We are handicapped in an age of political-correctness which has brainwashed us into accepting that discrimination has no merit. But it has to have merit if life is to have value. Otherwise we live in pure relativity, with no meaning.
Furthermore: If everything is relative, then nothing is relative. If everything is subjective, then nothing is subjective. For subjectivity to exist, there must be objectivity. And straight to the point: If relativity is to exist, then there must be an absolute. Any other line of thinking is logical fallacy.
Therefore it stands to reason that a given individual can rationally assign an absolute position to Beauty as the purpose of art. Just as he can rationally assign relativity to beauty if he so chooses. Both are logical stances which may superficially resemble opinions, but in fact can be entirely rational deductions. It is therefore within reason for me to assert the absolute position of Beauty as the purpose of art. Any argument against such a stance would be irrational.
Humanity has had centuries to come to a holistic understanding of the dynamics involved in the interplay between light and dark – they do not exist without each other, and if they can exist independently – to what avail? Nihilists worship nothingness in the same way that idolaters worship somethingness – both are only half of the whole. It is in the interplay between opposites that we find the truth – and the truth, as put forth by John Keats in his Ode on a Grecian Urn is that "Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."[22]
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Jesse Waugh
Center (Bonsai)
2014
Oil on canvas
10
