Is Vanity something bad?
I’ve finished publishing the first 12th chapters of my new book The Winner Stands Alone (I published nearly 1/10 of the book on line). The final chapter – on line – is about vamity. King Solomon starts the Ecclesiastes saying : “Vanity of vanities. All is vanity”. Somehow vanity can destroy a person but can also puch a person to become a better human being.
So nothing is absolute and I would like to hear your opinion on that. Mostly about your experiences with the good side of vanity.
Many of our lives are empty and vanity keeps us going. The problem with vanity is that, more often than not, it’s baseless and it blows up in our faces, and the steep descent into humility is one of the most distressful things we can go through. It’s a good way to learn about our place in the universe, just like Solomon did.
super tare, mersi pt post ;)
30 years ago, while in high school, my vanity gave me an inflated sense of my worth. I had mistaken my self to be more important, greater than my friendship with a gentle, shy girl who had befriended me on my first day.
I publicly betrayed her and hurt her with unkind words. And I felt smaller, not larger as I had expected. I shrank before the eyes of my classmates, and my soul shriveled like an over-dried fig.
In that moment, I found something I had missed, that became my greatest friendship: Empathy. Without Vanity, I might have never found Empathy.
Is it bad to want to be loved? Is it bad to want to change the world and have everyone know you did? If vanity makes us strive to be recognized as great thin maybe it is what assists in world changing accomplishments. I think most human beings don’t mind our 15 minutes of fame (vanity). Who wouldn’t want to get the credit for curing cancer? (added by Mobile using Mippin)
Paulo ves a la Ciudad del Sol en España, allí encontrarás lo que tanto has buscado dentro de ti. Es el mensaje para ti.El que busca encuentra.
HOLA PAULO, TUS LIBROS SIEMPRE ME AYUDAN MUCHO. RECURRO A DIARIO A “COMO EL RIO QUE FLUYE” Y ME CALMA EL ALMA, ME TRAQUILIZA Y PUEDO VER MAS ALLA DE MIS VANALES PROBLEMAS.
LA VANIDAD ES UN PECADO, PERO QUIENES SOMOS PARA JUZGAR A LOS DEMAS?
ENTRE A TU BLOG CASI POR ACCIDENTE Y ME QUEDE ENGANCHADA, PERO COMO SE MUY POCO DE INGLES ME RESULTA DIFICIL ENTENDER.
ES MUCHO PEDIR QUE ME MANDEN INFORMACION EN CASTELLANO?
GRACIAS!!!!!!!!
Hallo to everybody….
I am looking forward to read the book but i do not like to read it online…i wait one month more….In April…On Easter!!!
So what about vanity….
This phrase of king Solomon since i red it…follow me in my life….
bad meaning…in the way people believe that if everything is vanity…. why we should keep fight….why we should keep live….
good meaning….if everything is vanity….we all must change the world…to put ourselves away from being and acting selfish and fight for our highest purpose…
i don’t like the word vanity nor its meaning. i don’t resonate with it though sometimes it gets to me. if involves some other person i don’t take it seriously but if it’s just me and me i took it as a wake up call in order to (re)define me in the best way.
The Process.To have something happen,to go for the result,without noticing how it was done,as bad,as the way round.To have the both in mind(the result and the way of achieving) is more complicated,but slightly better.To go further,another interesting thing can be found:to do the result and the way to it as much efficient,as less noticeable your participation in it,as you are not looking for the reward.That gives you freedom-when you can meet with both success and failure and treat those two imposters as the same.I like to be behind “the curtain”,nothing to do with me,it’s just the country I am grateful to,which made it possible.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5vu7w_vanitypride_shortfilms (added by Mobile using Mippin)
Paulo,the good side of my personal vanity,was in the last year,when I was honorated by the Legislative Assembly of Mato Grosso State,through of the deputy Sérgio Ricardo, on the World Woman Day.Me and another hundred women, received the title”enterprising women” because we contributed and continue contributing for the development of my state.I always work with social causes,in spite of to be a civil engineer.And now i’m working in a great group of engineering,doing basic sanitation and doing more for the people.
Before she died, my wise, old and very beautiful grandmother told me that there was nothing wrong with being vain.
Since her death I have suffered severely from an eating disorder.
She was in her 80’s and I am just turned 20.
Possibly: Vanity is a tool for self-esteem that I have not yet learnt to use. A tool is manipulated by the user.
Our bodies are temples and beauty can be a sign of health. Vanity motivates us to be beautiful but must be used wisely and in connection with the spirit.
In regards to vanity of external appearances:
If you consider that there is no – or at the most – lukewarm spirituality within quite a large population, the actual need to look good for others – vanity – can enslave us. The reason being, when the soul is neglected, we tend to increase our efforts to make our external appearance more presentable because we feel ugly inside. Vanity, if not because of concupiscence, will serve as the taskmaster to look well externally so as to avoid appearing poor internally. Refusing or through ignorance, to see that we must take care of the soul first, vanity will then enslave us.
Does this mean people striving to become holy out of love of God will stink and look poorly? No. The reason being is that when you FIRST take care of the soul, it’s like the base of making everything else well. If a flower bulb is planted in poor soil, then it will never flower as it was created to flower. No matter how much you water it, try to prune it, or treat it externally, the roots of the flower are starving. You have to feed the flower at the root level – take care of that which makes the soil poor where the flower is planted.
Looking well should radiate outward with the source of beauty being the soul. Properly taking care of our soul, prioritizing our effort to be pleasing to God, by coming to know, love, and serve Him, will always spawn the fruit of looking well externally to others and properly love others. In this way, vanity does not even come into question.
So as with everything, we must fix things at the core level. Otherwise, it’s like applying a bandaid without treating the infection.
May the Peace and Love of Christ be with you all,
Tim