DREAMS OF TOMORROW

You’re aware of them: Dark academia, Light academia, Romantic academia, Cottage-core, Princess-core, Grandma-core, cafe-core, etcetera… We live in an age of aesthetics!

Now, let’s come to terms with this: The dawn of modernity has brought along with ‘progress’, the tearing away of the true, the good, and the beautiful. In the name of practicality, equality, and even just bizarre artistic tastes, clothing, art, architecture, and in general, lifestyle, have been reduced to mere aspects of human living that just exist to be ‘used’.

We have descended from castles, cathedrals, theatres, public squares, and residences, whose every glorious corner used to be decorated with such generous and meditative designs (e.g., Baroque), to uninspiring block-shaped structures. We have toppled from a culture of thoughtful dressing in both men and women to a culture of the ugliest and most confusing fashion trends. We have fallen from an age of artistic intelligence in music, art, and dance, to an age where art is subject to every Tom, Dick, and Harry’s idea of beauty. And the pleasure of a good life? That has been left to technology to simulate while we get on with our “too busy and important lives”.

In my opinion, these and more have brought the atmosphere of our society down to the mere ordinary, a concept which everyone secretly dreads within them but cannot seem to part with. And in the name of practicality, the adornments of personal and societal living have been stripped to the bare minimum, naturally leaving the day-to-day life bland, soulless, and unmeditative. The work of aesthetics has been left to the shining sun, the green grass, the colours of the flowers in spring bloom, and the rest of untampered nature, in a desperate attempt to remind us that beauty is real, and that Beauty Himself exists.

The Diabolism of it all

Everything that seeks to destroy or diminish beauty, without grave reason, is diabolic. Therefore, I am sorry to say that perhaps, the mass destruction or replacement of real beauty and aesthetics with fake, simulated pleasure, or worse, plain filthiness, has a more wretched face at play.

Even the devil, as horrifyingly ugly as he is, has a natural tendency (however much he may hate it) to take delight in beauty. That is why his most torturing punishment for eternity is to never see that One whose beauty surpasses all creation combined. Beauty reminds us of God. Therefore, be rest assured that the evil one is constantly working to destroy every public or private vestige of beauty. If he does not destroy it, he invents a miserable counterfeit, which turns our mind to the pursuit of pleasure for pleasure’s sake, but never to God.

Regardless, being God’s creature, we too have a tendency to seek beauty and cultivate beauty in our lives. And even with fake or cheap pleasure, one soon discovers the burden of it and goes on the quest to seek the real thing.

The Missing Centers

So, why should you wonder that there is this explosion of “-cores” around us? I feel that many of these “-cores” are centers of life we miss as a society. These are aspects of life that truly elevate the spirit and make us think of the things above. The warmth and coziness of Grandma’s home? God’s love. The grandeur and regality of a princess? The inheritance we have as daughters of the King. The cherishing of study, intellectual activities, and discipline? The call to a higher life as rational beings. Need I go on?

It is clear that people are waking up to the real concept of beauty and aesthetics. But what is this concept? And what makes it so different from its counterfeit?

The Real Thing

We all have an intuitive picture of beauty. That is, we know when we see, hear, feel, or taste something beautiful. Far from the modern idea that beauty is objective, a sense of beauty has been infused into our souls as one of the most effective mediums of communication between us and God, and us and the world.

That being said, the adage, “Beauty is pain”, is true. At least, now it is. In Christian tradition, during the most ancient time, before Adam and Eve sinned, beauty and goodness came at no cost. They both delighted in the practice of virtue, and were in constant communion with God and His angels. Then when sin came into the story, Adam and his children became victims of this tendency to do wrong. In other words, since the sin of Adam, we humans now have to work hard to practice virtue. And what is born of the practice of virtue is beauty. So, beauty is pain.

Think of all the nice and wonderful times you’ve had in life. That day you put effort into your appearance and looked stunning. That time you chose to make a good meal and enjoyed eating it. That moment you endured the most tormenting pain of child birth and ended up with a bundle of joy in your arms. That day you studied hard for your exam and aced it…

Did you notice the pattern? Out of effortful times comes the good beautiful thing. In fact, once it arrives, the beautiful thing makes us forget the pain we experienced, but the fact that we went through pain to experience it makes it so much the more valuable and well… Beautiful!

So, there is no quantum science to this. The real thing we seek in beauty is value. And in this life, nothing good comes easy. Aside from other aesthetical qualities, what makes true beauty different from its counterfeit is that it is born of virtue, however hard it may be to practice it.

The Truth

The truth is that these desires for aesthetics should not be condemned. It is a good thing. I have heard many people say that sometimes, these “aesthetics” can get in the way of being our authentic selves. That these “aesthetics” are only dividing us all into boxes.

Perhaps, that is true in a certain sense, but that is only true with respect to the modern world. The only way that people are putting themselves in an “aesthetic-box” is by trying to fit their whole life into a certain idea of how they should look. Therefore, people are really putting themselves into a “core-box”.

And why do I say that this problem is a modern problem? Because in this modern time, living an aesthetically pleasing life can feel more like wearing a costume from the past centuries. Amidst all the casualness, a person who is always caught in proper clothing and witnessed living unconventionally (e.g. Homesteading, wearing pocket watches, owning large home libraries, etc.) may come off as a person in a mask. Here, there is no short of imposter-syndrome inside the heads of many individuals.

However, in the past, society was mainly this way. These aspects that we have now forgotten used to be the norm. Before the advent of social media, nobody thought that they were trying to be a certain way or trying to be “aesthetically pleasing”… They just were. It used to be normal to put extra effort into elevating the ordinary with beauty. For some persons and societies, it still is.

And that, my friends, is where the virtue lies -genuineness. If you see aesthetics as a particular way you should dress and live, only for the sake of it and the camera, you’re not helping yourself. You will experience a burnout of personality soon. However, you may borrow ideas of pretty living, be it from the past or present, incorporating them into your modern life as you deem fit for your personality, and that is perfectly fine.

Because we do not live in the old days, we are not obliged to look or live exactly like men and women from those eras, though it is noble to learn from them the discipline of creating and appreciating beauty. Even in these times, some cultures harbor very pretty lifestyles (e.g., the British monarchy, the Arabian elegance, etc.), but the goal is to understand the principle behind them, not just the look of it.

The truth is that to be enchanted with your life, it would never be satisfying to cover only the superficial parts with aesthetics or “-cores”, like you would cover cake with icing. It is much more wholesome to try as much as you can to let beauty, in anyway, permeate your entire life, from superficial looks, down to heart-held principles.

That can only be done if you go back to God, Who is the reference of beauty. As a Christian, I must not be “aesthetically pleasing” on the outside just “because…”. I must be so to draw others to think of God. Beauty is a gospel, my friends. Out of the heart, cometh what the mouth (and dare I say, aesthetics) speaketh.

The Bottom Line,

Beauty is good and noble. Never believe what is said about being an “impostor” or being “impractical” when it comes to living aesthetically. You only need to be sure why you seek beauty. Why does it matter to you?

And now, the stage is yours… I would love to know what “-core” you more deeply identify with. Are you even a “-core” lover? Let me hear your thoughts!

Au revoir,

Christine.