If a person believes in God then yes there are absolutes. God is subject to no alternate perceptions/perspectives. His must be perfect and all other standards are inevitably going to be measured against Him. God is going to see everyone as beautiful(tm Omnibenevolence) and not even ‘in their own way’. God is going to see the young brunette as beautiful simply because she is. God is going to see the crippled old woman as beautiful simply because she is. God does not measure.

Humanity, however much many of us(including myself) would like to try otherwise, does measure. First impressions are huge for this very reason. We instinctively measure up every person with whom we come into contact on a biological and psychological level. Once that intitial impression fades(for most people), then the power of choice takes over and we can find people attractive that we may never have had we not gotten to know them. Yes, I fully admit I find Danica Patrick up there unbelievably attractive. However, I know nothing about her and for all I know she has every desire to take over the known universe and will stop at nothing to do it. This conflicts with me because I wish to do the very same thing! We would never get along for this reason and thus, Danica becomes unattractive. Now let’s say that obese crippled woman reveales herself to have an exceptional amount of intelligence and is able to help strategically plan my takeover, I’m going to find her much more attractive.

Ok perhaps I went a little off there, but hopefully I made my point in that perspective is everything to those of us not gods. I don’t think people can have a faulty view of reality. Let’s say the only inhabitant of the world is a colorblind individual. To this person an apple is going to be grey. To most of us an apple is red and the colorblind person is just a victim of the inability to see ‘correctly’. Is there any way to know who is right? We assume an apple is naturally red simply because it is seen that way more often than it is grey. If a person believes in God, there is presumably an ultimate fall back position – simply find out what God sees and there is your correct view, but this is pretty much impossible as far as I know.

So to finally wrap up this whole thing, One person may see a brunette as the ugliest person in the world, another may see the same brunette as the most beautiful. One person may see an exceptionally intelligent woman as repulsive, another may see the same woman as gorgeous. The list goes on and on….This is merely what I believe.

I know that sometimes when I go on and on like this it can come off as ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ blah blah blah. I’m not ‘Marlowing’ you, just clarifying my own position on beauty/reality/truth etc.

ahem! “Known universe!!” The world is too small an ambition!

So I’ve been thinking a lot more about the whole absolute/relative question of beauty. I think both exist as well, but there are three parts to beauty and I think there are absolutes and there are relatives to each. Physical beauty is the first realm. I mention it first because it is inevitably the first thing anyone notices when measuring beauty. This realm tends to be the most temporary and finite realm though and anything within it defined as beautiful inevitably must fade. There are absolutes, but they vary from person to person(as you mentioned it could). The physical realm tends to be dominated by celebrities as they are the most visible standard available.

Mental beauty is the second realm and is much more long lasting than the first. Intelligence and Emotional response tend to guide this realm. The poetic soul reigns supreme in this realm because they understand the depth of human emotion and can access it through the simplest of words. Heart and Desire are everything to an individual who enjoys life in the mental realm. The only real absolutes for this realm would have to be a work of art. If one can find a way to compare an earthly presence to a classic work of art(a poem/painting etc), they have their absolute.

Then I believe there is a third realm, which I also believe is one that escapes many many people on this Earth. The spiritual(not in the religious sense) realm is the kingdom of those souls who are dreamers. A person who finds no peace within exclusively phsyical love, is still unsatisfied when emotional love is present, knows full well that there is something more to be found. Have you ever heard a certain song that makes you somehow lose all awareness of both your physical and mental self, and somehow takes you to wherever dreams are from? Imagine that except with a physical being who you can fully see as a work of art, and when you’re with them gives you the almost heavenly feeling of transcendence. That, I believe, is the essence of spiritual beauty. The only standard applicable is going to be god, the infinite, the eternal. There is no boundary or relative standard to transcendent beauty, and I consider a soul lucky enough to find itself in this state the most blessed being on the face of the Earth.

I read through your original post and your comments above to try and get an idea of what you may have been looking for, hopefully this is more along the lines of what you were searching for in terms of a response.