Comments on: “Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart” ~ Kahlil Gibran

By: poietes

poietes — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:03:15 +0000

Thank you so much for stopping by. I am glad that you found comfort in my words. All too often, our conditioning keeps us from accepting ourselves, from liking ourselves from finding any beauty within ourselves. I know that I am my own worst enemy, but I try to remember otherwise. Take care.

By: Anuhea

Anuhea — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:59:19 +0000

Wow, I can’t even begin to tell you how much I needed to read this. Not ten minutes ago was I standing in the mirror pinching at my body while awful thoughts ran through my head. Eating disorders, like anorexia, have always been something I’ve struggled with, and today as I stood in the mirror I felt as defeated and ugly as ever. –it’s a weird situation really…I know that what I’m thinking is destructive, I don’t want to think this way, but I have trouble seeing myself in any other way. I was probably at the brink of a complete break down when I was crying out to God, “Please, just tell me that you think I’m beautiful!”…I sat down at my computer and somehow I found my place to this blog, it was exactly what I needed to read and I related so much to it. So I just wanted to say thank you, your words really touched me just when I needed them.

By: poietes

poietes — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:05:15 +0000

Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. I agree that very often materialism gets in the way of appreciating the more natural, beautiful things in life.

By: NotAlone

NotAlone — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:36:10 +0000

I love what you said about beauty. I consider that a beauty is going from inside to outside. I know some people who are not beautiful according to the social standards, but it’s a big pleasure talking to them. The “beauty standards” are determined by society, and usually so many people follow the standard opinion. I think that the more materialistic a person, the less he or she can feel the inside of the other person, and the more the appearance of others will matter to him/her. At the same time, it’s a pity that there are so many single people, especially women, with a low self-esteem because of “beauty standards”; they experience difficulties when meeting new people. We try to explain women and men at http://www.meetingland.com/ that happiness doesn’t depend on the facial beauty and body proportions.

By: poietes

poietes — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:40:30 +0000

I have never said that Kim Kardashian is a role model. I said that she could be a role model “as far as how she carries herself.” If you read more closely, what I was commenting on was the fact that she is attractive without being rail thin. Other than that, I know nothing about the woman.
If you were a regular reader of my blog, you would know that my heroes are more in the line of Socrates, Einstein, Virginia Woolf, and countless other philosophers and writers.

I have never viewed celebrities or celeb-wanna bes as role models. Nor have I ever pointed my children in that direction.

As for your labeling of me as moronic, perhaps you should read more than one entry on a blog before casting aspersions.

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:33:23 +0000

Wow..you are a little moronic I must admit. Who on Earth would use someone as shallow and absurdly small-minded as Kim Kardashian, who is famous for doing not much of anything similar to Paris Hilton, as a role model? I certainly would not want my children looking up to someone like her. Since when is she the standard of real? She has had plastic surgery to obtain what many voluptuous women are blessed with (i.e butt, lips, breasts, even had a nose job!) She is NOT the standard of real, but I do respect her for not being rail thin. I would never look up to her for anything outside of what she is–an attention/media whore. That is what she lives for. Famous for being promiscuous and creating sex tapes “mysteriously” released on the internet. I’ll look up to someone who aspires to be something more than what she unfortunately is.

By: poietes

poietes — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 21:05:47 +0000

I agree with everything you said about beauty being on the outside. Unfortunately, after years of my own mother pulling at my stomach and my chins and saying things like “you need to do something about that,” I’m more insecure than I would like to be. But I try not to judge others, and I hate our societal standards of beauty. From your picture, it does indeed look as if you have the youthful looks.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I love to visit your site.

By: dbmyrrha

dbmyrrha — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 14:57:46 +0000

This is a wonderful post. I enjoyed it immensely.

I’m a once-thin girl who thought she was fat, and who now *is* fat. I am disgusted by the shallowness and ridiculousness of people who would judge and denigrate women who look normal as being “fat and ugly.”

Kim Kardashian is neither (at least on the outside, I have no inkling as to her insides.) People who feel the need to do that are, themselves, insecure. Shallowness is not beautiful. People who are only beautiful on the outside will struggle their whole lives to keep that beauty, as it’s temporary, but those whose beauty shines from within will never lose it, and will be beautiful long after their hair turns gray, their middle thickens, and wrinkles set in. I’d rather have personality, humor, and grace than youthful looks, any day. (of course, I was carded for alcohol the other day, even though I was with my husband, and I’m nearly 40. So I guess I have the youthful looks, as well.)

By: poietes

poietes — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:21:42 +0000

Thanks Maureen. It was your post about cosmetic surgery that got me started on this whole topic, and then I saw that really nasty piece on Kim Kardashian, and it really got me riled. It’s not that I’m a big fan of hers, but if she’s a fatty, then I’m a horse! I just can’t stand the body images that are put out there. And then after I had posted, I saw a more recent picture of Jaslene, and my god, she is completely skin and bones, it looks as if she has lost 20 more pounds since she won the competition, and she can ill afford to lose 20 pounds. I mean, she was beautiful but skinny in the picture I posted. She looked cadaverous in the other picture that I saw.

By: Maureen

Maureen — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:00:03 +0000

Hi Lita,
Fabulous piece. I hope that the many individuals who are influenced by media or internal personal conflicts read this. Beauty does come from within
Maureen