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Reply To: | His reply: No. Have you read The Lazy Teenager by Virtual Reality?" < [log in to unmask]> |
Date: | Sat, 20 Jan 2007 10:17:08 -0800 |
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"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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