Externals — How Personal Style Is Spiritually Empowering

We so often hear how our primary focus should be on the internal, not on the external. We are told to resist the temptation to succumb to the pull of the material world, which is consumed with the superficial and the surface level. As cynics say: What is important is not what happened, but what appeared to have happen. Much has been said in mocking the fashion world for its obsession with cosmetics and the conformist climate it creates. We live in a world that worships outer looks and packaging. What lies within and beneath the surface may be rotten and ugly; but if the cover portrait looks good, then that’s all that matters (Think: The Picture of Dorian Gray). We have a multi billion dollar cosmetic industry busy helping us conceal and cover up — or photo shop — any external blemishes. Our spiritual guides, therefore, encourage us to cultivate relationships that value personality more than packaging, values more than appearances.

But is there any value to externals? Is fashion all about vanity and conformity, or can it also reflect our personal expression? Is there no value to our being drawn to a beautiful face, an aesthetically appealing image, an eloquent appearance? Is the outer surface all vain and empty? Is external beauty and grace false and hollow?

Please join Rabbi Jacobson is this eye-opening discussion on the power of externals. Discover why there is a split and dichotomy between the inner and the outer, how it has evolved to create dissonance, and what we can do to reintegrate the two. Learn the true meaning of beauty — and how you can use your choices of dress and fashion to express your soul, rather than define your soul. Find out how to regain control of your life, so that your inside dictates your outside, rather than the other way around.

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