Beauty-who defines it?

     My almost 17 year old brother, wrote this paper on beauty for school. I loved it so much, that I wanted to publish it! He explains who defines beauty so perfectly! Enjoy! :)
Beauty and the supernatural

Could beauty directly correlate to something supernatural? If so, what does beauty look like? According to what societies have been saying for the past few centuries, beauty is based on or associated with pleasure. Beauty is either subjective or objective.  If someone were to say that beauty is subjective that means that beauty is never stable and based on opinion, but if beauty is subjective, it seems pointless to even use the word. However, if beauty were to have any meaning, it would have to be objective. To say it is objective means that there must be a standard that everyone must agree upon. Standards that everyone agrees upon are nearly impossible unless there exists  a supernatural being or God that created beauty, which means that true, unchangeable beauty is objective. Objective beauty can be seen through personality, nature, art, etc. however, man sees this beauty subjectively, because it is human nature to see things as subjective, but ultimately beauty is still objective.

In order for something to be beautiful, there has to be a God because beauty is ultimately objective. Assuming that beauty is objective there also must be truths about what is beautiful and what is not. Richard Swinburne says that “If God creates a universe, as a good workman he will create a beautiful universe” (Swinburne). However, if there were no Creator that created the universe, there is no reason to assume that the universe is beautiful. If there is no Creator or God that created beauty, how does one know what is beautiful? Some might say that it is whatever society creates it to be. This argument could go several ways; however, if society creates what is beautiful, good, true, etc. then that person would be putting their faith in humanity as the ultimate source of knowledge to create definitions of what is beautiful. If this is the case, how does an individual know that beauty is actually beauty? What if “beauty” is really pure ugliness and vice versa?  If there is no supernatural being that creates what is good or beautiful, than humans can only have theories upon what is beautiful, good, or true. Beauty must be obtained from what is good or true. According to Joe Puckett, “beauty touches our emotions in ways that others cannot.” He goes on to say that there must be a God that made “beauty to experience the aesthetic power of the world around us” (Puckett 98). There is a story of Einstein proving to a professor that cold, darkness, and evil are only the absence of heat, light and the love of God. There must be a God that exists and creates beauty. Beauty relates to God because God is beauty.

Within the early nineteenth century, Einstein created a formula in math that was originally m=ec^2 that later turned to e=mc^2. What this formula did was to show how mass was created by energy. It would take a tremendous power of energy in order to create the universe's mass and that energy lies within God. Energy is everywhere and makes up everything which would in many ways explain the way in which beauty relates to God because energy is abstract just like beauty. If God is real, there must be a soul and spirit within an individual's body that shows forms of human beauty.

When humans look at beauty, most of the time it is attributed to what is on the exterior. However, beauty goes beyond the surface and lies within a person's characteristics. 1 Samuel 16:7 says, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (The Bible). It is through a person's spirit that people can see what is good or beautiful, these different forms of beauty, according to Galatians 5:22-23, are “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” This is how true beauty should be looked at. However, society has made beauty into something that pleases their senses or “flesh” which, in many cases, are ugly. Generally, society is not grateful for what they have which causes them to want more of what is beautiful in their eyes. C.S. Lewis points out in Mere Christianity that “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world” (Lewis). True beauty can only be found through a supernatural being or God. Beauty that man creates causes many people to want something more which only the Creator can fulfill and that is the point of Lewis’s quote.

There are different levels of beauty such as, natural beauty that God creates and there is beauty which are products of man. However, products of man that are “beautiful” can be seen in a subjective sense because man makes the beauty rather than God. For instance, when humans create art whether pictures or cars, their art could be seen as subjective. No matter if man creates beauty, it still has to relate to what is good which ultimately means that beauty is objective. The nature of the flesh within a human has a  subjective nature even if there is a standard of beauty. This is because man is not perfect to understand what is truly beautiful. However, no matter what, beauty is objective which means that it does relate to God

Can beauty directly correlate to something supernatural? It can and this beauty can be seen all around the earth and the universe. Beauty must be objective and, therefore, relate to God who made all things. Normally, a man looks at beauty through subjective eyes because he has no sense of what true, objective beauty is. This beauty can be seen in the spirit of an individual and also can be seen through the good characteristics. Beauty can be seen as subjective, but ultimately beauty is objective. Those who say that beauty is ultimately subjective are in many ways putting their trust in humanity for the source of all knowledge. Therefore, beauty directly relates to God and this is because God is beauty.