On the Road to Self-Realization, Beauty Counts
Part of the human condition is to set goals before we know how to solve them, to choose a part of our lives that we perceive to be deficient and lock on until it’s fixed. The path to fulfilling that goal can lead to many different places. Some lead to success and some to failure, but all will inevitably lead to more perceived deficiencies and more goals. They are the gold at the end of the rainbow, our goals, which keep us from hitting snooze in the gray light of a new morning.
Our time here is limited and so, consequently, are the number of goals we are able to set and achieve. Everyday we consume this limited resource, trading it for experiences that pass through our periphery. The longer a goal takes to achieve, the less time we have to embark on the paths of others. Given the fleeting nature of this resource, it is undoubtedly important to choose the right goals.
Beauty (as a goal) is a form of perceived self-improvement, a fascination with our roles in life and how others perceive us. People discount the importance of beauty with cliché sayings such as “beauty is only skin deep”, this social mindset devalues the significance of beauty as an essential step toward achieving other, intangible, goals of self-improvement.
A half century ago, Abraham Maslow published his work (still considered to be the authoritative work on the subject matter) “A Theory of Human Motivation” in which he stated the hierarchy of human needs, beginning with physiological needs (breathing, food, water, sleep) and building through stages leading to self-actualization (contentment, happiness). In order to make his theory more readily accessible, the steps were manifested in the form of a pyramid, each new step building from the prior fulfilled goal, with beauty and self-esteem included as integral to the overall process.
This logic tears apart the social stigma that plastic surgery is solely the bane of those who are trapped in superficiality and vanity. Instead it encourages beauty as a base level of self-improvement leading to more worthy endeavors and goals. In order to keep your eye on the prize of personal fulfillment, you must first come to terms with what your eyes see in the mirror.
Plastic surgery can be an effective solution for those stuck in the physiological stages of personal development and needs. However, as Maslow’s Hierarchy states, it is not a question of “when” people move from stage to stage, rather a question of “if” people move from stage to stage. If you plan to have Plastic Surgery do it for the person you can be, not the person you can look like. Otherwise you will be seeing the possibilities of your life from a skin-deep perspective.
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