Viktor Frankl who endured and survived Auschwitz, called it "tragic optimism". There is and always will be, in all humans, the search for beauty. This hope believes that the world was created "perfect" in the sense that it was perfectly set up for the humans who inhabited it to make it "ever more perfect" but then, Something Happened. What that Something was takes many names and forms, Christians call it "sin". Whatever it is called, it threw a shadow on all of us that that makes it hard to see and hear clearly and confuses our intellect and will. Violence is perennial and will continue but the at the deepest level of our lives, beauty is always more fundamental and will win. In Christian thinking, this victory requires a stripping away of that shadow; it might be called death, which might take physical form, or perhaps moral and spiritual. If rightly endured, this death, might truly herald the entrance of the light of beauty. The eyes lost, the light shines ever more brightly on and in the exquisite simplicity of the torso. Beauty is the deeper reality. There is no place to hide from beauty; there is only willful blindness. This is hope, distilled.
I wonder if this is a layering of realities. Both Beauty and Violence permeate our material reality. That is the only level I think Damir is willing to say exists. But there is a Spiritual reality, that is much more real than materialistic Americans can ascertain, and Beauty is an eternal reality that pierces into both spheres. In the material sense, Damir would be right, if humans were solely material beings, but we exist simultaneously in each reality as embodied souls. So, though we think we are strictly material most of the time, we also have an intuition that there is more at play than what the strongest can control. That is what makes the absolute violent outcome of Damir's philosophy so impossible fulfill. It is haphazardly interfered with by others who see the depravity of violence and strive instead for the embodiment of beauty. I think that's the schism of the worldviews here, and why Damir's arguments are both compelling and yet only one small part of a much better story.
This is lovely and thought-provoking Shadi - thank you for sharing it. Among other things, it brought me back to a time in my life when I was trying to get through some very tough stuff coming at me from all directions, and at one point I saw a therapist for about 6 weeks. About five weeks in, she told me that my approach to life brought to mind the phrase "relentless hope." I was like "relentless hope" - that's great, I love it! But then she proceeded to tell me that it was actually bad, that it meant I wasn't dealing with the full reality of my life. So - I quit the therapy but kept the phrase - relentless hope! People have different lodestars that draw them on, maybe...
I would profess that context is the key to understanding reality. Violence or beauty do not exist as unique entities but as a combination of energies in the context of a grander flow of energies. "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." - Friedrich Nietzsche.
You used the word "gestalt" and I feel this is the right phrase - "a structure, arrangement, or pattern of physical, biological, or psychological phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional unit with properties not derivable by summation of its parts."
Violence and beauty are phenomena consisting of a wave form of thoughts, sensations, and imaginings. Anyone who has participated in a birth knows it is violent, but the appearance of a new being gives it a grander gestalt... beauty. Perhaps there really is no actual categories of 'beauty', 'violence', etc. but at a deeper level of gestalt it is all beautiful.
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
A wonderful piece as always. I tend to think it represents neither ugly or beauty but banality. Violence just happens to be a more banal act than beauty. Violence appears more common and realisable than beauty, especially in a political manifestation I think. The declaration of independence is a once in a generation moment for not just America and the continent but even more widely. Yet, the political forces of violence to come and try to tear it down happen routinely. Unfortunately I think the Arab Springs are the epitome of the rareness, specialness, and fragility of political beauty compared with the banal boot of violence which confronted it. The beauty was smashed, not unlike dropping that bust, and perhaps it will not be put back together again for another generation. It is a time consuming difficult process but the act of shattering it requires simply one movement.
Viktor Frankl who endured and survived Auschwitz, called it "tragic optimism". There is and always will be, in all humans, the search for beauty. This hope believes that the world was created "perfect" in the sense that it was perfectly set up for the humans who inhabited it to make it "ever more perfect" but then, Something Happened. What that Something was takes many names and forms, Christians call it "sin". Whatever it is called, it threw a shadow on all of us that that makes it hard to see and hear clearly and confuses our intellect and will. Violence is perennial and will continue but the at the deepest level of our lives, beauty is always more fundamental and will win. In Christian thinking, this victory requires a stripping away of that shadow; it might be called death, which might take physical form, or perhaps moral and spiritual. If rightly endured, this death, might truly herald the entrance of the light of beauty. The eyes lost, the light shines ever more brightly on and in the exquisite simplicity of the torso. Beauty is the deeper reality. There is no place to hide from beauty; there is only willful blindness. This is hope, distilled.
I wonder if this is a layering of realities. Both Beauty and Violence permeate our material reality. That is the only level I think Damir is willing to say exists. But there is a Spiritual reality, that is much more real than materialistic Americans can ascertain, and Beauty is an eternal reality that pierces into both spheres. In the material sense, Damir would be right, if humans were solely material beings, but we exist simultaneously in each reality as embodied souls. So, though we think we are strictly material most of the time, we also have an intuition that there is more at play than what the strongest can control. That is what makes the absolute violent outcome of Damir's philosophy so impossible fulfill. It is haphazardly interfered with by others who see the depravity of violence and strive instead for the embodiment of beauty. I think that's the schism of the worldviews here, and why Damir's arguments are both compelling and yet only one small part of a much better story.
This is lovely and thought-provoking Shadi - thank you for sharing it. Among other things, it brought me back to a time in my life when I was trying to get through some very tough stuff coming at me from all directions, and at one point I saw a therapist for about 6 weeks. About five weeks in, she told me that my approach to life brought to mind the phrase "relentless hope." I was like "relentless hope" - that's great, I love it! But then she proceeded to tell me that it was actually bad, that it meant I wasn't dealing with the full reality of my life. So - I quit the therapy but kept the phrase - relentless hope! People have different lodestars that draw them on, maybe...
oops I see it was not Shadi who posted this. Still lovely.
I would profess that context is the key to understanding reality. Violence or beauty do not exist as unique entities but as a combination of energies in the context of a grander flow of energies. "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." - Friedrich Nietzsche.
You used the word "gestalt" and I feel this is the right phrase - "a structure, arrangement, or pattern of physical, biological, or psychological phenomena so integrated as to constitute a functional unit with properties not derivable by summation of its parts."
Violence and beauty are phenomena consisting of a wave form of thoughts, sensations, and imaginings. Anyone who has participated in a birth knows it is violent, but the appearance of a new being gives it a grander gestalt... beauty. Perhaps there really is no actual categories of 'beauty', 'violence', etc. but at a deeper level of gestalt it is all beautiful.
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
― W.B. Yeats
A wonderful piece as always. I tend to think it represents neither ugly or beauty but banality. Violence just happens to be a more banal act than beauty. Violence appears more common and realisable than beauty, especially in a political manifestation I think. The declaration of independence is a once in a generation moment for not just America and the continent but even more widely. Yet, the political forces of violence to come and try to tear it down happen routinely. Unfortunately I think the Arab Springs are the epitome of the rareness, specialness, and fragility of political beauty compared with the banal boot of violence which confronted it. The beauty was smashed, not unlike dropping that bust, and perhaps it will not be put back together again for another generation. It is a time consuming difficult process but the act of shattering it requires simply one movement.