what is it? can anyone make one unifying statement on what beauty is?
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New York City
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Unsu...
Re: beauty
Tue, January 25, 2005 - 9:22 PMnot mine, but... "There is certainly no absolute standard of beauty. That precisely is what makes its pursuit so interesting." - John Kenneth Galbraith -
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Re: beauty
Tue, January 25, 2005 - 9:26 PMi'm not just talking about human beauty. i'm talking about beauty on many levels, all levels. what is beautiful? what ties beautiful things together? how it affects you -- like a mysterious force that awes you? -
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Unsu...
Re: beauty
Tue, January 25, 2005 - 9:29 PMout of the realm of human beauty... i think of snorkeling, how it fills the senses. the warm water, the taste of salt. the feel of strong sunlight. the bright colors of the coral and fish. the subtle sounds of the fish munching the coral, the undulating sway of the tide... -
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Re: beauty
Tue, January 25, 2005 - 9:57 PMBeauty is that which you would give up other things for...like a sunset over the mountains. I gave up the ocean for that kind of beauty.
Beauty is what you aspire for in things, and people.
I'd say its undefinable. -
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Re: beauty
Wed, January 26, 2005 - 5:30 AMyou gave up the ocean for a sunset? couldn't you have had them both? i'm lost here.
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Re: beauty
Wed, January 26, 2005 - 5:37 AMi don't think beauty is anything that you aspire for. i think beauty is a certain consciousness that you can cultivate according to how quiet you can make your mind to see it. other factors contribute to your ability to see it, like when you find yourself outdoors in nature, for instance. i think beauty is close to the untamed wilderness, although i grew up in NYC writing romantic poems about the beauty of city streets. so i guess it's a waking up of the senses (sight, hearing, touch) into possibility. like yesterday when i stood in the middle of the snow covered woods high up on a hill and started to hear the sounds of dogs barking which turned into the sounds of geese honking and then i tried to turn to anticipate which direction the sound was coming from until i saw them flying straight over the white sky in a V-formation but with one longer end. when i turned my head, they looked like a flying check mark through the sky.
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It stands, sovereign
Wed, January 26, 2005 - 4:13 PMIt's a big question, what is beauty. I'm almost sure that any knowing we as humans - or really as sentient beings of any sort - could have of it is but as translation of Spirit into an experience we are willing or able to have. Throw brain chemistry, socialization, basic awareness/awakeness into the mix, and how sure are we, really, of anything that is quality based? Certainly beauty can't be measured; it is the very basis of flavor or quality.
There are those who say that we are beauty at our core, and so our experience of beauty is dependant somewhat upon our willingness to know ourselves. I tend to agree with this and try to remain willing to be aware of where I want to shut down and deny beauty in my inertia and lower sloth. I would go so far as to say, Beauty is reality, because not only can it heal and enlighten, it can pinch, bother and irritate. And hurray for that.
So much for making one unifying statement.
Hey, thanks for starting the tribe, Amy. -
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beauty in people
Wed, January 26, 2005 - 7:52 PMyou're welcome. and welcome to the tribe.
what about beautiful people? for a long time now, i've had the idea that what is considered beautiful in people is culturally relative and in this culture it has to do with a rather bland- featured facial symmetry, the look you see of models plastered on magazine covers. i know some of this thinking is my own defense mechanism since i don't fit the mold of the 'beautiful person' model. as a result, i've developed a scorn toward what i call 'conventional good looks,' choosing to believe that there are also unconventional good looks which theoretically speaking, are superior.
in actuality though, i'm as blown away by model good looks (well-chiseled features, strong eyes) as anybody. when someone shockingly good looking gets in my face, i feel that they are holding a kind of power over me, holding me captive so to speak. i feel pinned down and at times, i don't like it, i'm appalled and affronted. i want to treat them just like anybody else and i make sure not to betray that their looks are having an effect on me. i exhale in relief when they leave.
it's a protective measure for myself, but also i have a certain suspicion that people like that are accustomed to getting reactions from others and that consciously or not, they use their looks to their advantage. the suspicion is that i'm at risk of falling into a power game since their looks make me weak.
