The Principle Of Beauty
(1) What is the principle that determines whether a thing is beautiful?
(2) Is beauty really in the eye of the beholder?
The cliché that beauty is in the eye of the beholder is not exactly a truism. There is truth in it for a small percentage of the people, but for the vast majority the criteria for beauty is the same in all eyes.
“That’s not true,” says one. “I see beauty where many do not.”
That may be because you are looking where others are not, but if two look at the same thing they will generally see beauty if it is there.
Let us give an example. Who is the best-looking female – Jessica Simpson or Roseanne Barr? Now we are not talking about inner beauty, personality, sense of humor, etc. We are talking about physical beauty.
What percentage do you suppose would pick Jessica? Probably about ninety-nine percent, with the one percent just trying to be contrary.
Now, who would be the more beautiful – Jessica as she is today or as she will look at age 90?
Again, all but a few contrarians would pick Jessica as she is today.
Now many think that a bug-eyed alien may see us as ugly and its race as beautiful, but I don’t think so. I believe that beauty is universally recognizable.
As evidence of this it is notable that all races want virtually the same changes made to their bodies when requesting plastic surgery. What woman, for instance, will demand the surgeon give her a large nose or tiny breasts? None that I know.
We seem to know beauty when we see it, but what is the principle behind it? The principle behind beauty has been very illusive to researchers who have studied it. They did, however, find one characteristic that seemed common to beauty and that was symmetry.
In other words, if the right side of the face was very similar to the left side the face was seen by subjects as being more beautiful than if the features on one side did not seem to match the other.
But symmetry alone does not explain beauty. If half the face is ugly, duplicating it on the other will not a beautiful person make.
The question therefore remains – what is beauty and the principle behind it?
The answer is quite simple. The principle behind beauty is intelligent design. Symmetry enhances beauty because it does not happen by accident, but is created by an intelligent force.
A beautiful garden is not one that has no intelligence in its design. One lacking beauty will have weeds, withered plants and a random type of mixture. A garden produced by intelligent design will have wondrous color, healthy plants, symmetry and taste.
An attractive male or female will possess a body, which is intelligently designed to provide the maximum usability and function for which they were created.
The same thing could be said for a beautiful animal, flower, or even crystal.
A diamond increases in beauty after additional intelligent design is added to it and it is cut and polished.
We loose some physical beauty when we age because we move away from our original design. We were once strong, but become weaker, once firm then flabby, once smooth then wrinkled. Strength, firmness and smoothness are all ingredients in the intelligent design behind our bodies.
This principle of beauty applies to much more than physical bodies. It even applies to Roseanne Barr. The intelligent design behind her humor is more pronounced than Jessica Simpson so in this aspect she exudes more beauty.
The Mona Lisa has more intelligent design behind it than any art I could presently produce and it is also more beautiful.
Each new generation of computers and devices has greater intelligent design so their beauty in construction creates a greater magnetic force than does the last generation.
Beauty provides a strong impetus for creation whether we be man, god or atoms. When the entity is finished with his creative work there are no sweeter words to the ear than, “It is beautiful,” or, “what great intelligence is behind this.”
“Order is the shape upon which beauty depends.”
— Pearl Buck (1892 – 1973)
Copyright 2014 by J J Dewey
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