"The Best Part about Beauty..."

So, I stumbled upon this video a while ago and just recently ran into it again. It has had me thinking a lot about beauty and the way that we define it modernly. Francis Bacon is quoted as saying, "The best part of beauty is that which no picture can express," and I believe this to sentiment to be true, but at the same time, we live in a world that places a whole lot of emphasis on physical appearance. The past decades have seen revolutions in technology and computers, and as photo-editing programs and computerized rendering have grown more and more developed, we've seen their influence grow in defining beauty. To some extent, we have created an unattainable ideal of beauty, one that exists only within the pages of magazines and the windows of computer screens; we've created an unrealistic expectation for what a man or woman ought to be, how he or she should look, what he or she should think about the way that he or she looks. Well, it's not natural. It's not even skin deep.

Technology is great, but when the line becomes blurred between technology-augmented reality and technology-distorted reality, there is a problem. When that which is false and non-existent serves as a standard for that which is real and breathing, something must change. We are seeing some amazing developments in virtual reality these days, with new graphics engines and artistic innovations that could not have even been imagined a decade ago, but we need to remember throughout this all what beauty really is. It's not about the special effects and the perfect, airbrushed, ivory skin. It's not about having the nicest clothes or the perfect hair. Beauty is that which exists in all and which is recognized by few. It is that which evades those who seek it and which comes to those who strive to recognize and cultivate it in others. Beauty is inside each of us, and we need not pander to the whims of society in defining who we are what we are worth. Because in the end, while reality can never replace the beauty and innovation of virtual reality, the opposite is certain as well, that digital beauty can never truly compete with the beauty, that spark of divinity that is natural within each of us.