There is a captivating miniseries on YouTube called “The Beauty Inside.” It is a miniseries co-produced by renowned tech companies Intel and Toshiba. This short drama series consists of 6 episodes with a total running time of 42 minutes.
Although it is a miniseries of short fragments, each episode’s story is soundly built and thoroughly touches the heart. The synergy of the mellow pop music, classical music, acting, and editing superbly harmonize to create a beautiful human drama that you want to watch over and over again.
“The Beauty Inside” is a story of a person named Alex. Every morning, he wakes up as a different person of any gender, race and age. His heart and soul is Alex, but his physique changes to someone new every day. At first, this phenomenon excites Alex and he is always curious to see who he wakes up as the next morning. But one day, Alex, who only had a life of a day, falls in love with Leah, the owner of an antique shop. From this point forth, he starts to face an identity crisis. He realizes he really can’t get to know people because even though he might get to know someone today, he would randomly become someone else tomorrow. How could he keep any kind of relationship? So with his different appearances, Alex visits the antique shop and buys something every day in order to see Leah. One day, he decides to ask her out and luckily wakes up as a young and attractive guy. He dresses up and goes to her and asks her out on a date. He knows this is the only night given to him, so he enjoys every moment of it. In the middle of night as they cavort around the museum, they fall in love. But after the date ends, Alex begins to worry as his appearance would inevitably change the day after. Days later he hesitates to get closer to her. He desperately wants to reveal his secret, but is scared. Finally, Alex resolves to tell her truth and with the face of a young female employee at Leah’s antique shop, invites Leah to his home. He shows her all the antiques he’s bought so far and the video clips of himself with different appearances every day. He also confesses that Alex, the guy who fell in love with her at the museum, is the same person inside even though his physique changes every day. She is, however, unable to accept this and leaves him. A few days later, she comes back realizing it was his heart that is Alex, not his physique, and falls back in love.
Now, to get to my point. Go to the bathroom and look at yourself in the mirror. It’s not important whether you are male, female, young or old. Touch and feel your face and your body. Is this the real you? The self reflected in the mirror right now? We need to give it a thought. Let’s pay attention to part of the miniseries’ title, the word ‘inside.’ The real self is not your body reflected in the mirror. The true you is your mind and soul inside your body. As portrayed in the series, Alex’s body changes every day but his ‘inside,’ that is his heart and soul stays the same. Because it stays the same, he remembers Leah and continues to go see her every day.
However, people believe that their bodies are everything. Thus the elderly wish for their bodies to get younger, and the young hope to become better looking and taller. Some even invest a fortune in cosmetic surgeries to improve their appearances. Well, look at yourself in the mirror again. The real you is not what you see now, but the being you feel and commune with…that inside is real you. Someday, the body will disappear. Then shouldn’t you listen to your mind and soul in your body? Don’t you wish to invest your time and effort in taking good care of your soul, not weighing too much on your appearance? Nowadays, many set a high value on looks when they choose their partners and even employees during job interviews. Society places great emphasis on the superficial, on the outer appearance.
However, what is much more important than one’s look is one’s inside. During a day, the 24 hours that is given to everyone, we spend most of our time and money on this body: going to work out, getting our hair done at beauty salons, taking health supplements and vitamins, going out for dinner… But ask yourself, ‘how much have I spent on my insides, my real self?’
As the series suggests, the real beauty lies inside ourselves. We mustn’t ignore this fact. At least from now on, we shouldn’t be reluctant to spend time and energy taking care of our insides.
Let’s close our eyes and look into our inside. Remember, the body disappears someday. Therefore, we should find our real selves by taking good care of our inside while living. Just as the world and the universe existed even before we were born, we ought to find our true existence from within. Currently, the true self inside hasn’t been revealed because we have accumulated and covered up our true selves with all kinds of thoughts in our lives.
That’s why many people search for meditation organizations. Now, rather than thinking only about the extravagance of looking good, take care of your mind, your inside. It’s time for you to recognize that the real, happy life doesn’t dwell in one’s looks or material possessions and that the everlasting living mind and soul are inside you. Like Alex, although his body changed every day, his soul and mind inside him remained the same, didn’t they? Obviously, there must be a real, living existence in ourselves that existed before we were born and remains even after we die.
Those who find their true selves will be able to always live happily and peacefully, with gratitude for the existence of the real self that is truly living within. Furthermore, they won’t cling to their material status nor will they be so concerned with looks.
Why don’t we, all of us, take some time to reflect and take care of ourselves within?
I end here, introducing you to an effective and complete program that deals with such matters. For a great start, try this meditation!
