Human beings are often superficial creatures. Actually, that statement is not quite accurate, so I should probably qualify it.
The tendency for human beings to be superficial is not a matter of humanity in and of itself, but it tends to be appurtenant to human beings who have already satisfied some range of their essential necessities. Therefore, the superficiality of human beings is a qualified tendency.
“Oh, if he were only two inches taller.” “Oh, if her figure were just a bit more ‘hourglass.’” Really?
Perhaps it is socially scoped, but whenever or however a superficial judgment manifests—if we should take notice—it reflects more about ourselves than the external object of interest.
We are culprits and victims of these tendencies and judgments. I no less than you. The important point is that we appreciate that it is happening. That is, that we are judging things on a superficial basis, without regard to utility and substance.
Indeed, these superficial judgments tend not to be based upon absolutes, but they are relative to a context. And the context is that we simply tend to judge superficially when we can do so. In our rise to comfort, we naturally tend to separate from our grounded essence. We’ve heard it before, “stay grounded.”
When we judge based upon superficialities—if we should see and reflect upon it—the real judgment is not of the external object, but, by implication, the real judgment is of ourselves.
We complain about a hard day. Really? Having our children killed in a chemical attack, now that’s really having a hard day. All that superficial judging about how beautiful and handsome someone is immediately surrenders to real substantive context of meaning, such as, for example, when viewed in light of the tortures of the Holocaust. We think we’re starved, or that there’s nothing in the house to eat. Really?
Therefore, these superficial judgments are not really pointed to the external object, because, if they really were so, the judgment of the external object would not change relative to our own context. So, it follows further that our judgments of things are skewed by the bias of the context of ourselves as the judge.
And, that’s very bad business for The Truth.
If we should reflect upon The Truth—really and truly—we would take each external object of interest and we would judge it the same way without regard to the bias of our own context. We would consider the true meaningfulness and essential importance of a thing.
Aesop taught as much more than 2,000 years ago, with his famous, The Stag and His Reflection, printed here for our reflection.
33. THE STAG AND HIS REFLECTION
A Stag saw his reflection in a pond. He loved his powerful antlers, but he was ashamed of his spindling legs.
“Why am I cursed with these legs when I have such a magnificent a crown!“
At that moment, a Hunter approached. Startled, the Stag sprang into the forest, where his antlers caught him in a trap.
As the Hunter approached to kill him, the Stag said to himself, “These antlers that I lauded have killed me, and the legs which I despised were my salvation.“
Moral of the Story: That which we adjudicate as beautiful reflects the true essence and depth of our own character.
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See The Business of Aesop™ article series index.
© 2017 Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/substance-things-business-aesop-33-stag-his-gregg-zegarelli-esq-
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