Sunday, May 06, 2007

Beauty

This was in reply to a question posted to me by Dolly, my friend.



Dolly,

Hmmm. Nice question. Needs a long walk to think about.

The perception of beauty per se is very individualistic. What you might perceive as beauty might not be so for me. So how do you come to a common definition of beauty? But tell me, what gives you pleasure, what calms your troubled mind, what gives you a sense of extreme happiness? In my case, a beautiful thing that makes me look for words to describe
it. Be it a person, a thing, or a moment of time.

Beauty is also a cultural thing. For example, in Brazil and Latin American countries a voluptuous woman is considered a beauty, however, in America and Europe, a thin waif like woman is considered a beauty. So what is the common line that you can derive out of this. In some tribal cultures, neck extensions using rings (this practice was popular among some tribes in Burma) or small feet (this was practiced extensively in China) were considered things that were beautiful. Some of these practices we find totally strange, but who are we to judge?

In todays world, exposing your body, piercing your body in odd places, all, convey a sense of beauty, to both the viewer and the wearer. So are these expressions of self worth really wrong? Nope, personally, I feel that beauty is very personal, both to the person admiring and the admired. How many times you would have looked with envy at some person and at the same time your friend might not find the same person attractive? So a common definition of beauty is out of the question and perhaps would not be general enough and right.

My perception of beauty, as I told you earlier, is something that brings me extreme joy, something that leaves me speechless, wondering on the work of the GOD above.

And no, you were not asking too much. Because I find you a beautiful friend.

Venkat

Dolly wrote:
> Whts your idea of beauty & how do u define it? Hope I'm not asking too much tho.
>

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Us in perspective

I received an interesting main as a forward from a friend. The topic was "Great Perspective on the size of the Universe". Though I generally ignore these mails and process them when I have some free time, I was intrigued by the title. On opening it, I was properly put into my place.

Seems that we are the size of a grain of sand when compared to the Sun, which would on the same scale be larger than football.

What really put me in place was that, the Sun itself would be the size of grain of sand when compared with the star Antares which would be the size of a large exercise ball, when using the same scale as comparing earth to Sun. I know that the universe is large, but WOW, I could not
imagine the spread and size of it as described in that mail.

This set me wondering, what the hell, we are so insignificant when seen with respect to the whole universe that we would be like a mustard seed in a warehouse full of footballs, exercise balls, and other such massive objects. Then why are we talking about conquering other nations and people. We have enough weapons to destroy our planet many times over, many many times over. Would it matter in the whole scheme if we existed or not? I believe not.

If we are not able to understand this, we are not fit to exist.

This whole thing was also reinforced through an excellent book - Contact, by Eric Segal. Though the movie does not do justice to the book, it is a good watch. The book deals with the subject of our place in the whole universe. And the same idea is presented by the author.

Then why are we fighting within ourself, killing/maiming our kin, destroying our environment, polluting the very air, earth, and water that sustain us. Why are we running behind money - an invention of ours-? Why why why?

This raises another question in my mind. Is this universe accidental? Or is it evolved? Or is it created? Who will answer this question?