Imagine if you would, that the human race had only four senses, with vision being taken out of the mix. Can you fathom a world without it? We would be unable to see the magnificence of nature, the Impressionists’ works on display at le Musee D’Orsay, or the looks on our loved one’s faces. However, we would be eased of the burden of the superficial, artificial beautify that is plaguing our society in the media today.
If we had no history of vision, we would have a different standard of beauty. Our measuring stick would be skewed more towards the substance of our vessels, our bodies, than their appearance. We would have no need to be thin to fit into fashion, because fashion would have a practical function, rather than the need to be on a thin frame to showcase better. Our face’s architecture would be more interesting with imperfections because they would be filled with texture, which would be glorious to the touch. Literature would serve, I hope, its continued purpose to whisk readers into different worlds, but without the limits of physical descriptions. Music would remain unchanged save for the musicians whose only talent is in their looks that blind their untalented voices with synthesized microphones. Actors would be chosen not for their appearances or their ability to physically transform for roles, but, instead, for their tone and melodic voices – such as the sumptuous voices of James Earl Jones, Maya Angelou or Sean Connery. We would seek to be more intelligent, courteous and kind. The words we would speak would be more carefully chosen. Our ability to craft sentences to a sound that is pleasing to the ears would be the goal in which everyone would strive. Of course, our culinary fascination would endure as our senses of taste and smell would be heightened and we could savor our meals without the fear of it taking up residency on our hips. Our confidence and self esteem would be fueled by our intelligence, hoping to impress others with our minds rather than our dress size or bank accounts that enable us to buy things to make us feel superior to others.
The manner in which our daily routines begin would be limited to what was necessary and not ornamental. Our need for makeup or other cosmetic routines would be banished. Perhaps we would all have short, shaved heads to be more efficient. Our clothes and shoes would be comfortable and function to assist us as we maneuver around the elements. We would have no need to look in mirrors – so perhaps the invention of the mirror would not exist. However, what if mirrors and a surgical procedure to be given the gift of vision were invented in this four-sensed world? Would your first declaration upon looking in the mirror for the first time be “I am not beautiful” or “I am too fat”?
Every day we make decisions based on our own experience, history and preferences. We have no problem deciding what we want to eat or how we want to be entertained. Yet, we have a problem knowing what makes us beautiful. Rather than make this decision for ourselves, we allow others to make it for us – be it the magazines, the runways, or the commission-driven sales rep from the high end department store. We are intelligent and confident people, we should be able to define ourselves. We should have more of a say in what the standard of beauty is. Why does changing the standard render us paralyzed and turn our brains to atrophy? Why, as a modern, forward-thinking society, have we lost our senses?
Senseless Beauty by Tracy Katzenberger is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
No comments:
Post a Comment