Our topic was requested by our member who is a make-up artist. He has always been fascinated by what constitutes beauty (and ugliness, for that matter) and arrived at the meeting wearing a button that read, "Beauty is not caused.....it just is."

The readings indicated a need to go beyond surface appearances to what really is; as well as the dangers of getting stuck on the surface — e. g., David and Bathsheba.

We tried to come up with a definition of beauty and found this futile—it all boils down to what turns you on and what doesn't. We each had our own likes and dislikes in music, appearances, smells, tastes and touches. Thus the senses are important and attraction is key. There were provisos however: 1) what may not at first seem pleasant or beautiful may eventually become so — think back to when you first heard Strauss' Salome or ate an escargot; 2) we may be responding to stereotypes that do not truly represent our deepest feelings — with care we can learn to toss these aside; 3) the student of Christian Science will want to go deeper than anything that still seems to partake of a dualistic or matter based origin. But the spirit behind Mrs. Eddy's wonderful statement about the promise of the material universe (see the readings from Miscellaneous Writings above) should undergird this discernment, so that we do not reduce our spiritual quest to a heap of desiccated word gibberish and miss the experience of the divine-human coincidence.

Here are some additional areas explored:

1) Our make-up artist, in working with customers, insists that he can only aid in bringing out the beauty already present. He focuses on his and their divine nature shining forth.

This week he attended the annual shareholders' meeting of one of his mutual funds; there were seven officers seated on the dais — six women and one man — and only three shareholders in attendance (other shareholders had sent their proxies). After much discussion of bylaw changes and the outlook for the fund the chairperson asked for comments or questions from the floor. Our member leaned forward and expressed his satisfaction with the reports but allowed as how they could all use work on their eyebrows. The meeting was quickly concluded and he was surrounded by potential customers.

2) Another member, looking at what Plato had to say of beauty, found some interesting ideas and a fine healing. Here are two of Plato's ideas:

a) Striving for beauty is at the core of every individual. This may include sexual and romantic drives as well as more reasoned approaches and finally total contemplation and worship of Beauty per se.

b) Angry gods split each person in half, setting these halves on their course to find and reunite with the "other".

Our member found this latter story a useful boost to his own struggle for intimacy. The psychologist Melanie Klein interpreted it as the angry, narcissistic parents hectoring the child to split off and bury, in the unconscious, his own individuality, whence it is free to be projected on others whom he tries desperately to unite with in order to have a complete sense of himself. Our member had for years worked to get in touch with some of his uncomfortable negative stuff but only this week realized that in the crunch his positive feelings about himself had been buried as well. He is now free to explore these and move the process into Science — live as the reflection of the one I or Us, not just talk about it.

By way of confirming his work in this area, he found himself suddenly able to say hello to and converse warmly with a man he has been silently — even paralytically — attracted to for over a year. How much of this attraction is really to his own cute inner child, sacrificed so many years ago to the angry "gods"?

3) Another member mentioned that he seldom thinks of his appearance but keeps his spiritual cup running over, with the intent of blessing people and making them feel good about themselves as he goes about his daily rounds. He regaled us with examples of funny incidents he has recently participated in.

Other points, briefly:

1) Letting our motives and acts be determined by "mere personal attachment" (see The Manual of The Mother Church, by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 40: 4-15) risks placing relationships on a dualistic basis without anchoring them in our common divinity. We noted Mary Baker Eddy's careful use of words; apparently personal attachment is OK as long as it's not all that's going on there.

2) How lovely people can be when truly immersed in an activity. One member recalled seeing a terribly overweight woman eating at a dinner party. She was deeply, worshipfully, but ever so delicately engaged in consuming the food.She was filled with joy and seemed to emit light. He wondered how a Raphael would render this vision (see Science and Health, p. 261: 11-20).

3) People seem to have an aura that either attracts or repels. One member knows a 76 year-old who announced she wanted to meet a young man at the party she was getting ready to attend. Sure enough, she found a thirty-something hunk, who found her irresistible, while her much younger and very pretty companion sat alone.

4) A student of Christian Science will assess both "beauty" and "ugliness" as merely mortal mind's versions of divine Beauty and should "just reach into that picture and pull the Beauty through and out!"

5) A member went to a rock concert to support a friend who was performing. He was overwhelmed by the loudness of the music and the wildness of the crowd in the mosh pit as they flung their bodies at each other. He prayed to see the "beauty of holiness" in the situation but eventually had to flee. This was a perfect example of how one person's discomfort does not indicate the level of ecstasy felt by others.

6) Another member saw the movie "Trick" and recommended it as a good representation of how gratification delayed can lead to deeper feelings of involvement than apparent from the initial rush of attraction.

7) The healing described in the "Foreword" of the Doris Henty book Addresses and Other Writings on Christian Science was commented upon. Young Doris had a face greatly disfigured by paralysis and multiple operations. It was transformed in one day by getting in touch with her inner beauty and refusing to get waylaid by well meaning parents and friends — who were stunned by her rapidly improving appearance — until the healing was total.

Some healings reported:

1) A member applied to Brooklyn Law School, knowing that he would be in his right place whatever the decision by the admissions office. He was accepted this week and is now working to see that the idea carries with it all the necessary components — including financing.

2) Another member having ended an intense relationship with a therapist recently — we've had postings on this the last few weeks — has seen the fruit of her work in Science, by securing a new therapist this week. She does not know the person yet but is staying with the fact that there is no retardation to God's unfoldment .

3) A member suddenly realized that he was allowing his work on a business deal to be clouded by much consideration of the ages of the various partners and the supposition that certain conclusions flowed from such considerations. He pulled himself together and refuted the belief in human age, on the basis that each one of us is eternal. The deal firmed up quickly and reasonable conclusions were reached.

We decided to look at Trust next week.