Beauty is not merely a quality existing on the outside; it is a reflection of the inner world behind the eye capable of seeing it. The clarity of the human soul, the depth of its perception, and the purity of its heart determine what it will notice in the entity before it. A person who looks with internal purity sees the goodness, morality, compassion, and virtue in another as clearly as stones at the bottom of lucid water. For such a gaze possesses the maturity to see a person not just as they are, but through the values they carry.

A person whose inner world is dirty, noisy, and cloudy struggles to notice beauties. Sometimes even the finest elegance, the most sincere goodness, or the deepest compassion is overlooked; because it is not the eye, but the heart that is closed. As an expression of wisdom dictates: "The eye is the door of the heart; if the heart becomes defiled, the light of the eye also fades."

Christ voices this reality as follows: "The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness." (Matthew 6:22–23)

These words remind us that the eye is a centre illuminating not just the external world, but the entire spiritual aspect of a human being. If the light within goes out, the beauty on the outside also loses its meaning. Because beauty resides not in the glance itself, but in the quality of the one glancing. The eye that sees beauty projects the light within itself onto the outside. Thanks to this light, a human being sees meaning, harmony, virtue, and the elegance of being human in the person before them.

There is a fine line between looking and seeing. Some people who are devoid of spiritual maturity and depth of meaning mistake this line for a matter of pure intellect. Yet, everyone interprets phenomena in line with the narrowness or openness of their own inner world; they infuse meaning into people and events according to their own internal criteria.

The eye that cannot see, however, looks through the veil of its own darkness. For this reason, no matter how beautiful a landscape a person with a cluttered soul and a cloudy heart looks upon, they cannot touch the essence of beauty. Conversely, a person filled with internal openness and virtue reads others with good intentions, looking and conducting themselves with purity. Prejudice, selfishness, and dirty intentions cloud a person's eyes, causing them to see not the person before them, but the darkness within themselves: A liar supposes everyone to be a liar. A thief thinks everyone is waiting for an opportunity. A dishonourable person considers everyone to be spineless like themselves. An impudent person assumes everyone to be insolent.

Consequently, beauty is born not in the external world, but in the inner world. A clear soul sees the goodness and virtue in another human being; a cloudy soul, however, cannot touch it, no matter how much beauty there may be. The light of the eye is born from within; as the soul is illuminated, the gaze is also enlightened. Only then does a human being begin to see both the world and people with a deeper, more elegant, and truer beauty.

Yusuf Beğtaş