If ideas either true or erroneous can be diffused into the foundations of institutions and their respective ambiences and customs then we must consider sagaciously their aesthetic and the values they express. Afterward, carefully separate the wheat from the weeds.
I lament to say that leaders oftentimes do not consider the importance of analyzing how ideas imbue institutions and their ambiances, and customs. For example, a leader may possess the feasts of doctrine and even express them with great eloquence but when he organizes an event, assuming he has the means, he may neglect decoration opting for a bland minimalism. As a result, the integrity of the event is diminished and with it effect.
If all leaders did strategically consider the values a particular aesthetic expresses, their action would take on a new and more efficacious dimension. Why? Because ambiances and customs can change mentalities without words or blood. Revolutionaries with more sagacity certainly make liberal use of aesthetics.
Regarding this problem, I had a most intriguing conversation with a friend studying to obtain his doctorate in chemistry– a very reasonable man and devoted to the craft, if you will.
As we conversed about philosophy of science I eventually insinuated a particular problem within the empirical sciences, one that I thought would seem like a trifling matter. The problem was the ambiance of the chemist’s laboratory. The ensuing conversation was multifaceted so I will focus on a few details.
When the ambiance of the chemist's laboratory was designed, was the beauty of this science remembered when the uninspiring white plastic laminate cabinets and tables? It seems the only values remembered were safety and frugality, while they are certainly admirable they are not to be isolated from beauty.
The interior designers, contractors, etc. should have strived to link these practical values to that of true beauty. So detailed cabinets and tables with charm of color and everlasting and safe materials. Not to mention, they should harmonize with the aesthetic of other buildings in the city.
Suffice it to say when the mastermind behind the laboratory conceived its ambience the value of beauty was omitted. And there was some error that caused its omission.
Perhaps, the mastermind was predominantly a strain of nihilism– the view that all things are meaningless. It would be fittingly expressed by white laminate cabinets made from particle board (compacted crushed wood).
As a result, the chemist simply by imbibing this ambiance may take on nihilism fully if not partially. In practice, he may become mediocre-- no heroism, no sacrifice-- or he may, God forbid, commit suicide.
These effects become more palpable when we compare a laboratory from the 1900s to one from the 2000s. In the former what effect, what gravitas, what seriousness, what charm do we see and feel! Souls' hungering for heroism in the every day are stimulated by the former while the latter fizzles in inspiring.
It is worth mentioning that the former for its time it was presumably technologically advanced and cultured, while the latter in its time was also is technologically advanced but uncultured. In truth, the latter is less civilized and inorganic. And what is less civilized and inorganic tends towards barbaric. I digress, however.
So what leaders can we pray for and become so that our institutions and thier respective ambiances and customs regain their health, that is, an orderly aesthetic expressing values in accord with truth instead of error?
We can pray for and become the wise, for their delight is to imbue truth into their institutions, ambiance, and customs. They will, in the case of the laboratory, design it with not only safety and frugality in mind, the product of a more nihilistic mentality, but also beauty-- charm of color, proportion, harmony, variety, et cetera.
Source: Nobility and Analogous Elites by Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
Images: Pharmaceutical laboratory at Howard University, Washington, D.C., ca. 1900
NIH History Office from Bethesda, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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