Saturday, October 31, 2009

A Beautiful Philosophy

You know who I find to be a perfect example of a beautiful woman? Kari Byron:



Though I have to say what makes her so appealing to the eye (to me) is not her physical characteristics solely, but that it seems, assuming she portrays herself first-handedly, that her body is the perfect presentation of her spirit. She is made pretty not entirely by how she takes care of her body but by how she lives her life; her life is reflected on her face.

Ever since I've read the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, the story where a boy prevents himself from aging by passing on his physical degeneration to a portrait of himself, I have been taking greater care to notice how people's lifestyle takes a toll on their body. My observations so far indicate that the ugliest people tend to also be the unhappiest. Even if they manage to keep their body looking youthful and handsome despite their psychological states, they render themselves unattractive by their actions.

What kind of philosophy a person advocates has a dramatic impact on the life he lives. It will decide the courses of action he will choose, what emotions he will feel toward certain things, how healthy he will be mentally, what habits he will establish, whether he assumes responsibility or not, and so on. Ultimately, what kind of philosophy one advocates will decide whether one will achieve life and happiness or failure and misery. A good philosophy offers guidance in life whereas a bad one is useless. Degrees can be employed here: the better a philosophy is, the more useful it will be in offering guidance in choosing courses of action and achieving happiness; the worse a philosophy is, the more useless it is in offering guidance, and can only lead to misery if put into practice.

A good indicator as to what kind of philosophy a person holds and adheres to is his sense of life: the more consistently happy he is, the more justifiable will be our assumption that he is adhering to rational ideas to some degree; the more consistently miserable he is, the more justifiable will be our assumption that he is adhering to irrational ideas to some degree.

This is why Kari Byron interests me so much: she smiles not for the camera, but for the enjoyment of her own work, and she is not some idle host for a television show, she is an active participate, every bit as capable of physical and technical labor as that of her coworkers. She seems happy to be alive and is competent at her work.

I say with no exaggeration that I see fewer and fewer beautiful women each day. It is a painful sight to see a woman who has put forth effort to take care of every detail on her skin, only to have the whole of her beauty ruined by her mindlessness. I used to think that women who posed for photos with the ugliest of men (soul and out) were setting up some kind of Beauty and the Beast contrast, but I see now that their willingness to associate with such men indicates they are both alike in mind.

Oh well. All you need is one beautiful woman to know that beauty is still in the world.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Life in October So Far

Aside from the fact that it is my birthday month and beholder of one of my favorite holidays, I have been having quite a good October so far.

Today my copy of Fat Head and The Twilight Zone: The Complete Definitive Collection arrived in the mail, and for purchasing them Amazon.com rewarded me with five dollars worth of credit for its collection of downloadable videos, which I used to download episodes of my favorite comedy series, Monk. Also to look forward to in the mail is the arrival of my favorite periodical, The Objective Standard. Two nights ago I had the pleasure of learning that my favorite educational program, Good Eats, will be having its season premiere this coming Monday (which refutes my thought that the show had been cancelled) and will be running a two-hour special on Saturday night. Tonight my second favorite educational program, Mythbusters, is having its own season premiere.

Things to look forward to further in the month: the purchasing of Snow White (Walter Elias Disney is one of my heroes), the coming of my birthday, and the celebration of Halloween.

Life isn't worth living unless you keep in mind that which makes life worth living.

Is life worth living? Well, I can only answer for myself. I like to be alive, to breathe the air, to look at the landscape, the clouds, the stars, to repeat old poems, to look at pictures and statues, to hear music, the voices of the ones I love. I enjoy eating and smoking. I like good cold water. I like to talk with my wife, my girls, my grandchildren. I like to sleep and to dream. Yes, you can say that life, to me, is worth living.-- Robert Green Ingersoll