There is absolutely something to be said about your own environment and what you consume visually that can have a range of effects on your mind. Most of those who lead the movement of aesthetics are those living in large cities with centuries of culture to stand on. It’s a very important movement with more influence than I think we are led to believe. If you learn to really develop a taste for clothes, architecture, decor, or some other more artistic space it can really change the way one perceives the world around them. I believe that at the core of the solar system of vibes and aesthetics which social media orbits around is the human desire for beauty. It can sound quite ridiculous and vain to put so much effort into or even discuss such a topic until one compares something as simple as a bank built in the US versus Europe. In one you will find intentionality and breathtaking detail and one you will find merely usury and large profit margins in every inch. Furthermore, one can easily find the difference between the perfect coffee shop and the one with a siren above it.
It feels that in our world of endless consumerism, convenience and carelessness reign supreme. We have lost the respect for others and dignity in ourselves in the way we walk and in the things that we create. Many times we can mask ourselves as not being vain because we “don’t care” how we look instead of upholding the fact that God, those around you, and yourself deserve much better. We wonder why buildings, homes and churches are so ugly today yet lack the same sort of intentionality in the way we dress ourselves. There is something so attractive to see the way people carried themselves in much of the 1900s and something so deflating in the way we do today. Conversely, just like anything else there is the other extreme. What we often see in those who have decided to center their life on such values like high fashion, art, expensive restaurants, high ceiling brick apartments and the like is a replacement of the interior life with something exterior. It becomes this dressing up on the outside of something so shallow on the inside. Instead of allowing beauty to bring us to a deeper, introspective place, we allow it to deteriorate virtue and leave physical goods in its place. As an individual, it is always our job to be able to find the proper balance between extremes. In a world where it seems 60% of kids are in crocs and pajama pants in public, I don’t believe the answer is trying to reenact the set of Peaky Blinders. But there still remains an appropriate level of intentionality in the aesthetics of our own life. The way we dress, set up our work space, home, etc. all obtain a significant amount of influence on the ways we both feel and act. Whether or not we realize it, these things communicate something.
With PPK, I hope to use the aesthetic exterior to reveal a life-changing interior because the world needs beauty and also is able to be spoken through it. However, the world suffers greater from the lack of a truly meaningful interior. The intentionality we hope to bring into our everyday actions can also be used the way we dress ourselves and everything around us. My belief is that aesthetics, art and music can reestablish culture. The photos, art and buildings of old are just to be romanticized with the idea that all was better. It is to be used to reinvigorate the photos, art, and buildings of today. It is to inspire to reestablish true culture where individuals create as vessels rather than just artists. Beauty is not just to be a means of which we feel satisfied with our environment but rather a lens to be used which illuminates and leads to the eternal.
July 23, 2023