Beauty Is In The Eye

It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This is one of the most true statement ever made. For those living an alternative life style, beauty is in everything. We recognize that there are no two people who are exactly alike, and as such, no two people will see beauty in the same way. There are some things that are beautiful to almost anyone. Physical beauty, art, photography, nature...all of those things are beautiful to everyone, at least to some degree. However, what, exactly, is beautiful? What makes something appear 'beautiful' to another person? Furthermore, as the saying goes, you can never fully love another, until you are capable of loving yourself just as completely. In order to love yourself, in the mind set of a human, there has to be something that you find beautiful about yourself, that will trigger a love for yourself. Be aware that I am, in no means, talking about a narcissistic love, but rather a contentment type of love. To look at yourself in the mirror and think that you are beautiful is not a bad thing. To promote self-beauty to the world around you, as if you are THE most beautiful creature to have ever walked the planet is a whole other level of ego that should never enter into the alternative life style. Ever.

     There is some type of a mythical shroud, or haze, that seems to waft over people who live the alternative life style. It's as if people not living that life look at them like they're from an entirely different planet. To the more negative aspect, 'outsiders' tend to look at us as if we've just fallen off of the hippie gypsy train after a really long acid trip and are barely capable of speaking our own names, much less carrying on a conversation. Often, we're avoided like we've got the plague, and talked to only when necessary. Sad, but it's the brutal truth. I think what frustrates 'outsiders' more is the fact that not only do we fully understand how they feel (many of us are empaths and can often literally understand what they are feeling), but we also don't care. We see their beauty anyway, and are sympathetic to the secret battles they are clearly fighting within their own personal lives. Forgiveness is one of the biggest tools Crafters use on a daily basis. It is necessary. It is proper, and, it is honorable.

Take, for example, the people who travel. Wheather it be for work, family, occasion or holiday, travelers find beauty in all sorts of ways. One might find the city to be wretched, while they find the country to be amazingly beautiful, and the same person might find the ocean to be 'ok' at best. Their companion, however, may be just the opposite. Thrilled at the electronic and architectural beauty in the city, while the country is found to be 'boring', and the ocean, while really nice, is just 'ick' to them. It's all in the way each individual sees the world around them. This is also why there are so many ranges of art, and on all levels. One person may find jazz dance to be the epitome of the personal expression of beauty, while another one hates jazz dance, but finds the hula to hold the expression of beauty. For Crafters, beauty comes from within...AND from the 'out'. This means that not only does the Crafter find beauty within themselves, but they also see a much broader spectrum of beauty than the average person does. Simply put, they are trained to be that way. Most of them are self-trained, but some have also been trained by shamanic mentors, coven leaders and tome teachers. Whatever way they have been trained, the training is evident within their everyday lives.

     Take, for example, a witch. He/she may see a maple leaf and truly see the natural beauty of that leaf. A non-witch would see the leaf, and perhaps think it's 'pretty', but that person is not trained to see the complete beauty. Thus, that person would perhaps say "That is a nice leaf", and leave it at that. The witch will look at the leaf and quite literally see the time, the energy, the life span and everything that it took to make that leaf what it is at that particular moment. Thus, to the witch, the leaf is a result of years, or even decades, of combined efforts through the world around us, just to produce that one, beautiful leaf. To the person following an alternative life, everything, including man-made things, is beautiful. Their minds are trained to not only see the item in front of them, but to also feel it. They instantly recognize the sheer volume of skills that it took to create such a thing. Therefore, just for that alone, everything is beautiful. So, if everything is beautiful, what is considered 'ugly' to people of alternative lives? The answer is simple: negativity, on any level, from any source, towards any person/place/thing.

For example: They may see two lovers kissing. To them, that is beautiful. The passer-by who mutters something about that being a bad example to people, or says 'get a room'...THAT is what we find 'ugly'. To us, the winner of the ugliest dog contest is beautiful. It's the person who defines this dog as being 'ugly' that we think is 'ugly'. What we find to be ugly is not physical. It's attitude, emotion, words and actions. Ego is also very ugly to us, as well as anyone who does not show proper respect, or behave respectfully towards others. There was a little 'test' given one time. The question was: "If you had to choose a world leader, based on his known personal life style and habits, which one would you choose?". You were given a choice between Beethoven, Winston Churchill, JFK and Hitler. You did not know who these people were until AFTER you made your choice. 9 out of 10 people chose the person who was a devout Catholic, never used drugs, rarely drank alcohol, only smoked cigars (rarely at that) and never cheated on his wife, nor beat her in any way, shape or form. In fact, he adored his wife so much that he spent much of his time doing everything he could to protect her from harm, in any way. That person? Adolf Hitler. A bit shocking, considering everything else he was responsible for. Yet...those attributes are things that, regardless of how evil that person was to the world, are things that most people find 'beautiful', 'honorable' and 'respectable'. 

     While there is no question that Adolf Hitler was an evil, horrible person, the test showed people that things are not always as they appear to be. That everyone's personal lives are not always what the public will see. That rough and ready-to-fight Hell's Angel may very well be a loving father, adoring husband, caring friend and an honest man. He may APPEAR to be 'rough and ready to fight', but we all know, there is more than 1 side to a person, always. Everyone, all 7 billion of us on this beautiful blue/green planet, we're all fighting a personal battle that no one will ever truly know about. Thus, the people of alternative life styles know...be kind. Harm none, on any level. Care. Love...and, find beauty in all things great and small. Always remember, you are beautiful, no matter what anyone says, does or thinks. You do matter. You are loved and you have much to offer this world. Now then, stop reading this, go to your mirror and say to your reflection: "You are beautiful, and I love you".