The Greeks viewed the universe as having been created out of chaos. Chaos was not nothingness but consisted of all the matter of the universe mixed together in random fashion. Chaos was disorder. The creation of the universe was then not the creation of matter, but the imposing of order upon disorder. The ordered universe is "cosmos". Therefore anything that imposed order upon disorder is "cosmetics," and from this we get the notion of what it is that women do when they use makeup.
Isaac Asimov, In Joy Still Felt, 1980
HAHAHAHA - Love it! :-D
ReplyDeleteWow, thanks for this connection! I can't believe I didn't see "cosmos" in "cosmetic" sooner! James Hillman has a great insight on this in his study on Aphrodite: he examines her as the archetypal embodiment of justice and order, making that connection between the goddess of beauty and order out of chaos. Fantastic!
ReplyDeletefantastic!
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