Embodying Beauty: You

“Do you know how beautiful you are when you see the beauty in someone else?”

TARASA B. LOVICK

No object is so beautiful that, under certain conditions, it cannot be ugly. Because there is so much ugliness in the world, and knowing that beauty and truth are two of life’s great champions, I feel compelled to write about them. All we have to do is look for beauty, it is everywhere, awakening the soul to act—to love. Many people forget the soul's important role in happiness; beauty illuminates the soul—love. Beauty is whatever brings joy.

If you look up the word “beauty,” you will likely conclude that it focuses on outward appearance.

The thing about beauty is it lives among the poor, as well as the rich, and it appears in the faces of newborns as well as grandmothers. Beauty is the ultimate shape-shifter. If you ask anyone what they consider beautiful, you’ll get as many answers as the number of people you ask. A seemingly intangible thing like sound can be beautiful or ugly. If someone scratches their nails on the chalkboard, that’s not the same as listening to a melodious cello. There is a beauty that takes the breath away, like the graceful strength of a ballet dancer soaring across the stage. But we’re thinking outward. What about inward beauty? The most radiant beauty of all is spiritual, flowing when the heart is calm and open, and the soul can express itself through connection—consciousness.

What is the inner beauty?

The Bible says, “Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.” Hmmm. Moses ran from justice. Jonah ran from God. Rahab ran a brothel. Sarah ran out of hope. Lot ran with the wrong crowd. David committed adultery and arranged the death of Uriah. Peter denied Jesus three times before the rooster crowed. Paul mercilessly persecuted Christians. God saw what no one else saw. God used them all. What did all of these characters have in common? They each had a heart after God. Ultimately, that is all God needs—an open heart. Others measure your shoe size or net worth. Not God. He examines hearts. When he finds one, God calls it and claims it as His own.

Inner beauty can be described as who you are without any layers of pretense; you see yourself just as you are.

And you experience the divine seeing and loving you, just as you are! That love embodies the essence of all those characters listed in the Bible above. They could be anyone, like you or me. Recognizing this gives us the freedom to accept ourselves—every part, even those parts driven by the ego. We might like to deny the jealousy, lust, greed, and meanness. Or, those could be unconscious parts of us, as well.

Carl Jung was the first to describe the shadow as the hidden, repressed, and denied aspects of our humanity. Those aspects are unconscious, meaning they can influence our decisions without us realizing it. For many of us, understanding our shadow is more straightforward; for example, falling into a state of self-pity or projecting our character flaws onto others. When you love yourself shamelessly, you’re most beautiful—shadow and all. Remember, if your soul is pure, a process achieved through life’s journey, your inner beauty radiates love.

We must learn to embrace this inner beauty and truth, rather than demonize it.

When the internal is elevated and beautiful, it will show through to the external. That’s one reason that joy is considered a strength in spiritual dimensions. Think about it for a moment. Joy is a strength because it results from a deep, eternal bond with your divine—a strong connection of infinite love. 

On the other hand, the root cause of a person's inability to trust is that they lack inner faith and do not experience this inner goodness. Teaching trust is so much more powerful than teaching people to hate themselves because they are “white privilege.” We are not all black, yellow, brown, red, or white. We don’t have to allow violent ideologies to make us hate ourselves or others because of skin color or any other outward feature. The world doesn’t become compassionate by teaching hate.

The world becomes beautiful when we know that we are loved, love ourselves, and are capable of loving others. Connection with one another is what makes us happy; this is what consciousness is. This matters because happy people tend not to hurt others. Happy people live from their inner beauty and truth—they feel a deep inner connection to their divinity and humanity.

Have you noticed that happy people tend to be beautiful?

It is essential to recognize that beauty starts within you, and only you are responsible for nurturing it. Happy people don’t compare themselves with others; they don’t need to. Happy people don’t try to control others; that is manipulation. Happy people don’t judge others. Happy people live a life of love that flows from their hearts. Happy people feel compassion—they feel a sense of connection to others and nature. Happy people are true to themselves.

True beauty lies in being authentic to yourself.

Your true nature, goodness, and God inside you have a purpose. Happy people trust themselves. They have the power to help themselves, and they ask God for help. When you realize that you can change your decisions and trust your heart, you have discovered the sovereignty of love.

As Carl Jung says, “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”