An Ancient Greek Sense of Female Beauty: The Platonic Aspirations of an Aesthetic Lover

The Wave by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

A true aesthete is concerned and fascinated by beauty itself, by beauty for its own sake. It could be nature, an object of art, a real person or even a life-style. It may have its roots in the eyes of a beholder, yet mostly it manages to transcend the perspective of one unique being and becomes a sample or carnation of its absolute ideal and immaculate (Platonic) form.

It is the answer to the question what is beauty and how it is represented. What makes a face or body appealing or attractive? Although one's personal standards are different, when we agree on and sum up each particle of beauty, we will manage to conceive a picture of the whole, the “big picture”. A perfectly beautiful woman would be the perfect proportions of all beautiful features combined and enmeshed with a beautiful soul.

Beauty by today's standards is less that quest for the ideal, but rather a quick and hasty appropriation and supposed ownership of the object of beauty. A work of art that appeals to our senses, that we perceive as beautiful, we want to own. By buying it and putting a beautiful vase on our table, we have the chance of observing it at our own will and pleasure. We have, in other words, beauty at our hands and disposal.

When we have had our fill of the desired object, we believe that a more complete, more superior and more gratifying beauty can be found somewhere else. An art collector will not be satisfied with a few pieces; they need to have the whole ensemble of artistic works.

So far I do not have any problems with the conception of beauty. Yet it becomes rather complicated when we are talking about a person. The person becomes then the object we would like to possess, and that feeling that drives us is often given its romantic - and euphemistic - name “love”. As Nietzsche, not exactly a romantic but still quite a passionate man, claims love is more often than not a power struggle of possession and ownership between people.

Beauty may walk on the streets, but our desire of owning it will always burn within us. We are not merely satisfied with watching and admiring beautiful people on the street, we want to make them our own. In our modern lingo possession either becomes a quick sexual encounter or an attempt of “everlasting” marriage or commitment. Through either of these options we (falsely) believe that the beautiful object is going to be always there within our reach.

The other day I was admiring two beautiful women on the bus. Usually, from past habit, I would be tempted to talk to them, to try to win them over, to conquer them, to own them. Whenever beauty happened to pass by, I would sigh with sadness and believe I was the one constantly left and missing out from the beautiful game of love.

But now with rather more mature eyes and a shot of Greek, in particular Platonic philosophy, I have learned to appreciate beauty for its own sake. It is also a Buddhist kind of “letting go.” I feel no pressure in observing the beautiful person and enjoying the person's (physical) beauty the same way one enjoys watching a sun disappear on the horizon. It is fleeting yes, but by separating the sense of beauty from all other sensations and desires, one can look at beauty without pressure or pain, yet simply with the eyes of a lover of life and wisdom, namely as beauty for beauty's sake.

Why Submission - and Islamic Thought - seem so Foreign to Western Thinking

Our Western world seems to be obsessed with winning. Try and be your best, we are told. Never give up. Fight for your dreams and ideals.

There is an air of invincible force over the North American spirit that thrives on obstacles and competition; everyone is always on the look-out for self-improvement. “Second-best” just doesn't cut it; it's the consolation price; it's the price invented for losers only.

Although these are great principles that can move forward both the individual and the nation, it also has its peculiar drawbacks. Success becomes often defined and measured by “material success.” Businessmen compete with each other in size and money. Athletes break their necks to break world-records. Bestsellers and blockbuster vie over how much cash they can bring in.

The other drawback exists in the limits we each face. Ignoring them does not make them go away. No matter how much time I may spend on learning an art that is contrary to my talents and abilities – such as drawing - I just won't succeed.

When people tell you, follow your vocation or that you are born for this or that occupation, they acknowledge that in theory, you can be whatever you want to be, but, in fact, you have a much narrower selection regarding your skills. The reality is that some things can be taught and learned while others you are born with.

Yet something that seems contrary to the Western spirit on a rather deep level is submission. Submission means losing control over the outcome and putting them into the hands of a higher power. It is used in religion to refer to God's will who is said to be behind all the major potentially life-changing decisions, the same way a president though democratically elected has (nearly) absolute power over the future of his (or her) citizens.

