I hope this in part makes up for my absence as of late.
Recently I rebonded my hair. And while I was in the salon (for a good three hours, I should add), I ended up thinking about an assortment of things, one of which was this: (taken from my blog)
Of course, being in a salon attempting to pull apart and destroy the bonds that hold together the very molecules of your hair makes one wonder what the hell one is doing there essentially killing their hair.
It also drives one to wonder why humans are so enamored with the idea of disfiguring themselves (think plastic surgery) in order to attain aesthetic perfection. I pondered this not for more than three seconds before I had the answer: vanity.
That was the easy part, of course. But what I wanted to know was the cause of vanity; why natural selection had not weeded out such frivolous behavior (it must serve some function or purpose), and if vanity was unique to the human species.
In the natural world the species most commonly associated with vanity and pride is the peacock (hence the similie proud as a peacock, I guess). But is this really vanity? All species of animals flaunt certain attributes in hopes of attracting a mate. This is instinctive and entirely natural behavior. Is it only considered true vanity when the creature in question is aware of his own image, and thus, his self-esteem? Animals are not known to possess awareness to this extent of themselves. Then, is vanity truly unique to our species?
Humans are aware of themselves as entities roaming the earth, possessing their own thoughts, and thoughts of their actions, and consequences to those actions. Animals seem to operate on the basis of don't think, just do. Which is all very dandy if you're an animal, because their instincts are seldom wrong. We humans, however, have less of such guiding instinct and must carefully think through everything we do.
This, I believe, fundamentally separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom (remember that we too are animals). Thus, perhaps this is what draws the line between vanity out of concern for self-esteem, and survival instinct. After all, animals have designated mating seasons etc, and peacocks only show off their tails by means of attracting a suitable mate (if they did not, the species would die out. Maybe that's why dodos are extinct. They might have been very stupid, very ugly, or both).
Vanity seems to serve (divisibly) two purposes in our society. The first is the aforementioned self-esteem. The second is self-image. One might wonder what distinguishes the two. For the purpose of this blog post, let us assume that self-esteem refers to one's concern about their image for the sake of themselves, that is to say, one who is vain for this reason measures his own worth by his appearance, and thus any efforts to improve his appearance is for the sake of himself.
Self-image refers to one's concern about being assured of their worth, not because it dictates their value, but because it dictates their value in the eyes of others. In other words, in order to attract a mate.
Vanity in part not be simply a result of our species being shallow and insecure. Part of it is for the sake of survival. Especially those who cannot fend for themselves. If you can't make it big in the business world, marry someone who can. Being attractive obviously helps here.
I doubt peacocks debate suicide on the grounds that they haven't been blessed by the glossy feathers of their rival peacocks and are thus useless, but then again, they probably don't have the brain capacity to do so.
Perhaps vanity started out as survival instinct, but we, being humans, decided that looks were useful for a good many things other than simply to attract a mate (think social groups and peer pressure). Humans have a way of screwing things up like that.
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