Beauty: Is it true?

B"H

"Charm is false and beauty is vanity." (Proverbs)

Human history is littered with examples of ideas that were thought beautiful in their time, and continued to have a following long after their inherent ugliness—and evil—was revealed.

Why? Because we begin from our senses, from what catches the eye or the heart—so we are prone to latch on to dazzling but misleading premises, and to remain married to them long after they have ceased to hold any promise.

The solution? We need to work from the inside out, probing essences rather than sensations, seeking order, and from that process, a glorious aesthetic emerges.

Truth—when it is uncovered—is beautiful, but beauty is not truth.

-Chana Silberstein (http://www.chabad.org/asktherabbi/challenge_cdo/aid/470887/jewish/Answer-1.htm)

I've just been wondering a lot lately, whether beauty means anything. I mean, why did God Create beautiful people. And why are we attracted to external, physical beauty? If we're taught that the inside, the soul of everyone and everything is what it's all about, why the external beauty?

I haven't come to a complete answer yet, but from these words here I think the idea is that what's truly beautiful is the inside; who one really is, his/her soul and personality. If it is kind and compassionate, if it is "true" in its goodness, than it is really BEAUTIFUL.

AN external beauty though, is not true. It's not insignificant; it is a creation of G-d. But if the INSIDE doesn't match the outside, than this "beauty" isn't true, and we should try not to get stuck on our 1st glances. We must train our animalistic sides, not to just look once and judge on looks, but to appreciate the deeper side, the true side. Sorry models. sorry Brittany Spears, sorry MTV-

-Daniel