Elegance in American culture is about balance. In a place where we have more than we need, where at every turn there is plenty, it is good to step back and take pause as to what things we want from this wonderful material world. What do we really need? Every person has a different set of requirements to perform their daily work tasks but living far beyond your physical needs can become a nightmare of material objects floating obstructing and distracting the inside of your world. Simplicity and wealth coexist among the rich more than we might think. And yet there are many beautiful homes in America all occupied by people, families who have obtained the right to such residences by what ever means. They are there and they occupy that space. Clear understanding of order and structure of your environment must find you in a place where it is always a pleasure to be... at home. Pleasing the physical senses, the need for privacy, continuity of personal experience and creative expression moment to moment uninterrupted are incredibly important to this new understanding of what is truly Elegant in life.
Attainable, elegance itself is not enjoyed by your average Joe. The feeling of a complete and ordered life is so rare yet it is within the grasp of most everyone. So why don't they have it? Elegance is an intellectual state of mind where one knows everything fits together in their world. Giving and receiving, playing and using the world for its riches is part of life here. Accepting our role in the planetary and cosmic or "universal" paradigm (set of assumptions) is as natural as the growing grass. Taking title to this privilege appears to be the problem when working a concept, job or goal. It is sad when people do not work towards unity but, indeed, it is their business and they must take responsibility for what exists in their world. Coarse disorganized and filthy living leads to meandering lives that are lived in continuous controlled colapse of imaginary structures (like the "American Dream") too large to manage. When these dreams/visions/imaginary goals falter order turns to chaos and we are removed from peace. Excessive ambition threatens peace, the precursor state of mind that brings forth the elegant human. The true American for whom opportunity is endless if he were only open to fields of different and diverse possibility and opportunity. If only he could focus on one thing at leave that focus upon a goal worthy of the individual then one stands a chance of achieving success. The trick is in the choice. Choosing a lifestyle is much trickier than one might think. By lifestyle I mean job, mate, and how you spend your time alone and when you are not at work. Elegance emerges when all things in your life are attended to in a life that is worth living. A life that positively effects others attracts the same encouraging enthusiasm "or vibe" from others. All other types of people tend to fall away into obscurity and are forgotten completely as we go about our tasks here in this place now.
Certainly the media taunts us and politics teases us into civic action and participation in the system as we know it but now life insists we do so to a greater degree than we are used to, effecting elegance a purely American Elegance also mis-coined "the American Dream" which to me just means buy more real estate and stuff to be happy. There is more to being an American than the American Dream. Our place in the universe is so special, it is a universal laboratory for human growth. However our planet has been recently rocked by war (again) and stupid decisions (again) based on greed and the inevitable suffering people experience when "the haves" strip the wealth deliberately and effectively from the hands of the "have not's." There is no guilt in the minds of the people who perpetrate these kinds of acts upon humanity. But who are the real terrorists? Who are the people are truly "out of line" in the world. What decisions are effecting the world negatively?
More on this topic later. Have a good night.
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