"Although we are a species that spends an alarming amount of time blowing 
things up, every now and then we are moved to add gargoyles or garlands, 
stars or wreaths, to our buildings for no practical reason whatever.   In 
the finest of these flouorishes, we can read the signs of goodness in a 
material register, a form of frozen benevolence.   We see in them evidence 
of those sides of human nature which enable us to thrive rather than 
survive.   These elegant touches remind us that we are not exclusively 
pragmatic or sensible: we are also creatures who, with no possible profit or 
power, occasionally carve friars out of stone and mould angels onto walls. 
In order not to mock such details, we need a culture confident enough about 
its pragmatism and aggression then it can also acknowlegdge the contrary 
demands of vulnerability and play  -  a culture, that is, sufficiently 
unthreatened by weakness and decadence as to allow for visible celebrations 
and tenderness."


"Our sensitivity to our surroundings may be traced back to a troubling 
feature of human psychology: to the way we harbour within us many differents 
selves, not all of which feel equally like "us".


from The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton, Pantheon Books 2006.

It is a good read throughout.

cp in bc 

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