Compare and Contrast - Inner Beauty and Outer Beauty

Beauty can be defined as the qualities of a person that gives pleasure to ones senses. The day we are born, we are all considered to be beautiful, inside and outside. As we grow, each of us develops our own unique personality. This is the point at which the inner beauty and the outer beauty either become one or part ways. Inner beauty and outer beauty are subjective.

Inner beauty can be seen through the eyes of those who love us always. Everyone’s mother tells her child “You have the most beautiful inner personality, it is what makes you shine”. Having heard this so many times, I wonder if it is just because of the deep love a mother feels, and if she changes her opinion as the child grows older. and their personality develops. Possessing true inner beauty is rarely something a person who possesses it can hide from the world because of the nature of what it means to have this trait. A person with inner beauty is number one, selfless, caring of others, and believes in all the good in the world.

Usually, you can spot a person who has a deep inner beauty by the bright shine coming from their eyes. It is always said about a person with inner beauty that they have a sparkling genuineness about them that draws people to them. They are usually truthful people, without being arrogant or rude.  A person with inner beauty is always happy to help when needed. Many times you can find people with inner beauty in industries of service; social workers, out reach programs, nurses, and other such people who are caregivers.

Physical beauty is different for everyone. I say this because of the old adage “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. However, it is hard to dismiss the obvious beauty when you see a striking person, with perfect eyes, hair, nose, smile, and body proportions. Sometimes we are born with physical beauty and it just carries on into adulthood. Other times, people must cultivate their physical beauty.  But, again physical beauty is subjective. One person can look at someone with red hair and be repulsed, whereas the next person walking by could be drawn to that person like a moth to a light bulb.

Physical beauty is based on just your outside traits and nothing else. It is the first thing that people notice about you. This is why when some people say “It was love at first site”, you wonder; was it really love, or just physical attraction? People who have above average beauty are usually also always well dressed, well quaffed, and very fastidious in their appearance. These traits can also be true of a person who possesses inner beauty. 

Inner beauty and outer beauty are the same in that they both draw people to us. However, these are for different reasons. Inner and outer beauty is what we are made up of. It just depends on what shines through the most. Comparing and contrasting inner and physical beauty is very hard to do without bringing specific people into mind. So, I will speak from my own personal experience about what comes to my mind when I think about inner beauty, physical beauty, someone who possesses either one or the other, or nothing at all. There are people I have met who from the moment you meet them, you cannot take your eyes off them. Everyone wants to look and be like them because they have such physical beauty. Then, the person opens their mouth, and they are very rude and ignorant. They sound as if they were raised in a barn. You then say to yourself “Great package, but, nothing going on upstairs”. Secondly, you meet a person of average looks; maybe they even have something that sticks out about them, like a big nose. They could be a little unkempt. Then they sit down, open up their mouth, and they light up the room with their personality. Suddenly, that person becomes beautiful. In another scenario, you meet a person who seems to be beautiful on the outside and then you talk to them and discover that they possess just as much beauty on the inside. Lastly, there is the curmudgeon, who possesses neither inner beauty nor physical beauty. He is not pleasing to look at or listen to. He seems to be unhappy and lacking in the social graces. This is a hard person to love, but, I guess somewhere, there is his mother.

My final thoughts on the subject of inner and physical beauty really go back to my first thoughts about inner beauty and outer beauty. They are both subjective and each trait is relative to everything about that person and to everything about the person who is looking at them. This is proven in the examples I gave of people who I have encountered in life who possess physical beauty, inner beauty, both inner and physical beauty, or neither.