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Answer #1 - Chana Silberstein


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.
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Chana Silberstein, educational psychologist   More articles...  |   RSS Listing of Newest Articles by this Author

Chana Silberstein holds a doctorate in experimental psychology from Cornell University. She is educational director of the Chabad House in Ithaca, New York, and currently works as curriculum specialist for the Jewish Learning Institute.


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Reader Comments
Latest Comments:
Posted: Aug 15, 2010
relative versus absolute
I would guess the truth is someting that is constant and unchanging, whereas beauty is a matter of opinion.

There clearly are things that we find beautiful for a reason. In the case of people, it's believed the congruity of one's features contributes to that, but it's still a matter of opinion.
Posted By George, Yonkers, NY

Posted: Mar 24, 2010
To me, what lies underneath our skin is ugly.

Take for example, the brain and intestines. They do not look beautiful.

Therefore truth is not necessarily beauty.

Truth is truth.

Beauty is beauty.

Let's not confuse the two.
Posted By David, New York, NY

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



 


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