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The Ethics of Adornment
This is going to sound odd, but I'm honestly curious about what other people think about this.
Makeup, earrings, getting your hair done...all of these things both alter how you actually look, and they have no other purpose then looking attractive. Is there anything inherently wrong with wanting to look attractive?
What do you think?
Makeup, earrings, getting your hair done...all of these things both alter how you actually look, and they have no other purpose then looking attractive. Is there anything inherently wrong with wanting to look attractive?
What do you think?
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Comments
I sure will never understand the robes of a buddhist monk from a practical standpoint. Just get a simple shirt and pair of pants yo! Why should one of the shoulders suffer and the other not? That's discrimination.
It's the motivations. Here's some contemplations to think of:
WHY am I trying to look more attractive?
What's the purpose?
How does the makeup made up of bird feces make me feel better about myself?
Why do I think I am not beautiful unless I measure up to the standards of others?
Why do I feel like adorning myself with baubles makes me beautiful?
Why is there a focus on beauty when such beauty is impermanent and a waste of my much valued time?
Diamonds are extracted from the earth using the labor of Children whose tiny hands can be crushed by falling stone.
Diamonds also are used to fund ethnic wars and destroy countless lives.
It was gold that was used as an excuse to kill the native Americans and steal their homes and all gold, precious stones, and silvers today are tainted by the blood and sacrifice of others.
Makeup is made of disgusting materials and are essentially tested as poison on countless sentient beings to make you feel beautiful for such a temporary moment in time.
What is the value of such an act of adornment and makeup?
Acknowledging such facts, it is better abandoned for the sake of all sentient beings?
I'm against makeup and adornment for that very reason, I know what I'm doing and I'm not a nun. Does that make me Nun-like? (O_o)
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There are religions that teach it's inherently wrong for women to look attractive. Buddhism is not among them.
For example, Buddhism has no teaching about marriage. It's considered a purely secular matter. Then, I would think make-up even more so.
Buddha bless,
Conrad.
Ah, brilliant wordplay!
<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4103/5212527808_c2d5c27b3a.jpg">
I actually just recently threw away a ton of makeup and jewelry, having come to the realization (after 14 years) that it's useless and distracting to me, fiddling with it all. I generally am most concerned now with keeping myself covered from the elements, as Epicurus said, and observing basic hygiene. I'm quite content now with keeping things simple. I occasionally do something a little different with my hair or wear a little jewelry or scent for family get-togethers, but I do it now as a small gift to others, a way of saying that the holiday or birthday is auspicious, rather than for personal vanity or to attract a mate.
However, everyone's mileage varies...in my case, I had been lying to myself--I had all the extraneous cosmetics and jewelry around because it seemed mandatory to the romantic relationship I was in at the time, but I never really liked having to wear it and so was really deluding myself with an unskillful and harmful attachment, to this supposed aspect of my 'self' which wasn't there at all. For another person, using cosmetics can be a means of artistic expression, and so quite fulfilling and skillful to engage in.
The questions TFPW set down are good ones to ask yourself, since it is really about your intentions. But in any case, remember that who you are, what you do, is always of more importance than how you look. (And looking good on the surface is never a substitute for actually feeling good about yourself, believe me!)
Almost all diamonds come from a single mine in Australia (though low quality).
You're right about them being overvalued though. It takes an insane amount of capital to begin mining, but once they get it going it's possible to mine insane amounts(over half a dozen tonnes per year).
What, with hands-on panning? And if so, what do you base this on?
<img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4129/5211995053_8c6807dc9a.jpg">
This one is actually from the Wikipedia page on the trade in blood/conflict diamonds, and is from Sierra Leone.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_diamond_mines
I based my statement of a discovery channel doco I watched ages ago. That's why I said "I am pretty sure" rather than present it as fact. Then I looked up wikipedia and the Argyle diamond mine page came up and provided the 90%+ statistic.
The African mines produce anywhere from a couple of kilos to about half a tonne of diamonds per year (each). While the Argyle mine produces over 7 tonnes per year and supplies over 90% of the world's supply of diamonds. This information is also from wikipedia, but conflicts with another article which states 49% of diamonds come from southern Africa.
All the major African mines (which produce more than a couple of dozen kgs) run communities with schools and and hospitals for the employees, which I am sure is way better than any alternative. They also have to meet certain standards.
As for how it's actually done. From memory, they use lots of dynamite, massive drills and trucks. After blasting and drilling, everything goes on a sort of conveyor belt where it is sorted through. Considering the density of diamonds, I would be willing to bet that the sorting process is mostly automated.
Again, I have no doubt that many people are taken advantage of in the production of diamonds, but it's unlikely that the diamonds you see in the store came from those sources.
There is something to be said for taking a little pride in one's appearance such as showering, combing one's hair etc., but once one goes to the extreme of having nails done weekly, having every last molecule of skin sloughed off before it's even ready to fall off, has foreign matter injected under their skin and has natural matter sucked out from under their skin I think we need to face reality. We just plain do not love ourselves as we are therefor we cannot fathom being loved by anyone else.
We all grow old and die. Some can't accept this and so do their best to look 30 until they die at 90. To me that is just sad. It's a psyche that can't grow at the same pace as the physical body so the maturation of the body must be slowed down by any possible means to deal with the stunted psyche.
Yeah, take showers, comb your hair and if you care to, put on some modest make up. Find the place you draw the line and just say 'if you can't love me as I am then you aren't worthy of me'.