Serenity is bliss

Posted on March 7, 2020 by REEM MOHANTY

The picture is a harmonious blend of intellectual with the sensual. The sky’s dark blue make the rich and bold red roses pop. This beautiful, rich and smooth blend of colors is very aesthetically pleasing and provides the observer with a sensual experience.The film camera effect, the angle of the click, and the techniques used to edit this picture give the picture an intellectual and mysterious quality. Furthermore, these techniques evoke an observer’s curiosity in figuring out a purpose or a meaning behind this picture and hence the picture becomes open to multiple interpretations. The aesthetic attribute of this picture can evoke many emotions, feelings and ideas but most importantly, a sense of peace. Serenity leads to a blissful state because you are devoid of any negative emotions such as anger and frustration. When people experience inner peace on a micro level, individual peace can lead to a ripple effect and improve society on a macro level.

Plane Trees

Posted on March 6, 2020 by KRISTEN ROSENBERG

This abstract artwork depicts plain old trees. Yet for some reason, these abstract trees are mesmerizing to look at. The first time I saw this piece, I thought I could stare at it for hours. And why? It’s only these weird looking trees!

Each tree is a part of the same plane – hence Asawa’s wordplay in the title of the piece (Plane Trees). The uniformness of all the trees in the plane differs from how trees in forests usually are – on slight hills, small valleys and inlets, etc. Very rarely is a walk in the woods completely flat. Yet the way Asawa puts all her trees in the same plane gives me the feeling of getting lost within them and being one with the trees. The viewer is also in the same plane as the trees. The viewer is one of the trees.

Yet each tree is also lacking leaves. Maybe it’s just winter, or maybe the trees are dying. Either way, it evokes some unexplained sadness from the viewer. This piece is beautiful because it makes the viewer feel something. It shows the sadness that comes with the death of nature. Schiller would argue that the beauty of this piece can make us better humans by showing us the importance of nature: the unity between humans and nature, the need to preserve nature.

My Freedom, My Jail

Posted on March 6, 2020 by BENJAMIN ZHAO

I feel like this song (and the whole album) really embody what Schiller is trying to explicate in his text. The album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is all about these pulls towards following your sensual self and respecting your intellectual self, away from each other to the point where it could be identified as tearing you apart. However, the backdrop of all of this is something very beautiful, very focused, very harmonious, very intentionally well-designed by a person who is expressing his feelings. The album is 13 songs and 69 minutes long – the themes of opposing intentions coming together as a whole is represented even beyond the lyrics, mood and instrumentals of the content. MBDTF reconciles the opposing head and heart to find something that, while dark, makes people feel good and feel like they’re listening to something great.

Devil in a New Dress in particular describes the inner turmoil that one may feel in chasing something that both your head and your heart are telling you is right. The lyrics describe a love that is unarguably romantic, but the nature of this love is negative. Kanye’s head knows it’s wrong, but it is also very convinced that beyond any moral standard, it is definitely worth it. Meanwhile, the instrumental represents the warmth to the love. In spite of the content of it being morally ambiguous (to say the least), the backdrop to the song is not cold at all. The feeling of this love has a high temperature and our senses indicate that it is very substantive and easy to get lost in. By elucidating the nature of this emotional and intellectual harmonization, Kanye is revealing to his audience how it feels, how one thinks about going through treacherous, romantic love. It is both a cautionary tale and a glorification regarding doing something wrong that you feel and know is right, and what one ultimately takes away from it is entirely dependent on the individual.

Won’t You Please Help Me

Posted on March 6, 2020 by MICHAEL LEE

Whenever I feel overworked (or just outright lazy), this song comes to mind. Released in 1965, this song became a hit with its beautiful melody and vocals. It’s safe to say this song is pleasurable to most peoples’ ears. However, it also takes a deeper meaning. Behind the lyrics, we hear Lennon crying for help singing “But every now and then I feel so insecure. I know that I just need you like I’ve never done before.” The man is so desperate for help that he hides behind. Additionally, you could argue Ringo (the man in the back) is unhappy as he has to hold in an umbrella, while everyone happily plays (he’s also kind of hidden in the back). Ringo himself is subtly asking for help because he has no real purpose being in this music video. Furthermore, upon watching the music video, it seems as though none of the members (except for John) wants to be there. The real genius is that a band turned their desperate cry for help into a big hit. How many singers turn their pleas into hit songs?

One way to cook food

Posted on March 6, 2020 by Justin Yang

Food is integral to our daily lives. Simply enjoying food itself is an extremely pleasurable experience, yet many would argue that it does not involve much mental stimulation. When we elevate food to the status of art, it merges both the sensual and the intellectual: we look, taste, and smell and it pleases us, yet when we observe high-level cooking, we see the intellectual process involved in its creation. When I get handed some food and I have to say, “It’s a work of art,” I am not only admiring the delicious flavor of the food, I also admire the craft of cooking: the thought that went into the creation of the flavor profile, the techniques used to create the most desirable texture, and the perfect plating that elevates food to an art form. Food is the pinnacle of Schiller’s philosophy. Congruently with Schiller’s philosophy, food also makes us morally better. It brings people together. When we eat together, we become friendly with one another and feel less ill will toward one another. When our friends are sick or stressed, we can cook for them and (hopefully) this will make them more inclined to do so to others as well.

