Sunday, September 17, 2006
Changefulness
The second principle of Gothic Beauty according to John Ruskin. And I say we can apply it to Beauty in general. It's modes, according again to Ruskin, are those of monatonous and abrupt characters. The first is epitomized by the waves in the ocean where they are individually unique, but rising, cresting and falling, they look much the same as each other. A slow, gradual change from one wave to the next. The last, abrupt change is epitomized by the standing stone. A flat plain of grasses is interrupted by a vertical stone, rudely imposing itself onto the landscape.
The first sort of change, monotanous, is characteristic of society. Though society is made up of unique individuals, they tend toward a statistical idealized 'person' who is roughly 5'9" tall and who watches television and listens to the radio and drives to work and spends leisure time with the family, where this is the ocean of humanity. Where safety is. People who thrive in the oceanic are those who are constantly concerned about what music other people are listening to, and by god, want to make sure they listen to it too. Or they are concerned about what shows other people are watching, and by god, they will watch them and enjoy them too. 'There is safety in numbers' is the primal slogan of the group. This sort of society will only be upset by natural disasters, political upheavals, disease, terrorism, and so on. Taking into account the group, creeds are the dogma of this mass of humanity. 'We believe in God the Father' rules the spiritual mindset of humanity taken as a whole. The flip, or dark side to living rooted in the group is that socialism, with all of it's bug a bears, is the rational political system for dealing with idealized persons. Economically, the group can have any color vehicle they want, as long as it's black.
Then there is the standing stone mentality. The wave shares water common with the ocean in it's entirety, but it is completely unique in it's volume, it's specific gravity, it rise, crest and fall, it's duration and so on. There is an abrupt break from the crowd. The internet, loaded with the digital music for the entire population, is perfected in the personal playlist of an individual. Accidental features, hair color, eye color, height, build, all are realized in personal style and attitude. 'I yam what I yam' Popeye said. Taken spiritually, this person eschews Dogma for Religion, where the personal unfoldment of the Divine as experienced first hand with little intermediaries is paramount. Martin Luther would be a religious Icon for the Individual, the Personality, the Person experiencing True Personhood. An abrupt break of an individual from the Church.
The trick is that Beauty is the combination of monatonous and abrupt change. You have to know when to subsume yourself to the group, and when to stand up and be counted. Both of these aspects of Change have their place in humanity, and are each beautiful in their own right, in that they both are vital components of Beauty. Happiness is stability in the oceanic, the social, as well as personal expression in the standing stone mentality of the individual.
The second principle of Gothic Beauty according to John Ruskin. And I say we can apply it to Beauty in general. It's modes, according again to Ruskin, are those of monatonous and abrupt characters. The first is epitomized by the waves in the ocean where they are individually unique, but rising, cresting and falling, they look much the same as each other. A slow, gradual change from one wave to the next. The last, abrupt change is epitomized by the standing stone. A flat plain of grasses is interrupted by a vertical stone, rudely imposing itself onto the landscape.
The first sort of change, monotanous, is characteristic of society. Though society is made up of unique individuals, they tend toward a statistical idealized 'person' who is roughly 5'9" tall and who watches television and listens to the radio and drives to work and spends leisure time with the family, where this is the ocean of humanity. Where safety is. People who thrive in the oceanic are those who are constantly concerned about what music other people are listening to, and by god, want to make sure they listen to it too. Or they are concerned about what shows other people are watching, and by god, they will watch them and enjoy them too. 'There is safety in numbers' is the primal slogan of the group. This sort of society will only be upset by natural disasters, political upheavals, disease, terrorism, and so on. Taking into account the group, creeds are the dogma of this mass of humanity. 'We believe in God the Father' rules the spiritual mindset of humanity taken as a whole. The flip, or dark side to living rooted in the group is that socialism, with all of it's bug a bears, is the rational political system for dealing with idealized persons. Economically, the group can have any color vehicle they want, as long as it's black.
Then there is the standing stone mentality. The wave shares water common with the ocean in it's entirety, but it is completely unique in it's volume, it's specific gravity, it rise, crest and fall, it's duration and so on. There is an abrupt break from the crowd. The internet, loaded with the digital music for the entire population, is perfected in the personal playlist of an individual. Accidental features, hair color, eye color, height, build, all are realized in personal style and attitude. 'I yam what I yam' Popeye said. Taken spiritually, this person eschews Dogma for Religion, where the personal unfoldment of the Divine as experienced first hand with little intermediaries is paramount. Martin Luther would be a religious Icon for the Individual, the Personality, the Person experiencing True Personhood. An abrupt break of an individual from the Church.
The trick is that Beauty is the combination of monatonous and abrupt change. You have to know when to subsume yourself to the group, and when to stand up and be counted. Both of these aspects of Change have their place in humanity, and are each beautiful in their own right, in that they both are vital components of Beauty. Happiness is stability in the oceanic, the social, as well as personal expression in the standing stone mentality of the individual.
