Our culture worships youth and physical beauty. What does this do to our spiritual lives?

Religious traditions enlarge our spirits

Rabbi Scott White, spiritual leader of the Lawrence Jewish Community Center, 917 Highland Drive:

Placing high value on youth and beauty, in and of itself, poses no problem for Judaism. Only when it comes at the expense of the elderly and plain.

Is that the case, or do we regard everyone with equanimity?

How do we assess what’s most valued in America?

We follow the money.

If you’re like me and you enjoy watching sports, maybe you’ve noticed most of those ubiquitous commercials for beer and trucks use the young and beautiful (I’ll leave it at that) to ply their products.

Only the young drink beer? Into his 70s, my Daddy topped off a hot day on the golf course with a beer. I’m 47, and I have no plans to give up my cold one after logging a 5-mile jog.

Not that there aren’t companies that use older folks to sell their products. It’s just that those products usually are for relief from arthritis or incontinence. So, if you’re a senior and you watch TV or read the newspaper or notice billboards, it might be a bit dispiriting.

By the same token, it’s nothing new. When the Torah came into being 33 centuries ago, among its 613 divine commandments was (in Hebrew), “Mipneh Seivah Takum” — Thou shalt rise in the presence of the aged. Why the blunt imposition of an often inconvenient action? I believe the reason is that people back then had a tendency to favor the young and beautiful over the elderly and plain.

Human nature doesn’t change. Favoring the young and beautiful is an age-old spiritual issue. Worse, it bespeaks an attitude with political implications that can and do translate into social problems.

But the brilliance and worth of the great religious traditions is their ability to enlarge our spirits. By turning to them, we can prevent social disadvantage for the elderly and the plain.

Send e-mail to Rabbi Scott White at rabbi@sunflower.com.

Youth, physical beauty eventually disappear

Judy Roitman, a Lawrence resident, is guiding teacher of the Kansas Zen Center, 1423 N.Y.:

We’re not the only culture that worships physical beauty and has done strange things in its name. There’s always an ideal to compare yourself to, designed so that nearly everyone falls short. And while not every culture worships youth, many do.

By their nature, cultural concepts of beauty encourage us to think there is something wrong with us. By its nature, cultural worship of youth guarantees that, if you live long enough, you’ll fall short.

There’s a psychological aspect to this, sure, but also a spiritual one. Every religion points to a fundamental nature of things that’s not dependent on human ideas and desires. Thinking there’s something wrong with me because maybe my nose is the wrong size or I’ve got wrinkles in my forehead distracts me from this essential nature.

Youth disappears eventually. So does physical beauty. At some point this hits everyone. Beauty, health, youth, money, fame — “Oh no! I’m going to die!” A lot of spiritual practices have developed that focus on this — have you noticed the skull on the desk in every portrait of St. Jerome?

Practices like keeping a skull on your desk, or imagining the detailed decay of the body after death, may seem strange, but these practices are just pointing to something that we all know, even when we pretend we don’t. Buddha’s spiritual quest began when he saw for the first time an old person, a sick person, and a dead person. The rest of us aren’t any different. You can try to hold on to youth, but by definition that’s impossible. You can try to hold on to beauty, but that’s like trying to hold water in your hand.

And realizing this can be a first step to spiritual liberation.

Send e-mail to Judy Roitman at roitman@math.ukans.edu.