Beauty

Yesterday, a student asked me about my ideas on beauty. What followed was a good and meaningful discussion on both our parts, I thought. But later, I continued to think about the idea of beauty.

In our culture we too often think of beauty in purely superficial terms. We let corporate America—from cosmetics to costume to entertainment—create stereotypes of beauty for us to frustratingly chase after and envy after. Glamour is the goal, even increasingly so for men. Barbie continues to reign. Abs and breasts are sought after, sculpted, admired and surgically amplified.

So then, where do we find the meaning of the authentic person, the beauty that is deep? Where do we find the narratives of the adventurous search for real person hidden beneath the surface? Where are the hero guides we need?

This journey is hard and upstream in our culture. It’s more than time in the gym, or putting on makeup or finding just the right outfit. Movements like #METOO and #BLACKLIVESMATTER have shown us that.

Right now, Barbie wields much more power than Plato.