Things I like to do on weekends. Get horribly drunk at rnb parties and karoake. And read the arts section of the newspaper.

This week's highlight was an article on the concept of Beauty, which got me thinking because it relates to my last few posts about love, religion, and what motivates us to keep on living. How do we know what beauty is? And why do we seek it?

Everyone has heard that old acorn "beauty starts in the eye of the beholder." And yes, concepts of beauty differ from culture to culture. There is no doubt that beauty is tied up with perception. But it seems all cultures seek out the Beautiful, and there must be some underlying reason to all this yearning and drooling.

Some see beauty in Darwinian terms, as a sign of physical health, and by implication, reproductive ability. Handsome Kings are born of flawless Queens, which explains why the kingdoms of men often went to war over women. This theory also sheds some light on non-human kinds of beauty such as buildings and music. Things we create to impress the opposite sex and increase our chances of getting laid. However, it doesn't explain the heroin chic of the 90s supermodel scene, in which a healthy glow was considered the antithesis of beauty.

Plato thought the true lover of wisdom gained a heightened sensitivity to perceive natural beauty in the world. Thus a life of true virtue brought one in touch with the Beautiful. Many who followed Plato and Aristotle also intertwined beauty with truth and goodness... spreading the idea that beauty springs from moral purity, and because of this, beauty historically signified goodness. This explains why heroes and gods are always beautiful. However, ugly people are often nicer than their beautiful counterparts, perhaps because they have to try harder to attract the opposite sex. They cultivate inner beauty to cancel out their outer ugliness. Beautiful people have it easy. They are born with physical assets that bring happiness to others. This kind of effortless giving is akin to a headstart in life.

But if there's one thing I've learnt in months of clubbing, it's that beautiful people can also be sluts. This goes against the traditional view of beauty being associated with virtue and goodness. I think the Neech had it pegged right when he said that "truth is ugly." We possess art lest we perish of the truth. And similarly, beauty, much as it is tied to physical appearance, is actually this more complex, spiritual thing. Beauty belongs in the world of art, of ideals and dreams, and not the world of everyday truth. Because that beautiful young girl you see with the angelic face that radiates hope, innocence and a romantic future, is often an unpredictable, high maintenance bitch who sleeps with gangsters and backstabs her friends.

There is something inherently random about beauty. Part of its appeal is it's rarity. Cosmetics, surgery and clothing only go so far. True beauty is effortless superiority. Nature encourages mutation and constant adaptation. The natural distribution of all this variety creates beauty as a necessary and mysterious pinnacle towards which our loins command us to climb. Beauty as an evolutionary goal, an ancient, instinctual lust. And thus strange and wonderful species like the proboscis monkey came about because the babes kept choosing mates with big noses.

Lastly, beauty is inspiring because it gives us a glimpse of some greater existence - whether it be the hand of God or some natural order. Iris Murdoch wrote that "Art and morals are, with certain provisos, one. The essence of both of them is love. And Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real." A beautiful girl, apartment, painting, or song, answers in us a primal need to believe in something greater than ourselves, and to be mesmerised by it. This transcendent moment of wonder and recognition allows us to triumph, however fleetingly, over death.