Dear friend,
Our society places utmost importance
on a woman having beauty.
We have highly defined standards.
Women who meet or exceed these standards
are revered.
Actresses, singers and models are our beauty icons.
Our standards used to be extreme
but over time have become more moderate.
Today many of our stars
inspire women to build their beauty
by becoming fit and healthy,
which is beneficial.
Yet our focus on beauty
remains primarily on physical beauty.
We don’t ask: “Is she spiritually beautiful?”
Yet perhaps this is the question we need to ask.
Why?
Because no amount of physical beauty
can make up for the absence of spiritual beauty.
I’ll say that again:
No amount of physical beauty
can make up for the absence of spiritual beauty.
So, what is spiritual beauty?
Spiritual beauty, in its essence, is tenderness.
It is the tenderness
we see in a giving woman
as she seeks to love and comfort
those she loves.
As she seeks to nurture
and encourage children.
Her tenderness
is seen in her gentleness,
her patience and forgiveness,
her caring and compassion.
The loving tenderness
within a woman’s soul
causes her eyes to glow,
her smile to be radiant,
her body to convey
a deep and receptive sensuality.
Tenderness–given and received–
is her way of life.
Loving inner beauty
When a woman is truly loved,
it is her spiritual beauty that is loved.
To be near a spiritually beautiful woman
is to experience her serenity,
and to be blessed by it.
Whatever physical beauty she may have
is wonderful
but it is the tender sweetness
of her soul
that touches you.
Blessings,
Dr. Hall
Question:
What are your thoughts about beauty? How have they changed over time?
Thank you so much. I very much appreciate your advice. I agree with a lot of things you said about how people like us ended up in the situations we did. I’m a big believer in our actions often being driven by a brain that was designed for an organism to excel 10,000 years ago. So many behaviors can be understood through that lens. I’m so happy for you that you have found happiness and that you did so at an age a lot younger than me. I’m 67 but I’m a very youthful 67. People are surprised that I am older than 55. I’ll keep looking and I know by looking inside that’s where I will find my happiness. Take care.
Deborah, I agree that spiritual beauty is what is most important in a woman, or in a man , or in trans gender people too. (Let’s remember that people can be very different, but still very beautiful.)
But my question is how do we know who has spiritual beauty? After all, there are a great many different religions which define what is beautiful, let alone spiritually beautiful, very differently. While Christians believe that Christ is the most spiritually beautiful of all, Muslims believe that the Prophet Mohammed is, while agnostics and atheists don’t know what to believe.
As for me, to me spiritual beauty is to be found in anyone, anywhere, of any age, racial, ethnic, or gender identity, who loves and cares about people, whoever they are, AND who really walks the talk by being there to help and support whoever needs our support. And my greatest wish is that humanity’s cruel inhumanity to humanity and to all species of life would be replaced by love, understanding, and support for all the beings of this troubled world of ours.