Response to a Meme

I came across this meme on r/Enlightenment and figured I'd share it and my response to it: 

Evidently there is more than thought, since the blankness of the subsequent statement is not thought, but a sensible image, so along with thoughts there are sensible images. Sensible images clearly vary, as we have white on the one side, and black on the other; and of course, there is the sensible image of the various colors in the meme, the cartoon faces, the words, etc. in turn, outside of this meme there is the whole web-page, which is not merely a still image but a moving one, it can scroll up or down. 

In turn, there is the moving image of the body before the screen; the hand holding the phone, or typing on the keyboard, etc. human bodies abound, as distinct from the bodies of animals, plans, and inanimate objects, and from the space in which these exist; and among these human bodies there is a body in experience distinct from others. It is one experienced most frequently, yet also in the most peculiar fashion. If it speaks, its voice is ever the closest. If it sees, its face cannot be seen without a reflection in the way other bodies are. If it touches something, texture is felt, while when other Bodie touch things texture is not felt, even though these other bodies report it being felt. etc.

That these other human bodies report sensing things that are not sensed leads naturally to the theory that there are other experiences besides what is experienced, and each of these sets of experiences are somehow rooted in each of those bodies, so that likewise this particular set of experiences is rooted in this body; so that in turn, each unity of body and experience able to deliberately and intentionally report that expereince is a person, and since so likewise 'this' experience is united to that unique body described, and by the conventions of speech existing amongst these persons, that unique body united to this experience is to call it's unity of body and experience 'self', 'me', 'I' and so forth. Thus, I exist. Since an analogous truth to the above presumably applies to each person, but from their own perspective; so likewise, you and all other persons with whom I might speak also exist. At the very least, it is a theory which fits well with the data of experience; and so has a reasonable shot at being true. 

As for ugliness; well ugliness is the opposite of beauty. Now beauty is that which sensibly and intelligibly reveals what is true and good. Hence Beauty has at times been called 'The Splendor of The Truth'. And insofar as beauty shows forth the truth, and the above theory fits the data, and so has a reasonable shot at being true; then it cannot be said of anyone who holds the above theory that they are absolutely ugly. Perhaps they shall turn out to be ugly in very many other ways, but at least as regards this singular belief, they shall have to have at least a certain semblance of beauty, due to having a greater chance at truth; but while a semblance of truth is not truth, but falsehood; semblance of beauty is truly beautiful, if only in small degree; for what is ugly, insofar as it is ugly, does not even admit of a semblance of beauty; so that if there is a semblance of beauty, so there is a degree of beauty. 

As such it is not reasonable to begin simply by saying 'I am ugly'. Perhaps there is some ugliness somewhere within a person, perhaps very much ugliness, but a person does not well and truly become ugly at heart until they abandon all that is true and good, and they do not be come unqualifiedly ugly until this abandonment becomes sensibly and intelligibly recognizable in all they do; and since, so long as people live, there is always hope that people will change their ways, so no one still living has truly reached the point of unqualified ugliness. Perhaps there are those who are dead who have, and that is perhaps one way of thinking of hell, being filled with those who have no truth nor goodness in their heart, and who no longer have the protections of life to prevent their inner ugliness from showing itself forth externally; but it shall remain that for the living, this fate has yet to be met, and so none alive are quite yet ugly without qualification. 

Thus, so long as there is something within them that clings to truth and goodness, be it involuntarily their body or voluntarily in their heart and soul, then even if the rest of their being distorts and obscures these, and so prevents this truth and goodness from being sensibly and intelligibly recognizable; still present in this part of one's being there shall be at least some beauty, however little or great that may be; and we can choose to cling on to that truth and goodness, and so to preserve that beauty in some way; and for those blessed to be able to do so, we might even be able to grow in truth and goodness by reflecting upon what we already have and using it to attain more. This is perhaps not possible for the very young or severely mentally handicapped (and on that account we surely have a grave duty to protect them, so that their beauty is not destroyed by external forces) but for the rest of us, we are free to grow in truth and goodness, and so to grow in beauty; at least in inner beauty of heart and soul. 

It's worth noting then that Aristotle once said something to the effect that a small mistake in the beginning leads to a greater mistake near the end. Thus it is perhaps understandable that those who have started with the errant view that they are unqualifiedly ugly, that they shall fall, by so many steps, into a quite literally thoughtless view, as happens in the images of the meme. However, because beauty is that which makes truth and goodness sensible and intelligible, then so long as sensation persists, and so indeed, so long as life endures (for it is by the life of our bodies that our senses operate), then shall there continue to be a seed from which we can return to the truth; likewise by so many steps, starting even from what that singular thoughtless view has provided; and that is what I have endeavored to do here.