The search for elegance is an integral part of the human soul and when denied finds expression in deviant ways. Elegance, though endlessly multi-faceted is not based on arbitrary standards. It is based on the creations of nature and when our connection with nature becomes severed; our innate understanding of elegant expression does also.
Throughout the ages, whenever a society bogs down under social strictures and conditioning, divorcing itself from natural life, excesses ensue. In “polite” Victorian society, the burden of the supposed elegant life became so consuming that its excesses left hardly any room for individual expression.
The care of man-made elegance required an infrastructure that served it, rather that it serving man. Many servants and trade’s people bolstered this ballooning materialism that set the tone for the industrialism and materialism of the twentieth century. The delicate balance of nature was ruthlessly pillaged and destroyed as its resources were used to feed the mounting urgency for elegance.
The work of man’s hands though often praiseworthy and exquisite, cannot compensate for a loss of the multi-layered balance, grace and elegant expression of nature. In fact, great art that feeds the soul and inspires the mind is that which for brief, captured moments lifts the veil from the face of the physical; exposing the indwelling Divinity that animates all life. It is that which is commonly found in what might be called the lowliest “weed” in a forgotten corner of our garden.
Enjoying with gratitude the comforts and elegance of our environment is representative of a well-rounded character. When they become more than a means to an end; more than tools that enhance freedom and learning it is time to return to nature - the place of solace and that which mirrors the elegance within our souls.
...From the Upcoming Video Diaries of Almine called The Earth Wisdom Chronicles