But many times we do find ourselves in the position of submission, whether we accept it or not. For example, when you apply for a job, the power structure lies on the side of the employer, and you need to submit to the final decision of the manager. No matter how invincible you think you are, no matter how convincing your act may be, like it or not, the manager has the final say in this matter.

Equally, in my own personal experience, I submit stories for publication. My submissions end up on the table of the “all-powerful god-like” editor who decides to publish it or not. Depending on how much pride I have, the rejection will hurt more. I can cry out that life is unfair, that the editor is an ignorant jerk, that nobody these days values a good and well-written story or that my story, plain and simply, sucks.

But since failure is frowned upon, I will keep trying and get into a vicious cycle of undermining the little confidence I had. In the best outcome I will throw out the story and write a much better one and have another crack at this presumably closed and prejudiced business.

When it comes to Islamic mentality, submission is a part of life as the word Islam itself means submission to the will of God. It does not mean that they see themselves as failures and are happy with it, but that they see a higher cause than themselves constantly interacting and maybe even interfering with their plans. When something does not work out the way they hoped, they will simply shrug and say it has been God's will. Fate interposed between my dreams and what is really the best for me, and Fate, or rather Allah, chose the latter. There is no bitter or hard feeling there but simple acceptance.

I personally believe that some things are not meant to be. There are indeed limits, call it fate, God, Allah, or destiny. You can hit your head against the wall as many times you like; it will stand firm in opposition and won't budge. To me a wise man would be flexible and simply steer away, that is go around the wall or simply make a U-Turn.

It does not have to be seen as failure nor done in low spirits. One would say I tried, and it did not work out because it was not supposed to happen. But I still have many other options more suitable for me right around the next corner. As the philosopher Leibniz states, what is providence in the mind is simply fate in the body.

Adam in Paradise and Calling a Spade by its Correct Name

A name is important indeed. For better or worse, we identify with the name we are given by our parents. Few of us actually legally change it; it's something that we have grown accustomed to; it has become a stable core of who we are, despite the fact that we personally and physically keep changing; sometimes we may even become a completely different person, yet our name always remains the same.

That's why when parents name their children, it is a difficult matter. The poor child is going to be stuck with it for the rest of his or her life. It is a great responsibility. People may later make fun of him or her because of their name.

The same responsibility must have weighed heavily on Adam's shoulders when God assigned him the task of naming all those creatures in front of him. By giving them names, he might have also felt a sense of control, a kind of life-giving. As an author, we feel proud to have created an interesting character with an interesting name; as a parent, others may compliment us on the choice of our kid's name. Or when we invent a new dish and name it ourselves, giving it our own touch and flavor, we equally feel pride and ownership.

It is said that a rose would be sweet by any other name. Sure, you can call a rose a tree, which would mean that the “tree” would smell nice, and the “rose” would sprout leaves. The essence of the matter would not change, of course.

It reminds me of a brilliant Swiss story called a “Table is a Table” (Ein Tisch ist ein Tisch) by Peter Bichsel, where a lonely man thought it funny to change the names of things calling each thing by a different name, and he eventually becomes incapable of having even a simple conversation with others. Language may be randomly assigned, yet it is still based on a consensus, so if you speak of a rose you should “mean” a rose, otherwise there is going to be a lot of confusion between the two of you.

Calling a spade by its correct name helps one communicate effectively and honestly with others. This is one of the main merits of language, whether written or spoken. It creates a bridge between two souls; for a moment, they are not islands onto themselves. We can come closer to the best of our abilities to explain ourselves, our feelings or points of view, our thoughts.

It is, therefore, important to learn a language well, to be as precise as possible in one's choice of words, not to mince words but to state things clearly, unequivocally. This is often referred to as communication skills, and it prevents one to have misunderstandings. Wars have started on the misuse of words, on ignoring to choose the right tone of voice and so on. The list is endless and we need to sharpen our words and increase our knowledge to let communication flow easily. As they say, communication is key; yes, it is a key to understanding.