[I received a positive reply from "Eyedontexist", following up on our conversation already posted here. I'm using italics just to differentiate the two voices in the dialogue this time.]
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@a-bas-le-ciel I hear you, and I don’t disagree that physical inequality exists and that some people are more physically desirable than others. I don’t disagree that a person can be physically beautiful while being a cruel or evil person - nor am I saying the cruelty would negate the physical reality.
I guess I’m speaking to a notion of “inner beauty” not of physical or sexual desirability. I don’t use the terms “beautiful” and “desirable” synonymously and I guess I was making more of a semantic argument in that respect because the former feels more subjective to me than the latter. I’m not meaning to be dishonest or paint myself as virtuous for this, I’m speaking to the experience of “beauty” as an internal experience what happens within myself when interacting with people who possess beautiful qualities.
And maybe I am a bit delusional, I’m not negating that lol. It would be perhaps comparable to the delusion of a person in love who genuinely perceives their partner as the most beautiful person, even when that perception would be shared by no one else and would be objectively false. Maybe I’m focused too much on the internal experience of beauty generated by interactions filtered through a lens of love and while you’re making a point about something else entirely. I can see how I might’ve derailed the point of the conversation onto something not quite attuned to the point you were making but I just feel deeply about the notion of “beauty” itself because it’s meaningful to me in more ways than just the shallow ones and I wanted to express that.
I’m not anything special physically, will certainly not draw attention through appearance alone but am experienced by others as attractive when they get to know me because of the inner qualities I’ve cultivated. The social leverage is real but not entirely contingent upon my physicality.
I think you make a fair point in saying that we need to have clear language to delineate what is meant in these conversations, in any case. I don’t mean to assert a false notion that we can all be equally on the same level of physical desirability nor am I saying that physical appearance is irrelevant/grants a person no social leverage. Especially for sociological conversations it makes sense to disregard the subjective and focus on the level most of the world is operating within.
I don’t think you’re wrong, especially since your aim is to ultimately draw people to more meaningful pursuits (which is something I agree with). I’m just recognizing a spot where our views diverge and am curious to see what kind of thoughts proceed open communication.
Idk, I’m open to the possibility that I might be full of shit and missing the point but I’m trying to come about this conversation earnestly and I’m open to amending my mental frameworks around it - just speaking from where I currently stand and how I currently conceptualize things.
I appreciate your thoughtful response and willingness to engage. Sorry if my response is all over the place, I’m sort of just speaking stream of consciousness - not my most organized line of reasoning.
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Thanks for taking the time to write in: both in this video and in my replies here (that will appear below it) all I can really do is disambiguate the nature of the problem. Millions of people live for many years with this kind of ambiguity you're playing with ("inner beauty", "mind over matter", etc.) and don't take seriously the damage done by the cycle of deception and self-deception that ensues. The difference between ugliness and beauty may be a tragedy that few people can cope with, preferring to escape into delusions rather than really accepting responsibility for it or accepting their own powerless over it, and this is why it is such an important contrast to the life of the mind and the development of the intellect —again entailing dangers of deception and self-deception —again entailing "truths too terrible to tell" both about personal responsibility and personal powerlessness (in dealing with our own primordial ignorance, instinctual laziness, and innate stupidity).
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@a-bas-le-ciel That’s very powerfully and beautifully stated, thank you. You may be highlighting a significant blind spot for me and I want to take that seriously and consider the possibility of unintended consequences my perspective may be unknowingly perpetuating. I’m generally pretty stubborn and must come to conclusions through my own process of internal reasoning before I can fully integrate change but I respect you highly and if this means that much to you, that’s an indicator to me that it’s something worthwhile to contemplate upon more deeply. Thanks again, I will think on these things.
