First Principles of Modesty

Because our culture has lost its soul, we have failed to honor the body. We have failed to recognize the strong connection between the revelation of the body and the revelation of the soul. Almost without fail, whenever a group of young people discuss the topic of modesty, mayhem ensues. The men throw up their hands when the women fail to understand their intentions, and the women shake their heads in disgust because of how their bodies are talked about. The culture, with its unhelpful movies, social media posts, and advertisements, constantly pushes the ball down the hill, making the perspectives of both harder and harder to reconcile.

Modesty, as commonly understood, involves two things: bodies and clothes. Unfortunately, most discussions of modesty rarely discuss how the soul interplays with the body; this is unfortunate not only because to truly understand the whole person, the body and soul must be considered, but it is also the case that clothes reveal more than the body; they also uncover the soul. Clothes reveal the person, both soul and body, united, because a person is both, and in doing so shows who a person is in a true sense. Modesty, as opposed to anger, necessarily displays itself in relation to other people. Some virtues can be practiced as an individual, but modesty demands another person to be practiced. A human, when with other people, affects, changes, and guides those people with whom they interact. If modesty necessarily entails both body and soul, and to be fully human, the whole person must be in relation to other people, then the question for modesty is: how should a whole person relate to other people? That is, what of a person should be hidden or revealed to the man on the street, beach, or subway?

The above question entails the following questions: Why do we relate to other people? What is the best way to relate to other people? How can a person relate to another in such a way so that both become more beautiful because of it? It seems that the optimal way two people relate is through a mutually beneficial interaction. If both people are better because of the interaction they had with one another, that, at least to me, seems to be the best type of relationship. Therefore, the question becomes: how can a person portray themselves to others in such a way that the other person becomes more whole, beautiful, and real because of it?

A helpful corollary to the revelation of the body is the revelation of the soul. How do we think about we're revealing our souls to strangers? Just as the man on the street does not tell you his deepest secrets or traumatic experiences, so also we ought not reveal those parts of our bodies that are most intimate to us. Furthermore, the man on the street not only tells us nothing audible of his spirit when we are in relation to him in a public space but the things we do know about him are very fuzzy and uncertain. Yes, he might be wearing a green shirt and brown shoes, but that does not necessarily say anything about the state of his soul. There are practical corollaries to how a person presents their body in public. If their body is just as much who they are as their soul, then the question is to what extent do we reveal our soul to people we do not know, whether it be strangers on the street, elevator, or beach. Why? Because the revelation of your whole soul to a stranger does not necessitate that which is best for the stranger. In fact, the experiences of your past might further unravel him into experiences or habits that he has had. And the revelation of the soul in the public sphere must be suitable to the public we are presenting to.

Minimally, all men need order, some more than others, and beauty to motivate them in order to function properly in the world period. Of course, there are more attributes that lifts the gaze of men toward things that are above, but there must be some transcendent qualities about the other person that orients their gaze upward. Practically, one of the paradigmatic questions a person asked when they are addressing themselves to go into public is: does what I am wearing reveal my person in such a way to lift the gaze of those who see me toward higher things? Does what I'm wearing present my person in such a way that true beauty and order are recognized? This presentation of the person through what they are wearing must take into consideration both body and soul, and how closely they are in relation to the people they're going to be presenting themselves to.

Of course, risk will always be involved in revealing your true self, but it is a matter of degrees to what is best. What is best for any person is only known to those who are closest to them. In order to rightly reflect yourself in a way that will actually sanctify others around you, reveal both your body and soul in gradations to those around you.