On the Virtues of Being Taut, High-Strung, Idealistic & Prissy
Or, Against the Dog-People
In the sacrifice of manners and etiquette in the name of that perfidious and philosophically unjustifiable notion of “just being oneself”, we have lost more than a few pesky, arbitrary contrivances handed down to us by our stuffy forebears. Social conventions do more than merely restrict or elicit certain behaviors; they also give one the sense of passing from one portion of society into a qualitatively different one. For example, the hours spent in preparation for a dinner party exfoliating, applying a seaweed clay mask to one's face (as well as cucumber slices to eyes if there's a little puffiness), bathing with linden blossom-scented soap, shaving carefully with a straight razor, fastidiously arranging one’s coiffure, carefully applying the proper amount of mint oil to one's skin, arranging the proper sartorial blend, and even picking out accoutrements like the appropriate tie and pocket kerchief, etc., are not spent on merely frivolous aesthetic matters or wanton acts of vainglory. Indeed, the time spent - roughly the time it would take to listen to a couple of Edith Piaf albums -- gives one the sense of passing from the "ordinary" world, in which people go about their duties and interact with one another with all the sense of self scientists currently attribute to dogs, into an extraordinary reality, a parallel universe of sorts populated, not with the sooty fellows clothed in dirt and string we find in this world, but rather with socially lithe, charming, and articulate pugilists of Beauty and Virtue, living according to principles.
In a word, we prepare ourselves to be human.
Once these rituals of preparation are removed and casualness is allowed to take over all facets of interaction, the possibility of transcendence disappears, and society becomes increasingly one-dimensional.
That this aesthetic and social homogenization should occur alongside a flattening of political discourse, a diminution of the social imagination, and growing cynicism about all utopian possibilities for mankind, while not indicative of any simple cause and effect relationship, can hardly be (as the Marxists are fond of saying) accidental.
Americans distrust reverence for things, and rightfully so. The United States is a country founded on an act of political and philosophical rebellion against arbitrary, unnatural authority, and while some corners of society have resisted rather conspicuously, the overall trend for the last 232 years has been toward greater integration and enfranchisement and the disintegration of social barriers that hold some people higher than others. This drive toward political (and to a much lesser extent, economic) equality is one I applaud, and it is a tradition I am proud to call my own.
But this trend toward equality, as applied to the cultural and aesthetic level, has led to the disastrous condition we find ourselves in today, wherein experience no longer contains any trace of that which lies beyond the ordinary, of that which not only transcends but also opposes reality. Because this rage against ostentatious political power has gradually been extended to include all marks a person might possess that would single him out as extraordinary in any pursuit other than doing what is "useful" and what "delivers the goods", because the only concept of public virtue we now possess is one the contents of which are dictated by the market, we have allowed casualness and the desire to "go with the flow" abrogate many of the formal rules of discourse, interaction, and dress that previously served as the gateways through which one would pass on his way from "the vale of mud and tears known heretofore as the MODERN LIFE" 1 to a realm of high culture in which at least the promise of a new world is held out, however diaphanously. The topography of society is without any contour.
Rather than being able to bask in the peculiar form of satisfaction attendant upon the self-conscious expenditure of our vital energy for the purpose of raising ourselves above the muck and dander of ordinary existence, we have instead mere diversions, mere enjoyment, that in the end sap us of our energy rather than revive it, that leave us feeling emptier and more depleted than when we started. Our forms of entertainment do not generate satisfaction, fulfillment, and moral and spiritual renewal. They generate the need for more entertainment and so degenerate us. Recreation and leisure no longer mean the devotion of energy to the self for the purposes of radical transformation and improvement; it merely means “zoning out”, not being who you are or should be.
Having a bit of inner intensity, maintaining some tension in oneself, and adhering to protocol, even when one is alone or not in situations that elicit it, are all actions that give one the propulsion and edge necessary for self-transformation and transformation of the world around him for the better. To this end, I advocate not "just being oneself". I suggest we try, in all of our endeavors, whether they be carried out in the company of other people or alone, to be more than oneself. Rather than preoccupying oneself with the fear of being deceived, one ought to worry that he is more like a dog than a human being. Rather than constantly being on the look-out for that which would make one look "pretentious" or "ridiculous", one should lie awake in bed every night choking with the terror that he has grown accustomed to accept with defeat and resignation what is merely contingent and could be flicked away with a finger.
Indignity is the enemy into which we must plunge our daggers, not audacity! Remain on the balls of your feet, and to hell with what other people think! No one judges you who will live forever anyway. Refuse to compromise! It's better to demand too much from the world and fail trying than to never have demanded enough.
