Modern civilization has abandoned beauty because it doesn't want to admit there is a human soul.
Discussion
True
The purely material view of reality is the biggest psyop of the last century imo
I had a good conversation with a friend the last night about this. I’m going to rant a bit, so my apologies in advance.
I’m in the camp that’s in borderline disbelief to the fact that we ever built truly gorgeous buildings, because I’m too young to have ever seen it with my own eyes.
How we built these things in the earlier times blows my mind completely, especially because it seems we have a chip on our shoulder and assume previous generations were less efficient, less intelligent, etc.
His take was that it all changed when computing began, among other things but this was a talking point that we sat with for a while.
- The best looking cars were built prior to the 1970s
- This is also when we started building boxes across the board, applying to residential, commercial & industrial buildings.
With this in mind, I realized everything back in the day was built with real artistic expression.
Now everything we build is
1. Done with ‘efficiency’ in mind
2. Built on software that started in a place of right angles and straight lines, and it does a great job of just that. It also over time probably trimmed jobs, therefore removing human brains (which are capable of being artistic) away from the design process.
3. The big one, built with profits in mind.
Hence removing artistic expression as the base of creation. It seems to be computing, efficiency and profits first, and then building within that.
IMO this is the only reason why some people like modern sculptures like cloud gate, It’s a rounded object in a city, surrounded by right angles. Same with some modern art, especially the chaotic stuff- the chaos can be attractive to some when surrounded by squares.
I need to re-read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand sometime.
I’ve never heard of it but I’m assuming I should check it out!
This is interesting and aligns with Jacques Ellul's thesis in The Technological Bluff. The bluff (as in poker) was that technique or efficiency is really a process drive towards complexity. We have, in your example, used computers to build more efficient structures. The effect is that we have become separated from the design process. Pen and paper is genetic and more similar to building than cad. It is much more accessible to design on paper. Anyone can do it, but you have to be a trained cad engineer--complexity.
I am blown away by the artists we see on Nostr. What they can do with the most basic physical instruments is outstanding and awe-inspiring. I am much less impressed by work done on computers. It seems cheap and easy.
I’m 100% with you. It feels like there’s a shift and a lot of us are not only appreciating, but craving that good old fashioned, human-made art.
If there’s enough demand, the market says we’ll get more of it. I’m hopeful
I hope so. I walked my son through the music dept at a local university today. Every hall we turned down we were met by practice music. Throughout the building young people were seeking to know how to communicate with our souls through music. Afterwards, we went downstairs to the student pub and listened to them play a jazz set.
See that’s awesome, it still exists.
Thank you very much for the zaps by the way- I’m trying to figure out how to get my zaps set up on primal, primal wallet isn’t allowed for residents of Canada sadly, and I’m on iOS now so no more access to amethyst (where I used to zap from) I’ll definitely be zapping ya back.
Keep up the good posts
I'll do what I can. There's a lot to deal with these days, so sometimes the posts degenerate.
I think it's the other way: people think the human soul is the only beautiful thing that's worth giving any attention, and miss out (or worse reject) the beauty in everything else.
The human soul is certainly a beautiful creation, but like the body, it must be fed to keep it beautiful.