Answer #1 - Is Beauty Truth?

HOME | CONTACT US | DONATE

Experience MyChabad.org. Sign up for Free!

ASK THE RABBI

Chabad.org » Ideas & Beliefs » Battle of Minds » Is Beauty Truth? » Answer #1

View All Sections »

3 Comments Posted

Is Beauty Truth?
If something is beautiful, is it true? Is a beautiful symphony as true as a scientific fact?

Chana Silberstein, educational psychologist

"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.

So beauty as a starting point becomes a distraction from truth, while those who seek truth are rewarded with a beauty that does not fade with time.

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

Discussion
Latest Comments:

Posted: July 5, 2009

Beauty=Truth

The beauty in anything beautiful and the truth in anything true are there because they instantiate aspects of the One who created them. An old axiom of Scholastic philosophy is that "G-d's perfections are one in G-d" meaning that since G-d is One and indivisible, G-d's beauty is G-d's truth is G-d's mercy is G-d's justice, etc. etc. But since no creature is perfect, the beauty or truth or whatever it has is just partial and derivative, so it can be lacking in some crucial aspects. That's how apparent beauty can deceive--a "beautiful" red berry can be poisonous even though it is indeed beautiful to look at.

Posted By Anonymous, Falmouth, USA

Posted: Feb 1, 2007

Need not

Chana,
Had I read your answer first I would have need not write my own.

Shem Tov

Posted By Teshuva

Posted: Jan 27, 2007

Truth is Beauty.

Hello Friend,
My perception of beauty is truth.
I recognize that true love does not always give what I would like to receive, but it always gives what is best for me. And, when I ponder on what I don't like in order to see why it was appropriate. I learn to think things through before I act on those impulses that have, in the past, caused my situation. And, even the past mistakes where needed to bring me into the world to come.
Tiferet is beauty because it is true. And, Tiferet is Torah.
Richard Day

Posted By Richard Day, Venice, Florida

Get the "Question of the Week" delivered

Got questions?

Searching for meaning?

Must I Forgive Everyone?