I've felt and known this ever since I was a child. I always felt so uncomfortable in concrete highrises. That kind of environment is a nightmare to live in, literally. Thank you.
Duchamp's position toward art reeks of the very same hatred that has fueled atrocities like Columbine and Sandy Hook. Your point about this Raskolnikov-type of resentment is spot on and something that seriously needs to be considered. The "cult of utility" seems quite destructive to our mental well-beings, and, with it, we've lost so many representations of elegance and grace that flavor our lives.
This issue has always depressed me, but I think us talking about it helps raise awareness, and hopefully this may be enough to actually reverse some of modernity's harmful effects.
Love the Dostoevsky connection! I think it indeed suggests a lot about the state of one’s soul if they hate beauty - and that it perhaps points towards a spirit like Raskolnikov
And yes, awareness is but the first step I believe, in a revival of beauty. Once you see the ugliness in the world, you can’t unsee it
You wrote "The ugliness of today’s world then, is not just a product of commercialism, but a product of a deeper philosophical shift against God. If beauty is not real, then perhaps nothing is real." and I wonder how closely the lack of beauty in architecture mirrors the declining membership in organized Christian denominations.
My architecture professor at Columbia once used the Boston City Hall comparison in class and took it a step further, stating that the new city hall is a reminder to the people that the government officials are above the people they supposedly “serve”
You would enjoy Christopher Alexander’s books The Nature of Order. It’s as close to practical as academia can get to creating beautiful built spaces in our current projects. Beauty, he sees as wholeness and argues is universally agreed upon and not subjective.
We should be, through beauty, arranging things “on earth as in heaven.” But, instead, modernity is turning earth into hell.
This is very well said, and I’m afraid is spot on.
Wonderful and beautifully written.
Thank you Rod!
I've felt and known this ever since I was a child. I always felt so uncomfortable in concrete highrises. That kind of environment is a nightmare to live in, literally. Thank you.
Of course! Thanks for reading Andrea
Duchamp's position toward art reeks of the very same hatred that has fueled atrocities like Columbine and Sandy Hook. Your point about this Raskolnikov-type of resentment is spot on and something that seriously needs to be considered. The "cult of utility" seems quite destructive to our mental well-beings, and, with it, we've lost so many representations of elegance and grace that flavor our lives.
This issue has always depressed me, but I think us talking about it helps raise awareness, and hopefully this may be enough to actually reverse some of modernity's harmful effects.
Love the Dostoevsky connection! I think it indeed suggests a lot about the state of one’s soul if they hate beauty - and that it perhaps points towards a spirit like Raskolnikov
And yes, awareness is but the first step I believe, in a revival of beauty. Once you see the ugliness in the world, you can’t unsee it
You wrote "The ugliness of today’s world then, is not just a product of commercialism, but a product of a deeper philosophical shift against God. If beauty is not real, then perhaps nothing is real." and I wonder how closely the lack of beauty in architecture mirrors the declining membership in organized Christian denominations.
I would say there’s a strong and real correlation between the two
Because they don't have a beautiful mind? :)
I would certainly agree with that! :)
At about this same time, poetry stopped being uplifting ~ or even sensible ~ also.
Great piece.
As Keats said, a thing of beauty is a joy forever!
I wrote about this very thing too - it stems from the declining habit of looking up…
https://laurencekaracsony.substack.com/p/a-thing-of-beauty-is-a-joy-forever?r=njo95&utm_medium=ios
My architecture professor at Columbia once used the Boston City Hall comparison in class and took it a step further, stating that the new city hall is a reminder to the people that the government officials are above the people they supposedly “serve”
That’s very interesting to consider. A complete inversion of the founding vision of American politics at that
How would you go on to define beauty? A full article on this would be great in the future, if you're willing.
I’d say the best explanation of beauty comes from Plato’s work symposium - a visible sign of the Good, which draws the soul upward
To your point, might be worth doing a full article on that topic alone.
I see more and more people being fed up with modernist monstrosities.
More people are coming back, but we have to teach that our children so our future will look brighter.
I was having breakfast when I came across the 'artists sh!t' section... was not pleased. He called that ART? And people actually go to see it????
You would enjoy Christopher Alexander’s books The Nature of Order. It’s as close to practical as academia can get to creating beautiful built spaces in our current projects. Beauty, he sees as wholeness and argues is universally agreed upon and not subjective.