Dangit, rambled again.

What does the word beautiful really mean? Is it just how someone looks, or is it something more? Sadly, I think that the word has lost a great deal of its power. I ask this question because, more and more, I feel that the word beautiful has become a straight synonym for pretty, and that there is no real word, or desire to have one, that truly denotes all that a person is, rather than just how he/she looks on the outside.
All that I am about to say is very much from the male point of view. I don't know where the average woman would stand on what I am going to say, but it would not surprise me to find that it is similar in many ways. However, since I am male and am attacking this from a male point of view, I will inevetiably be using 'she', since the English language doesn't really have a neuter pronoun.
There are many different angles that I could attack this issue from, and the difficulty that I am having is finding one that I want to use. I suppose I will start with why this has come to bother me, and why I would think about it at all. It happens quite regularly that guys I am around will point out a woman to me and comment that she looks beautiful. Usually I am disinclined to argue with their sentiment, namely that the particular woman they are referring to is physically attractive. There's nothing wrong with that, as far as I'm concerned. Some people are more phsically attractive than others. A few problems arise out of this, however. The standards of physical beauty are so varied that what one person views as beautiful, another person will only view as average. I've always been inclined towards redheads, but my brother has always liked redheads. Ergo, I will find redheads more attractive than the blondes he favours. Already we can see the word beautiful being diluted, losing its meaning because there is no real standard. Secondly, after describing a woman as beautiful, the same person will go outside and describe the new Ford Mustang as beautiful. That shows that the word simply refers to looks, as opposed to anything more substantial. Thirdly, once a woman is rated beautiful, then her other faults become completely irrelevant. A "beautiful" woman is granted way more leverage than is an "ugly" woman. Attractive women can be complete b****** and get away with it simply because they have large breasts (which, sadly, is often a major factor for many guys on what counts as beautiful). As a beginning, this isn't too strong an argument. There is nothing wrong with a word to describe outward appearances, and I agree. However, there are already a plethora of words for that very purpose, given the current craze with physicality in modern North American society: Gorgeous, pretty, attractive, and sexy are four obvious ones, just off the top of my head. However, complete inner and outer beauty is a concept that seems to be losing words and the worst part is, the majority of people don't seem to notice or care.
And that brings me to my next thought. This does not have much to do with a specific word. In fact, in looking up the origins of the word beauty, I found that it comes from and old French word meaning 'pretty', which seems to contradict what I've written thus far. I am not arguing the actual word. What I am arguing for is the concept. Beauty, I think, should be more than looks, much more. The old saying about beauty being only skin deep is the exact opposite of what I am considering here. Beauty is everything. Looks can be included in that, but they are among the last things considered for true beauty. What should matter is who the person really is, not what they look like. Unfortunately, the world in general often seems to put very little stock in this idea. The message that is constantly thrust at people is that looking a certain way is the only way to be happy. This message seems to be driven towards women, but it affects men as well. If all men see is thin, large-chested women, and are told that this is what is truly desirable, then they too will start to believe it and will then pressure those around them to fit into that ideal, thus perpetuating an already unfortunate circumstance. And then we are all told that this is what beauty really is.
The funny thing is, it would be hard to find people who would actually claim that this is what really matters to them. If you asked a person what qualified a person to be considered beautiful (as I'm using the word - totally beautiful), they would likely give off lists of character traits (humour, smart, etc) rather than just big breasts and small waists. Sadly, I personally find it hard to believe that people actually think that. So I didn't ask, I just listened and have felt myself very enlightened. I have attended bible college for the past six years (even when I wasn't actually attending school, I was still involved in one way or another), and have come away constantly disappointed by what I heard and watched. It always amazed me how shallow many of these people were, and how they tried to hide it behind a mask of spirituality. Women were ogled as they walked down the hall, comments were made between guys and the such. One tradition always bothered me, and I hesitate to bring it up now when I never have before. I am never one to hide behind the anonymity of the internet by making comments here that I would never say in person, or defend (By the way, if you ever have a problem with anything I say, call me on it. Email me if you have my address, or leave a comment or something. I will try to clarify, defend, apologise, or otherwise deal with it. Don't let me get away with anonymous pig-headedness). This tradition was to take the student directory that was given out at our school and rate the women in it. Everyone was to choose the three best looking women and the woman who got the most votes was the best looking woman on campus. I never felt comfortable with that, so I didn't participate (I may have once, my freshmen year, but I can't remember if I did or not, and even then I was uncomfortable with it, I know that for sure), but I also never spoke out against it. Most of the guys would defend the practice, saying that there was nothing wrong with doing it, but I would disagree. While there is nothing wrong with noticing that a woman is attractive, when you start rating them, you are objectifying them, turning them into nothing more than their outer layer. And it isn't even just an isolated case that bothers me, it's the constant repetition of the message that reinforces the idea.
Now that I've described what beauty isn't, maybe you're wondering what I think beauty is. Beauty is a concept that encompasses more than just one aspect of a person. In order for me to describe a woman as beautiful, I have to know her first. I have to see how she interacts with other people, what she says. She has to have a personality that isn't mean or spiteful. It is hard to put into words exactly what beautiful is to me because it looks different in every person that I encounter it in. A person cannot look beautiful. A person has to BE beautiful. Everything about them has to point in one direction, a sort of harmony of mind, body, spirit, and soul.
Wow, that's an awfully lofty standard that I seem to have set. Or is it? I don't expect a person to be perfect. Everyone has faults and makes mistakes. Everyone has parts of their lives, their innermost beings, that need to be worked on in one way or another. However, beautiful people deal with them, those who merely look good let the problems take control. A position of power versus a position of weakness.
To wrap this up, I'll say this. This is not so much an argument about a word, or even a concept. This is a call for people to start thinking about this concept in a manner that is not quite so blasé as has been done in the past. Make a conscious effort to focus on something more substansive than looks. Take beauty back from the shallow and vain.