___________
1 I tip my hat to lord_whimsy.
In the sacrifice of manners and etiquette in the name of that perfidious and philosophically unjustifiable notion of “just being oneself”, we have lost more than a few pesky, arbitrary contrivances handed down to us by our stuffy forebears. Social conventions do more than merely restrict or elicit certain behaviors; they also give one the sense of passing from one portion of society into a qualitatively different one. For example, the hours spent in preparation for a dinner party exfoliating, applying a seaweed clay mask to one's face (as well as cucumber slices to eyes if there's a little puffiness), bathing with linden blossom-scented soap, shaving carefully with a straight razor, fastidiously arranging one’s coiffure, carefully applying the proper amount of mint oil to one's skin, arranging the proper sartorial blend, and even picking out accoutrements like the appropriate tie and pocket kerchief, etc., are not spent on merely frivolous aesthetic matters or wanton acts of vainglory. Indeed, the time spent - roughly the time it would take to listen to a couple of Edith Piaf albums -- gives one the sense of passing from the "ordinary" world, in which people go about their duties and interact with one another with all the sense of self scientists currently attribute to dogs, into an extraordinary reality, a parallel universe of sorts populated, not with the sooty fellows clothed in dirt and string we find in this world, but rather with socially lithe, charming, and articulate pugilists of Beauty and Virtue, living according to principles.
In a word, we prepare ourselves to be human.
Once these rituals of preparation are removed and casualness is allowed to take over all facets of interaction, the possibility of transcendence disappears, and society becomes increasingly one-dimensional.
That this aesthetic and social homogenization should occur alongside a flattening of political discourse, a diminution of the social imagination, and growing cynicism about all utopian possibilities for mankind, while not indicative of any simple cause and effect relationship, can hardly be (as the Marxists are fond of saying) accidental.
Americans distrust reverence for things, and rightfully so. The United States is a country founded on an act of political and philosophical rebellion against arbitrary, unnatural authority, and while some corners of society have resisted rather conspicuously, the overall trend for the last 232 years has been toward greater integration and enfranchisement and the disintegration of social barriers that hold some people higher than others. This drive toward political (and to a much lesser extent, economic) equality is one I applaud, and it is a tradition I am proud to call my own.
But this trend toward equality, as applied to the cultural and aesthetic level, has led to the disastrous condition we find ourselves in today, wherein experience no longer contains any trace of that which lies beyond the ordinary, of that which not only transcends but also opposes reality. Because this rage against ostentatious political power has gradually been extended to include all marks a person might possess that would single him out as extraordinary in any pursuit other than doing what is "useful" and what "delivers the goods", because the only concept of public virtue we now possess is one the contents of which are dictated by the market, we have allowed casualness and the desire to "go with the flow" abrogate many of the formal rules of discourse, interaction, and dress that previously served as the gateways through which one would pass on his way from "the vale of mud and tears known heretofore as the MODERN LIFE" 1 to a realm of high culture in which at least the promise of a new world is held out, however diaphanously. The topography of society is without any contour.
Rather than being able to bask in the peculiar form of satisfaction attendant upon the self-conscious expenditure of our vital energy for the purpose of raising ourselves above the muck and dander of ordinary existence, we have instead mere diversions, mere enjoyment, that in the end sap us of our energy rather than revive it, that leave us feeling emptier and more depleted than when we started. Our forms of entertainment do not generate satisfaction, fulfillment, and moral and spiritual renewal. They generate the need for more entertainment and so degenerate us. Recreation and leisure no longer mean the devotion of energy to the self for the purposes of radical transformation and improvement; it merely means “zoning out”, not being who you are or should be.
Having a bit of inner intensity, maintaining some tension in oneself, and adhering to protocol, even when one is alone or not in situations that elicit it, are all actions that give one the propulsion and edge necessary for self-transformation and transformation of the world around him for the better. To this end, I advocate not "just being oneself". I suggest we try, in all of our endeavors, whether they be carried out in the company of other people or alone, to be more than oneself. Rather than preoccupying oneself with the fear of being deceived, one ought to worry that he is more like a dog than a human being. Rather than constantly being on the look-out for that which would make one look "pretentious" or "ridiculous", one should lie awake in bed every night choking with the terror that he has grown accustomed to accept with defeat and resignation what is merely contingent and could be flicked away with a finger.
Indignity is the enemy into which we must plunge our daggers, not audacity! Remain on the balls of your feet, and to hell with what other people think! No one judges you who will live forever anyway. Refuse to compromise! It's better to demand too much from the world and fail trying than to never have demanded enough.
___________
1 I tip my hat to lord_whimsy.