Effortless Perfection |
by Catherine Larson |
The cover of Redbook for July has a picture of Faith Hill and a teaser "Faith and Tim: What's normal about them; what's not." Well, the question is a bit ironic given the fact that one of the things that is not normal about Faith is her cover photo.
It's no suprise to me that cover-photos are photo-shopped. What is a bit more unusual is getting to see the original next to the shopped one. The site jezebel.com (site contains profanity) has them digitalized so you can see both. It's maddening how obsessed with perfection our culture is. Faith is a stunning woman without being photoshopped, but we are so obsessed with an ideal that even someone as outwardly attractive as she is has to have her photo doctored. The new standard that is being held up is one of "effortless perfection."
I have a different ideal I'm working toward. It is not one that disowns beauty as the Gnostics disowned the body. But it is one that focuses on the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit and therefore cares for itself, not for itself, but for others. I believe that true beauty only happens as one becomes more and more others-centered. A person who cares for her body because of the Supreme Other, God, not for vain self-flattery is on the road to true beauty. A person who cares for her inward spirit as a way to display the character of God and treat others as God would want them treated is on her way to true beauty. If there is an effortless perfection worth working toward, I believe it is one of self-forgetfulness. I've spotted it in few beautiful women both in fiction and real life. Read more and let me know the examples you've spotted...