People always say: ‘It’s inner beauty that matters, not outer beauty.’
Well, that’s not true.
If it were, why would flowers put so much energy into attracting bees?
And why would raindrops transform themselves into a rainbow when they encounter the sun?
Because nature longs for beauty, and is only satisfied when beauty can be exalted. outer beauty is inner beauty made visible, and it manifests itself in the light that flows from our eyes.
It doesn’t matter if a person is badly dressed or doesn’t conform to our idea of elegance, or isn’t even concerned about impressing other people.
The eyes are the mirror of the soul and reflect everything that seems to be hidden; and, like a mirror, they also reflect the person looking into them.
So if the person looking into someone’s eyes has a dark soul, he will see only his own ugliness.
Beauty is present in all creation, but the danger lies in the fact that, because we human beings are often cut off from the Divine Energy, we allow ourselves to be influenced by what other people think.
We deny our own beauty because others can’t or won’t recognise it.
Instead of accepting ourselves as we are, we try to imitate what we see around us.
We try to be what other people think of as ‘pretty’ and, little by little, our soul fades, our will weakens, and all the potential we had to make the world a more beautiful place withers away.


taken from Manuscript found in Accra by Paulo Coelho

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