Can Beauty Save The World?

In his book The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoevsky sets forth the bold assertion that “beauty will save the world.” But Dostoevsky did not have in mind the kind of beauty we worship in the fashion industry. On the contrary, Dostoevsky entertains the idea in a person, in Myshkin, who lives the quality of beauty as if distinctive of his very soul. His inclination is to help rather than to harm, to give mercy rather than malice; he forgives again and again, though surrounded by people who do not. In fact, it is this group who tirelessly labels Myshkin the “idiot” because he refuses to participate in the disparaging and destructive ugliness of their own ways, but instead takes what is cruel and repulsive in them and dispels it. [Adapted from a devotional by Jill Carratini. Click pic above to read it in its entirety].

Do you think the Dove beauty campaign [click triangular play button below] is on the right track? Can beauty save the world?