Goodness is a core value in human society. I believe that beauty embodies the goodness of humans. Something is beautiful if it is good. When a girl has a good appearance, we can say that she is beautiful. When a man devotes himself to the cause of helping the refugees, we can say that he has a beautiful mind.
This reminds me of the movie, The Beautiful Mind, which depicts the life of a well-known mathematician John Nash. Although Nash has great talents in the field of mathematics, he suffers from his life. When in college, he has social phobia that he cannot talk to others with ease. Yet he is able to dig into his research on math. He develops the famous Nash Equilibrium theory, which challenges the prevalent theory of Adam Smith. Later he successfully becomes a professor at MIT. However, his life changes. Torn by the reality, Nash develops schizophrenia—he creates illusions of being recruited by US Department of Homeland Security to decipher war codes. He has to fight against all these illusions that seem so real. Under such circumstances, all the colleagues, friends and others isolate him. Yet he does not give up his passion for math. He tries every effort to continue developing his own theory and eventually succeeds. He wins the Nobel Price in Mathematics later.
John Nash owns the beauty of mind and thus goodness because he overcomes all the obstacles in his life, including being schizophrenic, and pursues his passion in math all the way through. His tenacity and perseverance are the goodness, the beauty of a human being. Thus, beauty does not only represent the outside good appearance, but also the inner goodness of human beings.
I really agree with your perspective of beauty. And I also believe that rather than the beauty of appearance but also the beauty of heart and mind can truly define people, and people who are able to realize beauty are those who value the beliefs of themselves as well as others.
ReplyDelete