Goodness

"What a strange illusion it is to suppose that beauty is goodness." (Leo Tolstoi)

The order of things, their cleanliness, how they please the eye and fulfill our most current ideals of what is beautiful has come to mean that they also carry with them the idea that they are also good.

This is where we usually drift off into a discussion of good and bad and whether or not they exist, but they do. Inside of us we all have a concept of what is good and what is not good and too often it comes dressed first in a physical appearence that has little to no bearing on its intentions and effects.

If something is clean and well ordered it says more about the needs of the person who made it so. Perhaps the person needs those things to better be able to find things quickly in order to be of service to others. Perhaps they need order in order to counterbalance the feeling of tremendous disorder inside.

Physical beauty means nothing. Our concept of beauty changes as quickly as our concept of what is fashionable. Yet beautiful things and people appear stable and healthy.

It is not their beauty that makes them so, but the allowance the rest of us give them to enjoy life and to be good?

What would happen if we made that allowance for ourselves and others irregardless of appearences?

What if we started our days with the assumption that all possess the gold and value of goodness? And what if we recognized that at any given moment, any of us could be considered at the height of beauty? All it takes is a change of perception, and that perception is an external thing. Beauty comes with our willingness to communicate and engage. But it is no guarantee of goodness.

What is "beautiful," to split a word hair, is very different. The sense and being of beautiful is internal. It is what comes from inside and radiates out. It can be given as a gift.

There is another saying which I will probably get wrong but it is very true, "You don't love something because it is beautiful, it is beautiful because you love it."