The Greeks argued that beauty is an argument for Truth, and we have carried that bias all the way into the present day
Now, I know that your definition of beauty is far more subtle than the purely physical, and I agree
And
This is a cultural bias that still needs to be addressed
We - as a culture - almost reflexively reject truths that come from physically unattractive people (particularly women), while we all-too-readily accept lies from the beautiful
Media - even the toys and books we provide our children - reinforces this bias almost from birth
We aren’t taught, and therefore find it difficult to teach, that true beauty lives underneath the skin and the smile and the makeup and the marketing
While this bias exists, real beauty (in the context you describe so, ummm, beautifully), will remain an elusive and sometimes covert leg of this triad
First — you're right, and it's a wound worth naming: our culture does reflexively trust the beautiful and dismiss the plain, and it trains us from the cradle. That bias is real, and it has real victims.
And here's where I'd add the metaphysics beneath it. The bias is the ego mistaking the symbol for the referent — taking surface beauty (which is Maya, the veil) for real Beauty (which lives, as you say, underneath). The Greeks were right that Beauty argues for Truth — but they meant the Beauty that is convertible with Truth and the Good, the radiance of being, not the arrangement of a face. The cultural bias is what happens when we forget that and worship the veil instead of the light through it.
The cure works on both levels: transcend the ego, and the personal bias dissolves — you see the Beauty underneath. But at the cultural level, the wound still needs naming, teaching, and correcting, exactly as you say. The absolute answer doesn't excuse us from the human work. Both are true. Namaste.
Articulately named: the malady of our times. Thank you.
First, I agree
And
(Insert caveat here)
The Greeks argued that beauty is an argument for Truth, and we have carried that bias all the way into the present day
Now, I know that your definition of beauty is far more subtle than the purely physical, and I agree
And
This is a cultural bias that still needs to be addressed
We - as a culture - almost reflexively reject truths that come from physically unattractive people (particularly women), while we all-too-readily accept lies from the beautiful
Media - even the toys and books we provide our children - reinforces this bias almost from birth
We aren’t taught, and therefore find it difficult to teach, that true beauty lives underneath the skin and the smile and the makeup and the marketing
While this bias exists, real beauty (in the context you describe so, ummm, beautifully), will remain an elusive and sometimes covert leg of this triad
First — you're right, and it's a wound worth naming: our culture does reflexively trust the beautiful and dismiss the plain, and it trains us from the cradle. That bias is real, and it has real victims.
And here's where I'd add the metaphysics beneath it. The bias is the ego mistaking the symbol for the referent — taking surface beauty (which is Maya, the veil) for real Beauty (which lives, as you say, underneath). The Greeks were right that Beauty argues for Truth — but they meant the Beauty that is convertible with Truth and the Good, the radiance of being, not the arrangement of a face. The cultural bias is what happens when we forget that and worship the veil instead of the light through it.
The cure works on both levels: transcend the ego, and the personal bias dissolves — you see the Beauty underneath. But at the cultural level, the wound still needs naming, teaching, and correcting, exactly as you say. The absolute answer doesn't excuse us from the human work. Both are true. Namaste.