Modernizing Beauty As A Virtue

Despite the fact I’m a staunch supporter of retaining the emphasis on Physical Beauty as it pertains to Irish Polytheist Values… I am also a realist. I understand that things have to change in the modern age if they're to continue existing; stagnation does no one any favors- and it's never been the natural way of things anyways.

It should go without saying that this blog is about me and my research- and as a result, anything written on the Virtues is applicable only to that; hard be it from me to tell others how to live their own lives.

We as modern people aren’t the early Irish. We have a minuscule amount of information to truly work with, and no more than that due to history being what it is. As a result, there’s no genuine way to truly know what thy meant by certain things. And I recognize that most of what remains is either incomplete, or are otherwise incompatible with modern ideologies and practices.

This means a large and rather undeniable part of Reconstructionism is deciding what stays as it currently is, what needs to be discarded entirely from our faith, and what can stay but ultimately needs to changed in some way to continue functioning. And make no mistake about it: Things have to be updated if they are to not only continue to survive, but continue to work as intended within our faith.

As the Tumblr user Liminal Polytheist says in their rant 'You Are Responsible for your Religion'– aimed at another, different group of Polytheists:

Old stories and old religions contain justifications for violence, slavery, racism, sexism, and a gigantic slew of problems that our culture today is still overcoming. That doesn’t make them bad, but it does mean that we should always be conscious of what we’re choosing to keep as vital to the religion and what we’re choosing to discard as outdated and relevant only to a culture that no longer exists.

Likewise, even though I ultimately disliked it as a resource for many reasons, Morgan Daimler still hits the nail on the head in her book Pagan Portals: Reconstructing Irish Polytheism when she says that:

Reconstruction [of Religions] is not about recreating ancient religion exactly as it was and practicing it that way, but about understanding how it was in order to make it viable today […] Reconstructionists do like their source material, but the entire point of the source material is using it to create a viable practice.

Both of these people are correct.

The appearance of these things in the original forms of our faith, as we have data that they were practiced by their original cultures, can pose a myriad of issues for us; in a lot of ways, many of them are antithetical to modern ideology- making them unsafe or actively harmful to continue participating in.

But as Reconstructionists and Revivalists, there’s absolutely nothing which says that we have to use them as is. Likewise, there’s nothing which states we have to retain them in the first place; a large part of reconstructing these faiths is literal reconstruction: Dissecting and examining, and removing or modernizing various elements of these faith systems.

Personally, however, I’m not a fan of throwing things out willy-nilly; when push comes to shove, I’d rather opt for Modernization instead of completely discarding something… Especially when whatever’s up on the proverbial chopping block was of obvious significance to the culture.

Still, a few things have to be considered regardless of what we choose do to… Like whether or not something can be Modernized- and, more importantly, whether or not it can be modernized realistically.

See, when modernizing values from a different time, I believe modernization still has to be rational and accurate; I don’t believe in substituting, updating, modernizing, or changing things without good reason and forethought behind that change- nor do I believe in redefining and modernizing things without careful consideration as to what those things actually meant to their parent cultures.

Unfortunately... Here is where we find ourselves at the crux of the conundrum concerning retaining something like beauty as a spiritual virtue in the modern era.

Modern ideology asserts that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. This is because each person, each culture, and each society defines what exactly those traits are that make something “beautiful”… But all of them define those traits differently. It makes establishing one ideal of beauty impossible- and forcing someone to uphold a single version of it outright deplorable.

And yet Beauty to the Early Irish was inherently oriented in the Physical. And while it may not have had everything to do with the person’s adherence to the Gender Norms and Beauty Standards of Early Irish Culture? They still played a significant role in the concept. And that is undeniably something which is inherently antithetical to modern ideologies and ethics surrounding beauty.

Still, I think there’s a legitimate way to modernize it. Unfortunately, when you look at the current suggestions for modernization? Many of them fall short of the mark; no one thinks to ask the second question: Is this modernization realistic? The result’s a lot of modernization attempts which, in the scope of the Virtue, make very little if no sense at all.

Redefining Beauty as “Self Love”, “Body Positivity”, and “Beauty of Character” is a change that, in my opinion, lacks substance and accuracy; in both cases, instead of being realistic modern incarnations of the pre-existing ideologies and values? They are wholly modern ideas which are being applied to a religion wherein there’s no historical basis for them.

But how does a person redefine and modernize Beauty as a spiritual Virtue- and do so while maintaining the relevancy to the Early Irish meaning and intent? The answer, at least to me, is actually simple: You strip away the fluff; you take away what is obviously dependent on cultural norms, and find the common denominator that lies hidden beneath all of the personal definitions of beauty.

I believe that 'common denominator' is health and wellness.

How does that work, though? Easily enough: You connect the available dots- starting with the hardest to modernize; the foundation; the core.

The most important spiritual or other application of the value in lore is something referred to as “bodily wholeness”- which is clearly defined multiple times as being “without blemish”, whether that’s boils, lost limbs, sickness or disease, etc. And surprisingly, a similar idea does still exist in the modern world: “Wholeness of Body and Mind”.

“Wholeness of Body and Mind” is the idea of achieving an optimal, balanced state of Spiritual, Mental, and Physical health- and taking care of and preserving that state of health. The most basic method of doing so? Practicing general Health and Wellness.

