but character, virtue and, kindness.

Even if a beast has all those good qualities, she will prefer the beast to the man. The moral: beauty is only skin deep, and it takes someone beautiful, like a woman, to realise that. After all, the beauty and the beast in us both arise from the same source - our fragility. When we harden against it, the beast is born. Yet when we allow tenderness become us, we begin to discern the contours of a long-lost beauty hidden within the belly of the beast. If we can shine warmth and openness into the dark, tender place where we do not know we are lovable, this starts to forge a marriage between our beauty and our wounded beast. Yes, the beast is, in fact, nothing other than your wounded beauty. It is in the beauty that has lost faith in itself that the beast is, found to reside.

Not trusting that you are loved or lovable has given rise to all the most beastly emotional reactions - anger, arrogance, hatred, jealousy, meanness, depression, insecurity, greedy attachment, fear of loss and abandonment. The beast is, in fact, nothing other than your anguished beauty - the beauty that has lost trust in itself; because it has never been fully recognised. The first step in freeing the beast from its burden is to acknowledge the hardening around our heart.

Then, peering behind this barrier, we may encounter the wounded, cut-off place in ourselves where the mood of unlove resides.

If we can meet this place gently, without judgment or rejection, we will uncover the great tenderness that resides at the very core of our humanness.

No man or woman is born a beast, though the characteristics of beastliness may reside within the genetic material transmitted from parents. In all of us, there are good and evil forces in constant conflict with each other. It is our training and the circumstances we are forced to face with which determines and moulds our character.

When a man is meted treatment like a beast, he says, 'After all, I'm human.' When he behaves like a beast, he still says, 'After all, I'm only human.' It only goes to show that, in spite of all the wisdom of philosophers and the efforts of our religious teachers, we are yet to understand the meaning of being human.

We have not realised that to be human is to be humane. For, it is only in humaneness that beauty resides. By being humane, we cease to be beasts; reflect the essence of humanity and become beautiful people.

See you this day next week. Until then, keep thinking; keep laughing. Life is mostly about these two activities.

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