You absolutely nailed this. When you have an anchor which is transcendent for purposes of governing and also establishing morals and values, things naturally tend to get better and more beautiful. The argument from aesthetic for its own sake and as a reflection of that which is transcendent, its one of the more powerful arguments for God itself, as far as I'm concerned. When God is in the picture, people aim for the moon.
Agreed. As I get older I notice the subtle gains from believing in God and one is a refined sense of art/aesthetic. Even those "backwards racist rednecks" that listen to bluegrass have a better aesthetic than most pop music today.. So who really is more artistic?
People underestimate the impact of art on life. It seems to be as vital to the human condition as food. Feed it garbage, you get garbage. Feed it nourishment, receive blessing.
People are too busy wasting their time with frivolous modernities. I can't say I blame them but everything has led up to this.
Poor decisions are made by small groups of people that affect millions of people and it keeps spiraling out of control.
I'd call them soulless corporate materials. Your Starbucks cup with a duck face selfie posted on fb for worthless internet dopamine. Fight Club had it right that we're people working jobs we hate to buy shit we don't need to impress people we don't like. However he was wrong in pinning it on the recent generation. This type of materialism has been the philosophical foundation of America since its inception, doubled down upon in the civil war, and the deal was sealed with the Federal Reserve.
It truly does remove you from beauty. We lie to ourselves and say that it doesn't and we toss around terms like "liberation" to suggest we are freer to explore real beauty. But it doesn't ever look or feel that way in practice does it? Do romance novels and 50 Shades of Gray represent something more beautiful than the actual relationships between man and woman we are seeing break down today? Is rap music beautiful? Is porn more beautiful than an artistic rendering of the human figure? All of it, despite being called more liberated, tends to feel baser than the true aesthetic. We used to strive for the true aesthetic. Today we revel in the animal and call it beautiful.
If you remove all the "rules" from music, you largely get noise.
If you follow the track from Bach -> Mozart -> Beethoven -> Chopin, you wonder why these greats never circle jerked themselves on "technical skill" or "breaking the rules". They just wrote music based around many of the "same old rules" Bach used.
You can see the "removal of boundaries" as extending into people's psyche universally. They have no boundaries on art or food, and it carries over to sex and fun. And sadly, it only shows how the "rules" are there to help, not hinder. If you know a rule is universally true, then you don't have to waste time trying to break it. You get creative and work around it. True creativity lies within confinement.
The part about a rule being universally true stands out to me. Because it seems to hint at objective morality. And there's only one way for it to logically exist.
I believe in objective morality and even believe I can prove it logically. Relativists contradict themselves too easily. I think any time spent contemplating causality or the past very clearly shows how objective and consistent our universe is. And yes, these are derived from God.
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Waiyu_Dudat ago
And we give this up for what? Corporate cookie cutter skyscrapers. Franchises and logos.
It seems when God is included in state capacity for both arts and sciences increases. Maybe we better question our affinity for democracy?
chirogonemd ago
You absolutely nailed this. When you have an anchor which is transcendent for purposes of governing and also establishing morals and values, things naturally tend to get better and more beautiful. The argument from aesthetic for its own sake and as a reflection of that which is transcendent, its one of the more powerful arguments for God itself, as far as I'm concerned. When God is in the picture, people aim for the moon.
Waiyu_Dudat ago
Agreed. As I get older I notice the subtle gains from believing in God and one is a refined sense of art/aesthetic. Even those "backwards racist rednecks" that listen to bluegrass have a better aesthetic than most pop music today.. So who really is more artistic?
People underestimate the impact of art on life. It seems to be as vital to the human condition as food. Feed it garbage, you get garbage. Feed it nourishment, receive blessing.
VoatMobile ago
People are too busy wasting their time with frivolous modernities. I can't say I blame them but everything has led up to this. Poor decisions are made by small groups of people that affect millions of people and it keeps spiraling out of control.
Waiyu_Dudat ago
I'd call them soulless corporate materials. Your Starbucks cup with a duck face selfie posted on fb for worthless internet dopamine. Fight Club had it right that we're people working jobs we hate to buy shit we don't need to impress people we don't like. However he was wrong in pinning it on the recent generation. This type of materialism has been the philosophical foundation of America since its inception, doubled down upon in the civil war, and the deal was sealed with the Federal Reserve.
chirogonemd ago
It truly does remove you from beauty. We lie to ourselves and say that it doesn't and we toss around terms like "liberation" to suggest we are freer to explore real beauty. But it doesn't ever look or feel that way in practice does it? Do romance novels and 50 Shades of Gray represent something more beautiful than the actual relationships between man and woman we are seeing break down today? Is rap music beautiful? Is porn more beautiful than an artistic rendering of the human figure? All of it, despite being called more liberated, tends to feel baser than the true aesthetic. We used to strive for the true aesthetic. Today we revel in the animal and call it beautiful.
Waiyu_Dudat ago
If you remove all the "rules" from music, you largely get noise.
If you follow the track from Bach -> Mozart -> Beethoven -> Chopin, you wonder why these greats never circle jerked themselves on "technical skill" or "breaking the rules". They just wrote music based around many of the "same old rules" Bach used.
You can see the "removal of boundaries" as extending into people's psyche universally. They have no boundaries on art or food, and it carries over to sex and fun. And sadly, it only shows how the "rules" are there to help, not hinder. If you know a rule is universally true, then you don't have to waste time trying to break it. You get creative and work around it. True creativity lies within confinement.
chirogonemd ago
Very interesting.
The part about a rule being universally true stands out to me. Because it seems to hint at objective morality. And there's only one way for it to logically exist.
Waiyu_Dudat ago
I believe in objective morality and even believe I can prove it logically. Relativists contradict themselves too easily. I think any time spent contemplating causality or the past very clearly shows how objective and consistent our universe is. And yes, these are derived from God.