“Wellness” is being aware of and making conscious choices toward living a healthy and fulfilling life; a dynamic process of change and growth leading us towards a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being- as opposed to simply being free of illness or disease.

“Health” itself refers to the actions and practices that allow us to do this; it is is eating well, exercising, getting enough sleep, seeing your doctor, getting treatment when necessary, and a myriad of other things (including things involving Spiritual and Mental Health).

And "Good Hygiene" is the set of actions that focus on maintaining personal and environmental cleanliness, and ultimately work together to create a safer and healthier environment for everyone- notably through reducing the spread of communicable diseases. Which itself is a major part of health.

This isn’t an unprecedented application, either. When we look at several of the Polytheistic faiths, even from completely different regions, we find that hygiene is a core component of many of them; in many cases hygiene, or cleanliness, played an integral role in their religious and cultural rites even if it wasn’t explicitly for health reasons- even if they separated it from Beauty, or had no concept of Beauty as a Virtue at all.

Early Irish culture was no different in this regard; as (once again) Daimler herself noted, the use of everything from cosmetics to hair dyes, and even specific bathing routines was common among the Early Irish. So clearly, this was important to them. The transference of Beauty from “physical adherence to cultural norms and standards of beauty” to “health, wellness, and hygiene”, then, makes sense– both in terms of historical context and lore, and in terms of modern views regarding the subject.

But there is also the issue of “Beauty of Face”, which undeniably places emphasis on being aesthetically pleasing according to cultural ideology. Here, however, the shift to a more Modern ideology is far easier to figure out in my opinion.

Instead of focusing on “Conventional Standards of Beauty“– which are fickle, trend based, ever changing, and predominantly concerned with sexual attractiveness… The focus switches to what I consider “Beauty Standards for Participation in Polite Society“: A timeless basis whose main purpose is concerned with reducing stress between community members, and maintaining community health.

Throughout history, that timeless base has been pretty consistent across numerous cultures. Better, it can be summed up in two basic rules: Don’t smell bad and don’t look like a slob (both of which boil down to “practice good hygiene“)- and wear clothing appropriate for the situations you find yourself in (in other words: Don’t show up Skyclad to a ritual where Children are involved unless you live in a nudist community or something where that's the norm).

It’s an incredibly simple concept that, while it still emphasizes the physical, still doesn’t focus on conventional attractiveness and beauty standards. But in shorter words, Beauty becomes less about how aesthetically pleasing you are to others. Instead, it becomes more about how well you take care of the Beauty which you already inherently possess.

Overall, it’s really very easy to modernize these aspects of Beauty by focusing on one’s level of Hygiene and overall Health and Wellness. More importantly, though, that interpretation retains the traditional emphasis on the physical while still being in line with Modern ideologies. And it’s rational.

As for arguments it's abelist and classist?

Putting something like Hygiene and Health into practice like this is relatively easy and requires very few rules and standards… Why? Because it simply means making a concentrated and active effort to practice good personal hygiene and health rituals in order to achieve an optimum level of health and wellness for yourself. And because health and wellness is so incredibly and deeply individual? The level set is one which you determine is the best for you, your health, your safety, your ability, your aesthetic preferences, and so on; no one else gets a say in this. Only you set the levels.

While some people will still inevitably be left out for various reasons- because literally nothing can include every last person on the planet (and I’m sure the Gods will forgive you for being bed ridden or homeless, etc, and not participating- unless you think the Gods aren’t understanding and forgiving… In which case, my condolences for your cynicism)? It’s still more inclusive and far more open to others to participate in- including the disabled.

And I would know, because I am disabled. Not only am I disabled, I’m the one that modernized it this way in the first place- and I certainly don’t feel like my disabilities prevent me from achieving any of the goals I've set out here; if I didn’t think it could be done? I’d’ve just trashed it and not bothered- because that’s what you do with values that can’t be modified to align with current cultural perceptions and understandings.

And in regards to health and disability? I’d like to remind everyone that even Nuada himself had a disability aid- and his aid was considered good enough for him to get his Kingship back even the first time he lost it. That in itself, in my opinion, is a damned good argument against disabled people being unable to be “whole” according to this value, just because they need a little help. Because if Nuada, a King, can regain Kingship with a silver hand? Then I, a disabled person can damned well use a Walker when I need to– and I can do so without violating any element of this virtue.

The important part isn’t that you even need the help in the first place- or that needing help, or being disabled is inherently bad… The important part is that you’re capable of doing what you need to in order to care for yourself and those who rely on you- and that you are not only willing to take the help when you need it, but also recognize its importance to your health in the first place.

As for arguments about Transphobia, I’d really like to know what line of thinking that even stems from in the first place. But frankly, I'm not Trans. I'll let them decide- and speak- for themselves on that matter. Regardless, I do fully believe that such a virtue- whether expanded on to include other areas of physical appearance by an individual or not- does have a continued place in modern Polytheism. 

Personally, I like being alive. And if it takes me taking beauty seriously and keeping it as a modern spiritual virtue in order to keep myself getting the help I need, and taking care of myself- especially so that I can continue serving my Gods like they intent? Then I’m absolutely going to. And quite frankly I can’t understand how arguing that we should care about our health is a bad thing whatever the reason we care about it. 

Return To Part One