Nietzsche said that with the death of the sacred, Beauty would continue, albeit accidentally.
Mr. John Ruskin, however, set his sights on an earlier age, developing six principles that could be applied to gothic beauty, and in so doing, in my eyes, set down the principles for Beauty in general.
The principles are: Rudeness, Changefulness, Naturalness, Grotesqueness, Rigidity and Redundancy.
In our post-industrial age, perhaps the most telling is the first, Rudeness. Mr. Ruskin defines Rudeness as the introduction of originality into a work at the expense of a polished, finished product. What, you may ask? That's not how I do it at work! Me either brother, but it's nice to know why nothing I produce is beautiful.
Which leads me to my next point concerning this little gem of a book. These principles can be applied, in my view, to Beauty in general, not just gothic. And it provides an interesting point of view with which to look at life. Suddenly, many of the 'best things' in life truly are free.
I had no real education in aesthetics before reading this book, and have now delved deeper into the subject because of it.
Maybe you will too.
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