The Eye of the Beholder

Not the girl in our group – but similar (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The speaker – a member of the kids’ philosophy group I run – was tall, slim and graceful.  Her perfect, even features were framed by long blonde hair.  She was 14 years old.

The group had been discussing the possibility that we create our own reality.  Excited ideas were bouncing around the circle:

“but that would mean…”

“so do you think that we …”

“so if I was, in some weird way, kind of – the creator…”

 

 

That was when she spoke:

“But if I had created my reality… surely I would have done a better job.”         She shook her head and gestured miserably towards her own face and body.  “I mean, I would have created something better than THIS.”

She wasn’t fishing for complements or trying to lighten the mood.  Her brow creased as she tried to make sense of the possibility.

The rest of us – children and adults alike – gasped in amazement.  How could she not see how lovely she was?

And yet how many of us do the same?  How many of us become intimately familiar with all our perceived faults and utterly blind to our perfection?

My response was to talk her through a quote from my book:

It’s not big-headed to recognise our own beauty.  Until we can find and love the wonder in ourselves, we can’t see how it fits into the whole of creation.

Once I can honour the divinity in myself, I can find and honour it in you.

Namaste.