that said, there is obviously a huge pleasure in drinking in someone's appearance. sometimes i feel that when a stunning person looks in my eyes, their beauty penetrates me and makes me mirror them, even resemble them. this must be fantasy, but there is a real, pervasive way that the beauty fills me, like a physical sensation. -
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Re: beauty in people
Thu, January 27, 2005 - 9:33 AMPower over you? Really? I actually think I understand. But as a total outsider? Your picture is really compelling. Far be it from me to try to convince anyone of their beauty (it's too much work), but attractiveness harkens to beauty to some degree, don't you think?
It's a funny thing. I am one of those people who was gifted by your "conventional good looks", and on purely that basis I'm quite sure I have to power over anyone. In lots of cases my looks have been a liability, either because of people's judgement's about who I might be "underneath it all" or because they were uncomfortable ...? Now that I'm talking about it *I* feel uncomfortable. -
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Re: beauty in people
Thu, January 27, 2005 - 10:11 AMyou're right. what am i talking about? i'm a fucking goddess! -
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no argument here
Thu, January 27, 2005 - 10:47 AM... but what you think of yourself when no one's listening, that's where your power is. Hell, I'm easy: you have a cute and mysterious picture, you write well, I like what you post on other tribes! I wish empowering others was as easy as a well-placed confirmation. I don't even know necessarily what a "goddess" even is, but if you lived closer *I'd* be a-knockin'.
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Re: beauty
Thu, January 27, 2005 - 9:06 AMI think beauty is the subjective sense of perfection in form.
When you sense things and situations aligning with your subconscious ideas of perfection, it triggers your sense of beauty.
That's the best I can figure. This question has inspired another thread... -
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Re: beauty
Thu, January 27, 2005 - 10:59 AMYes. But where are subconscious ideas of perfection come from is another matter.
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Re: beauty
Fri, March 30, 2007 - 7:55 PMBEAUTY -- definition of Beauty in seed form would go as follows: Beauty is a vigorous conjuction between the *presentational vividness* of significant form in the in the elements (or in the case of a simple object a single element) and harmony of those elements (or single element) with each other (or in the case of a simple object harmony of single-element with a liminal space that is near it)
Harmony alone--is NOT identical with beauty as some might be wont to claim . Instead, harmony, coupled with vividness of significant form, is what is the quality of beauty .
Hopefully, in the next post I will be able to touch upon the concept of significant form which is key to the precising definition of beauty .
Beauty is definitely is NOT subjective nor relative to mere opinion despite what the relativist/postmodernist crowd likes to claim . There is NO "to me" , or "to you" of "for them" or "to us" about beauty .
Beauty transcends mere pleasure . Beauty transcends a person's personal self . Beauty provides us an awareness of that which is greater than ourselves . Ethel Puffer had some interesting ruminations on beauty .
By the way , you have a beautiiful countenance, Amy . -
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Re: beauty
Sat, March 31, 2007 - 7:30 AMthanks Jason. too bad i can't see your countenance! replace the question mark? -
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Re: beauty
Sat, March 31, 2007 - 9:51 AMhere i am again! wow. what a difference like TWO YEARS makes! ah, my circles of cycles.
hey, Amy, do you live in Boston?
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Re: beauty
Sun, April 1, 2007 - 12:14 AMYour quite welcome , Amy . Perhaps one day you will --if we ever meet in person one day and/or correspond via snail mail . I wouldn't be able to upload anything . I don't have a scanner and , moreover, I'm borderline computer illiterate . -
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Re: beauty
Wed, April 4, 2007 - 11:34 AMAmy ,
I imagine that you have a beautiful voice , also . -
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Re: beauty
Wed, April 4, 2007 - 12:16 PMhey, this is Strange Observations, not Strange Imagination. -
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Re: beauty
Wed, April 4, 2007 - 11:00 PMRe: beauty
hey, this is Strange Observations, not Strange Imagination.
THE RESPONSE : Oh..................................
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