Beauty vs. Attractiveness

As I kept thinking after writing the last blog entry, it became more and more obvious to me the distinction between what is beautiful, and what is attractive. some of this is just loose thoughts all mashed together. The basic idea is that beauty isnt attractiveness.

1. Beauty is exisitent wether you noticed it or not, attractiveness is cultivated. God (and God in His creation) is beautiful, even if no one noticed. It would happen all by itself. But you cannot make it better or make it happen. But you could do everything from excercise to surgery to wearing nicer clothes to make your self more attractive.

2. Beauty is an aspect of God, whereas attractiveness is an aspect of humanity.

3. Beauty will draw you to a greater revelation of Beauty Himself. Attraction will draw out your appetite. When you see Beauty, it draws you somewhere, but when you see something attractive, an appetite wakes up inside you, and you want that for yourself. It creates a hunger that can become quite covetous. Beauty will awaken your heart to something that causes you to want to give yourself to it.

4. Beauty is pure, it cannot really be manipulated or created. It seems like it, but as you begin to take it for yourself, it fades, and turns to sinful and ugly things. As you begin to own it, you dissociate yourself from the source of it (God), and it turns into an idolatrous thing. We then use it for ourselves, and it descends into an awful mess.

Attractiveness can be influenced and redirected and used. It is really fallen beauty, and it becomes a vicious cycle. It becomes a possesive thing, and token to barter with. As long as you can figure out what someone wants or needs, you can try to configure yourself to meet that demand, and use it.

5. Beauty is simple. When you see beauty, it is simple, intuitive, and self evident. Attractiveness usually is more complicated, requires maintainance. A simple example is waking up, and seeing your wife, who might claim she has messy hair, and no make up, and yet all you can do is understand her beauty vs. walking down the street and seeing someone all made up desiring attention and influence. While she may be pretty, and she may be attractive, it all comes from effort and effect, not a revelation of a deep love.

The example of your wife is beautiful because you love her, and you see her with love, which brings a true revelation, based on how you know the true person. The lady that is all makde up to look like a porn star is trying to get your attention, and something from you. She is using (and most typically from brokeness and wounds) herself (or himself) to trade for something else.

I am sure there are plenty more ways to describe this. I now realize how I saw beauty, when all I had typically seen was attractiveness. I see that more in the Body now than ever. We use our gifts and talents, and over time we begin to draw people and things to ourselves (all in the name of "ministry" and "Gods work"). We begin to prostitute the beauty that God has placed in us, and trade ot for all sorts of things, but in a subtle way that looks like beauty, but is simply fallen.