The Beauty We See in Others...

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful...the Best Knower.

As-Salaam Alaikum, All!

Have you ever encountered someone who was just genuinely "beautiful"? I don't mean that they're "physically attractive", but that they possess a certain quality of Spirit and Character, and have a certain Way, that inspires you to want to be better, yourself? Have you ever met someone who strikes you as a reminder that there IS "Good" in the world, just by their very existence...so much so that you want to be around them (their energy) all the time?

Why do we respond to such persons in such way? What is it about them that affects us so profoundly?

As I pondered over these kinds of questions recently, it occurred to me that we don't respond to these "Beautiful" people the way we do simply because they're Beautiful; because no matter how Beautiful they are, we are still prone to ignore them, mistreat them, disrespect them...despite their beauty.

So what is it that causes us to respond to these "Beautiful Ones" the way we do, if it is not the Beauty that we see in them?

There is a saying, that contrary to what many believe, "It is not what you SEE that determines what you BELIEVE; but it is what you BELIEVE that determines what you will SEE."

We don't respond with admiration to the Beauty we see in others simply because they are beautiful. We respond that way because there is something Beautiful IN US that IDENTIFIES with the Beauty we see in them!

Why point this out? It is because too many times, without this little bit of insight, our identification with the Beauty in others becomes a futile attempt to "get" what we perceive the other person "has" by reaching "outward"; instead of taking the Beauty we see in others as a REMINDER of the Beauty that is in US, and then looking INWARD to cultivate that Beauty by feeding on the Words of Allah(God) - "The" Beautiful One - and by careful Self-Examination, Self-Analysis, and Self-Correction of our thought processes, so that the God within may express itself freely and fully.

Just wanted to share that with the Family.

Accept Your Own, and Be Yourself!

RM