A Rather Touching Song

Posted on March 5, 2020 by SALVADOR FRANCO

Touch is typically depicted as one of the five main human senses, yet in a truer sense one could argue that touch is every sense. Sight is light interacting receptors in the eyes, taste is molecules interacting with taste buds, hearing is sound-waves interacting with bones in the ear, smell is the interaction of olfactory receptors with molecules. To put simply, touch is the only true sense that allows us to experience the senses at all. Without touch, we cannot enjoy the true Beauty that surrounds us.

The song begins with a distorted, almost alien culmination of sounds with a voice remembering the sensation of touch of which it has lost, which without it does not know where it belongs, yet recognizes that even with touch it still asks for something more beyond touch. Why is that? With Schiller’s philosophy, I would argue the individual, despite enjoying its memories of touch, they were only memories of sensual experiences. The voice emphasizes the waves of emotions that came with the sense of touch, more specifically a kiss, which brings with it a sudden upbeat liveliness to the song describing, “hunger like a storm”, which touch satisfies this hunger too well as the song mellows from its climax, stating, “You’ve given me too much to feel”, the individual is overwhelmed by sensual experience. Without intellectual thought to which the individual can answer the questions behind what touch has brought to them and its meaning. They are overwhelmed and still unable to convince themselves of their existence. In other words, there is a meaning to life that goes beyond simply experiencing the aesthetics surrounding us rather as human beings, as our given nature is not to only use our senses but also our intellect to appreciate any type of Beauty.

Music and the Mind

Posted on March 5, 2020 by TIMOTHY HONG

Music is arguably one of the most important languages of all time. It transcends common limitations many languages face and connects us in a way that is only rivaled by mathematics. It is, by definition, aesthetic. Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy, is an amazing example of this phenomenon. It is a piece designed to be played by a pianist and has no lyrics, yet it still seems to convey a message. From its composition and harmonious melodies, it tells a story from nothing. It expresses the highs and lows, happy moments and sad moments, and even the fleeting and lasting moments of life. It merges the emotions we gain from listening to this beautiful piece of music to something more tangible. It connects it to something on a more intellectual level. In essence, we derive something (meaning) out of what appears to be nothing. This is something that is truly unique to humans and what sets us apart from every other sentient being that we know exists. It also gives us a duty. A responsibility, even. We must be the moral authority that all creatures look to on this planet. Humans have the amazing ability to see beyond what is in front of us. This already makes us better morally in relation to all other creatures on this world. However, does it make us better than one another? The answer can be both yes and no. I think the answer is irrelevant in the eyes of a secure person. Rather, we should be using our gift to simply help one another. To promote a better future and have a fulfilled life. By doing that, we will have proved Schiller; we will have become morally better. And to think, it was a song with no lyrics that spurred us down this path of righteousness. Music is truly a gateway to a better mind and existence.

What Monet says

Posted on March 5, 2020 by JINGHAN CAO

This is one of the most famous painting by Monet. It actually belongs to a series of three paintings, called Woman with a Parasol. This is the first one and it depicts his wife Camille and their son. Camille was diagnosed with cancer when Monet drew this painting. Instead of expressing his grief in the painting, he used bright colors and captured this joyful moment of their family. When I first saw this painting, I can only feel the happiness and pleasure until I was told the story behind it. Besides creating a sense of empathy, I’m also impressed by his great skills and his attitudes towards life. Paintings can be a great example of merging the sensual and intellectual. The contrast between the story the painting appears to tell and the actual story behind it can be really effective in telling people how to live a proper life. It reminds people to be positive and to value every moment we are experiencing. I think it is also saying that every single person is an individual entity, family and friends are important but we have our own lives to live and our own goals and missions.

NF’s Real Music

Posted on March 5, 2020 by Thien-Tu Nguyen

“[God] also gave me this as an outlet. This is what music is for me. When I feel something, whether it’s anger, it’s a passion about something, or fustration, like, this is where I go. … This is a therapy for me.“
Nathan John Feuerstein, NF

The quote from above is in the last few minutes of the song. He breaks down why music is such a powerful tool – it is more than just sounds and noise, rather it is something that helps heal. Real music to him is the unification of truth and aesthetic.

If you haven’t heard some of NF’s music outside of his hit songs (like Lie and Let You Down), it can get very dark. Motifs of abuse, depression, and struggling with mental health are interwoven into all his music and it can be very intense. However, this kind of music, in my opinion, is a perfect example of the unification of the faculties. Using music as an outlet is freeing in the exact way Schiller believes art to be a tool that gives us freedom from the constraints of society. In this song, NF addresses the negative perspectives towards his music ( Ex. “Hearing these parents, they telling their kids / My music is violent, you gotta be kidding me”). However in saying “I am not here for acceptance”, he unabashedly raps about difficult subjects like domestic violence in his songs. Moreover, he expresses that he creates for himself, which is in itself an act of freedom. It also can make the audience morally better by opening discussions for mental health to be spoken about more openly. I also really love how you can feel his emotions through his style of rapping and overall tone of the song and video.

Lay Me Down

Posted on March 5, 2020 by NICHOLAS FRIES

This song by Chris Tomlin helps me significantly in letting go of pride. The lyrics are fairly simple: Lay me down I’m not my own. The song helps me realize what I actually care about in life. With this, it allows me to let go of any worries or fears I have currently. This makes me a better person for several reasons. First off, it causes me to care more about the people around me and value them because I’m less focused on my own pride. Meanwhile, it also gives me energy and motivation to live my best life.

Peace through war

Posted on March 5, 2020 by Lauren

Enlightenment, Romanticism and Revolution

A website and blog for HUM 4 A08

Tag Archives: schiller