Candor makes you more beautiful

A virtue that evokes authenticity, purity, and spontaneity. And man somatizes. The lesson learned from children: be frank, but with caution. Otherwise, you risk committing an act of generous violence.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF CANDARDNESS

CANDARDNESS MAKES YOU MORE BEAUTIFUL

La frankness makes you more beautifulThis somatic effect alone would be enough to cultivate this simple virtue. There are ways of being, of being in the world, of relating to others, that have a profound impact on our physical characteristics. We somatize their essence.

Among these stands out frankness, also synonymous with authenticity, as if this virtue were a kind of high-quality grocery store product. In fact, sincerity it has a very particular flavour (Schietto is an adjective often used at the table, for example, with good, mulled wine), which makes it inseparable from a person's character. Someone who is frank, sincerely frank, is immediately recognizable, by their features, for aesthetic reasons.

CANDIDACY

Pay attention to this: a sincere person is beautifulIt emanates light, charm, and as such takes on the characteristics of a beauty that even goes beyond the traditional canons of aesthetics. How can we explain this phenomenon, which lies at the border between anthropology and ethics? With the fact that frankness has the value of something genuine, spontaneous, with its own charge of purity: and therefore it is destined, precisely because of its nature, to expand the light of beauty, therefore to have a aesthetic dimensionA dimension to be enjoyed, as when we say that the wine drunk is "frank".

ALSO READ: Are you thoughtful? It's a dialogical virtue, one that brings our feelings into play. But it requires a mix of firmness and caution.

THE IMPORTANCE OF CANDARDNESS

We live in the age of fake news, false information that become truth, of ahypocrisy rampant, often used as a means of survival, of a suffused and widespread resentment, which distances one from the truth and pushes one, almost instinctively, towards a continuous dissimulationSo, this is not the time for candor. And those who practice it are certainly rowing against the current.

But frankness is a virtue that produces important results. benefitsThe first: it sets us free. We are no longer slaves to a compromise, to a price to pay, to the obligation to hide something from someone. And freedom is the premise for the exercise of critical sense, of the autonomy of a judgment, which must never be from above and censorious. Furthermore, as a virtue of frankness, frankness creates bonds that, in the long run, become unbreakable.

Who do you truly trust? Those who were able to tell you the truth, even when it was uncomfortable and bitter. Who do you distrust? Those with a sidelong gaze, indicative of a lack of authenticity and of unclear, opaque thoughts. So frankness leads to protection, to defend and to feel defended. It's a shield against the cowardice of slander, gratuitous insults, and backbiting fueled by every possible means, starting with the web.

THE VALUE OF BEING CANDIED

We often hear: we should be frank and sincere like childrenIt's true, children give us this lesson of authenticity and spontaneity every day. But it's precisely from them that comes the signal of how Candor should be used with discernment and even with caution, otherwise there is the risk that it can become a form of generous violenceThe child who accuses his peer, explicitly highlighting his flaws, commits a cruel act. Under the guise of frankness. Just as we should have greater softness in throwing the truth about someone's faults and defects in their face, even someone we love. Let us always remember that there is a law of physics in human behavior: every action has a reactionAccusing someone so directly and violently, in the name of frankness, means pushing them away from us, and perhaps triggers a counterproductive reaction, one of withdrawal, purely out of self-defense. It's better, instead, to proceed gradually, with the necessary delicacy, without digging too deeply into the wounds we have inside. So: yes to frankness, but with judgment.

BEING STRAIGHT

On the other hand being frank has a priceSometimes even quite high. In life, many people become accustomed, almost giving in to the pleasure of the company of ambiguity, to the choice of the shadows. A saying and not saying. A speaking in periphrases. A tortuous path to never run the risk of being directed, frank, naked even with ourselves. In this play of light and shade, even our physiognomy is affected, the gaze is oblique, the smile is hesitant, the brow narrows. Better then to take the risk. Knowing, as he said Goethe, that the word "frank" can be "terrible," as if the two adjectives were synonymous. Devastating, for the effects it produces. And again, Dostoevsky He made an inversely proportional relationship between candor and flattery, recognizing the former as "the most difficult thing to do in the world," and the latter as "the easiest." Sometimes you have to choose the more difficult path, at least to look at yourself in the mirror, every morning, with the right amount of serenity.

CANDINESS FAMOUS QUOTES

  • “There is nothing in the world more difficult than candor, and nothing easier than flattery.”      Fedor Dostoevsky

The Russian writer certainly wasn't known for his optimism, but he knew and explored the human soul in depth. An Italian colleague of his said that in our country there is only one law to respect: being a liar. Candor is not an easy attitude, especially in a world dominated by the subculture of dissimulation and of appearing narcissistic, but it pays off in the long run. Outspoken people end up being more convincing and authoritative.

  • “If you must be frank, always be polite; otherwise, remain silent.” Khalil Gibran

Candor, as we have seen, is a minority attitude, but this does not justify expressing it with arrogance and without style. On the contrary, the more we manage to be frank in a sober and natural, and the more we induce emulation. The alternative, as the Lebanese poet suggests, is to remain in silence. So as not to cause harm.

  • “Clarity is a beautiful tree that bears as many thorns as flowers.” Hypolite de Livry

There's a price to pay for being honest: it's good to know it so as not to be surprised. It couldn't be otherwise. The truth can be unpleasant, repulsive, difficult to accept, painful. And these are the thorns of the tree. But then there are the flowers: more authentic, lasting, solid human relationships. And a lighter life, without the burden of the lie, or half-truth, continuously.

  • “Frankness is the language of friendship” Plutarch

Let's put it this way: it makes sense thefriendship In lies? What can we share with a friend if we aren't honest, at least with them? Thus, candor becomes a vocabulary, the lexicon of that trust that underpins long-lasting relationships, destined to accompany us throughout our lives. With the firmly planted roots of the tree of candor.

  • "Candor is a gift that the gods have reserved for demented minds.”                     Erasmus of Rotterdam

There's always a need for a touch of madness when it comes to breaking down the walls of convention and opportunism. Here lies the courage of people who aren't content with banal lives. The author of the famous text In Praise of Folly It reminds us that frankness, to seduce us, also needs to be welcomed, without thinking too much and with a "crazy" spirit.

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