The Schism Between Good and Beautiful
Today there is a schism between good and beautiful, one might even claim that they’re ideologically opposed, but this wasn’t always so. The ancients associated being beautiful with being good. If you listen to BAP’s Caribbean Rhythms podcast you know that the schism between good and beautiful began with Socrates.
Say what you will about Socrates, but he was a dog. He was ugly and his name meant “smelly man,” perhaps that’s why he came up with what we call the Socratic Method. It was some way to justify to the Greeks that he was good despite his smell.
The modern world treats beauty and goodness absolutely separate. Yes, you can be beautiful-but-evil and ugly-but-good, however that the idea that the two are utterly separate is folly. Goodness and beauty more often than not go hand in hand.
Modern culture is full of people who are obese and weak.
America—“the greatest country in the world”—has a population where 70% are considered overweight or obese. Recent events have given a glimpse into the American character. We’ve been revealed to be a bunch of scared cowards, hardly the traits of “good” people. You got a bunch of “men” who talk about how “real men don’t care how they look,” and a bunch of females talking about how men should love them at any size. Yuck.
The progressive tolerance cult tells us we should accept all genders and body sizes so long as they’re not white supremacist Nazis. The progressive—liberal—way used to be to accept everyone even if you disagree with them. But that quickly devolved into a cancel culture that has 62% of Americans afraid to express their worldview.
Look at the pictures put forth of modern Americans. Is it something of beauty? No, it’s something out of a horror flick. Fat purple haired lesbians, men dressed as women who identify as some gender you ain’t ever heard of. I don’t know what cis is and I don’t care. So they ain’t beautiful, but are they good?
You say something to offend this crowd and they will come for you. They’ll figure out where you work, who you associate with, try to dox your family. They’ll try to get you fired and humiliated by mainstream media. This definitely seems like quality good people, right? Most modern Americans are neither good or beautiful.
Modern America is an example of how to be good, you must also be beautiful.
Now—I’m not saying you have to look like Brad Pitt in Troy beautiful, but god damn it, take pride in your physique and style. The 300 Spartans on the night before they were to be surrounded and slaughtered at Thermopylae were seen to be bathing and brushing their hair.
Look at art, statues, Ancient soldiers, warriors, and heroes and tell me they didn’t care how they looked. Even the Vikings, who everyone thought were a bunch of mangy savages, took great care in grooming and working out. They were the original right wing bodybuilders.
Your appearance matters. If your overweight, you must lose the fat. Also, if you are skin and bones, it is time to put on muscle. It’s hard to respect and take advice from someone who doesn’t care about their physicality and appearance. Embarking on this quest for aesthetics will teach you what it takes to build. This lesson can be applied to every aspect of your life.
Through aestheticism, through beauty, you learn how the world works. A man with an understanding of the natural order has the potential for heroism. And through heroism, you can show the quality of goodness. This is how they’re related. It is possible to have one without the other, but it’s rare.
More often, an ugly man doesn’t have the capacity for goodness and heroism. He’s chosen the path of laziness and meekness. He may think himself good, but without the testing—putting in the work—he’ll be ineffective at best in a situation that requires courage.
Don’t internalize ugliness. The ugly and bad want to loathe the beautiful and good because they have what they don’t. They want to convince themselves that because they’re are beautiful, there’s no possible way they can be good. That would be unfair! The people who internalize ugliness are the worst.
Ugly people believe they’re good because they aren’t beautiful, so they had to develop other talents. This is a fallacy. You’re more likely to build character by embracing physical culture—lift weights, learn to fight, and get sunlight. This will do more to make you “good” while also becoming beautiful. The ugly are just lazy.