Beauty in Religions and Gods: Relevance of Beauty to People of the 'Selfie' Culture
Mina Dewar, Huron High School, Ann Arbor, MI; Sophie Steinberg, Mamaroneck High School, Mamaroneck, NY; and Rajan Dewar, SOAR, Lansing, MI, Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, NY
"The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the group - trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of knowledge" (Genesis 2:9). Is beauty, as defined as 'pleasing to the eye' one of God's central creation dogma? Is being beautiful a sign of being blessed? Is God beautiful?
In this abstract, two teenage students discuss beauty and its importance in present day life and in reference to forms of God and worship in select World religions.
"He has made everything beautiful in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). No religions abhor beauty. Some eastern religions (example Buddhism, Hinduism) give beauty to visual forms of God. In practice, and religious rituals, beautification of gods forms a major steps in worship. God himself is named and described in many terms that emphasizes beauty: 'sundhara', for example. In complete contrast, Abrahamic religions do not define god himself through form. While the son of God and mother of God carry blissful dispositions and beautiful forms, the beauty is not emphasized in prayers or worship.
Beauty, somewhat narrowly defined as pleasing to the eye, could be very distracting when the intent is to seek solace in god, in seeking his grace or in soulful mourning. It is likely with this intent that Jewish traditions cover mirrors during period of sitting Shiva. Similarly during the Jewish day of atonement, Yom Kippur, the focus on external beauty is discouraged in favor of focusing on internal cleanliness.
Are we living in times of extreme vanity? How important is form or appearance to daily existence? Watching a self-image ("selfie"), constant image corrections and monitoring self projections in a virtual world has become dominant activities of life. If God promotes beauty, did he mean to promote this form of self-beautification as his intent?
Most religions, both east and west, converge in ideologies that focus on the internal essence. 'Aathma vicharan' - soul searching, inner quest, looking within, are truly higher and greater forms of worship. Did god mean more of the inner beauty, than the external eye pleasing kind? Messiahs and priests in such spiritual quests have known to spend time in solitude. Living alone takes away the distractions of presenting a pleasing appearance for sure - no more watching self-images happens in such times.
We live in a world obsessed with external beauty. We are constantly being bombarded with external expressions of beauty - in media, television, advertisements and merchandising. These add layers of complexities to clear before we can discover the beauty within, the beauty that God likely meant for us to see, and God himself. Is it a sin then, wrongful or to provoke guilt, to self-image or beautify?
Art, forms of art, nature are all forms of beauty and God created these to please the senses; likely also to aid the seeking mind. Enitharmon, in William Blake's mythology represents spiritual beauty but depicted as external beauty in art form. This makes comprehension simple for the masses.
The question of beauty and its meaning in the current world of existence is complex. We don't pretend to know all answers, but wish to ask the right questions, relevant to the world that we live in.
The mirror is all about focusing on our self. This focus, if it gets distracting to our quest of greater things in life, such as an internal essence or a higher meaning, needs to be covered.
In this abstract, two teenage students discuss beauty and its importance in present day life and in reference to forms of God and worship in select World religions.
"He has made everything beautiful in its time" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). No religions abhor beauty. Some eastern religions (example Buddhism, Hinduism) give beauty to visual forms of God. In practice, and religious rituals, beautification of gods forms a major steps in worship. God himself is named and described in many terms that emphasizes beauty: 'sundhara', for example. In complete contrast, Abrahamic religions do not define god himself through form. While the son of God and mother of God carry blissful dispositions and beautiful forms, the beauty is not emphasized in prayers or worship.
Beauty, somewhat narrowly defined as pleasing to the eye, could be very distracting when the intent is to seek solace in god, in seeking his grace or in soulful mourning. It is likely with this intent that Jewish traditions cover mirrors during period of sitting Shiva. Similarly during the Jewish day of atonement, Yom Kippur, the focus on external beauty is discouraged in favor of focusing on internal cleanliness.
Are we living in times of extreme vanity? How important is form or appearance to daily existence? Watching a self-image ("selfie"), constant image corrections and monitoring self projections in a virtual world has become dominant activities of life. If God promotes beauty, did he mean to promote this form of self-beautification as his intent?
Most religions, both east and west, converge in ideologies that focus on the internal essence. 'Aathma vicharan' - soul searching, inner quest, looking within, are truly higher and greater forms of worship. Did god mean more of the inner beauty, than the external eye pleasing kind? Messiahs and priests in such spiritual quests have known to spend time in solitude. Living alone takes away the distractions of presenting a pleasing appearance for sure - no more watching self-images happens in such times.
We live in a world obsessed with external beauty. We are constantly being bombarded with external expressions of beauty - in media, television, advertisements and merchandising. These add layers of complexities to clear before we can discover the beauty within, the beauty that God likely meant for us to see, and God himself. Is it a sin then, wrongful or to provoke guilt, to self-image or beautify?
Art, forms of art, nature are all forms of beauty and God created these to please the senses; likely also to aid the seeking mind. Enitharmon, in William Blake's mythology represents spiritual beauty but depicted as external beauty in art form. This makes comprehension simple for the masses.
The question of beauty and its meaning in the current world of existence is complex. We don't pretend to know all answers, but wish to ask the right questions, relevant to the world that we live in.
The mirror is all about focusing on our self. This focus, if it gets distracting to our quest of greater things in life, such as an internal essence or a higher meaning, needs to be covered.