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General Epistemology        Chapter VI-9       

 

Chapitre VI-9 Culture, art and aesthetics

 

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Position of the problem

(Permalink) This matter was the topic of a long and painstaking chapter 57 in the version 1 of this book. This new version could be summarized up in one simple sentence: one of the fundamental goals of consciousness is to enjoy beauty.

Of course, everyone will give more or less importance to it, or will seek more or less this or that kind of beauty. The very definition of beauty is not in all or nothing, but it often is in gradated logic (chapter I-3), and even in Yin☯Yang logic (the beauty or ugliness of an element depends on its association with other elements). But our scientific approach to the question will show us that there still is a hard core of things which are intrinsically beautiful or inherently bad. (For example, no colour is intrinsically ugly, but there are associations which always are). This makes that attempts to make believe that beauty is a convention, or to denigrate its importance, participates in the destruction of happiness, and even of denial of the human mind itself.

And this is indeed what many people are trying to do: to pretend that the definition of beauty, art or culture would be arbitrary, a simple social convention, and even an ideological construct.

 

That ideology pretends to define art is not a novelty. But today it got more front, in this spiritual age of reclaiming our right to happiness. These ideological twists are visible even in the vocabulary, for example to say (in French) «Maison de la Culture» (House of culture) instead of «Maison de l'Art» (house of art). Or the weakening of the definition of art, even in dictionaries: music, still defined around 1950 as «the art of arranging sounds in a pleasant way», is today made newspeak in simply «art of arranging sounds». The so-called «contemporary» art, with its cold geometric forms and square arches, is a clear rejection of any sensuality, and a total absence of nuances, both related to the rationalist ideology (see chapter II-6 for the exact meaning I give to this word). Simple Yin☯Yang inverted reflection from the previous, rap and tags, anti-arts deliberately seeking ugliness, express the pornographic denigration of the body, the racial and sexist violence of the fascist city gangs, the refusal of kindness, etc. There even is a «middle ground» in evilness: these anaesthetic, sticky musics, sad or carrying emotions without cause, which tirelessly slobber from the media and in the supermarkets. That all these things are imposed everywhere by the system, clearly shows that it is at bay: they must at all costs prevent people from appropriating beauty, and everything which goes with it: kindness, altruism, sensuality, etc.

 

Of course, this relativistic definition of beauty goes directly against the demands of our consciousnesses. Therefore it is, not only an intellectual scam, but also a crime against humanity: to make us believe that we love this ugly and destructured, inhuman and dangerous world: shoebox houses, shaved lawns, incongruous buildings, squared and now even quirky, violent and cacophonous music, noise everywhere, Disneyified nature, consciousness destructing drugs, tags trying to pop our eyes, rap which sodomizes our ears, anti-love pornography, politicians who change wives as we change socks, etc.

However, I thought that, unlike version 1 where I devoted almost the whole chapter to the previous criticism, I thought it was better to focus on the positive: why beauty is an important mean for our happiness, and how to enjoy it. And in a scientific study, we need to start with the biological bases and the spiritual bases of this beauty. Then we shall see all the complexity of what real artists build on these foundations, and the legitimate use of art by society.

Section I The objective bases of beauty in consciousness

(Permalink) These bases are objective in the sense that they are what our consciousnesses are requesting, their «food» in a way. Of course a given individual may prefer some of these basics, depending on his culture and mood, just as people prefer different foods. Since these often are Yin☯Yang dialectics, these preferences can even change according to mood, culture, etc. But «to love» something out of the basics always is unhealthy, a sign of a psychological problem.

I describe these bases in this subchapter, then go into the justifications below.

Colours

(Permalink) The beautiful colours are the pure colours of the rainbow, or angelic colours. If the colours are intense, contrasts between opposites can be unpleasant. This is why art often softens them with pastel technique: thinned with white, or with a dominant colour. So they always harmonize: rainbow effect, or iridescence. But these pale colours can give a feeling of weakness. Personally, I use the Fragonard technique, lightening or avoiding unpleasant proximities, which results in a joyful and colourful art. This method was also used in the Ajanta Caves. At these times, the low quality paints often betrayed the intention of the artists, but today acrylic paints or electronic art allow a total freedom of pure colours.

The slightly desaturated colours (mixed with grey) are acceptable, or more realistic (especially in shadows). But desaturation soon produces a form of sadness, especially if it exceeds the real desaturation. Combining strongly desaturated colours together gives a feeling of dirt, and even of satanism. There are, however, many exceptions known to artists, such as browns, necessarily desaturated. But some browns can harmonize with pure colours of the rainbow. Certain colours can be harmonized, for example solid black with pure saturated colours. Or dark colours can render some materials like silk, if we take care to respect their inner light.

Sounds

(Permalink) Sounds have multiple components: timbres, harmonies (chords), melodies, each with its own relevance and its own effects. The sounds are, even more than colours, carriers of vibration. But they can also carry emotions.

Basically, sounds always break down into several frequencies. When these frequencies are with simple ratios, the sound is harmonious and pleasant. Low frequency differences, or randomly distributed frequencies, make jarring, squeaky, metallic sounds. Basically, an harmonious sound is pleasant, while the discordant sounds are annoying or exciting. Pure frequencies also are unpleasant.

But, if timbres carry the vibration, melodies are the carriers of emotions. This is because, in all mammals, vocal frequency modulations are used to express emotions. Our sense of empathy, with its specific nervous circuits, then interprets the modulated sounds of a melody, in order to cause the same emotions in us. This is what makes us social beings able to exchange our emotions. The artists noticed this phenomenon, and they put it at a good use in music, opera, movies, etc. in order to accompany the action with the corresponding emotions. The effect can be considerable, and some music can even be dangerous, to the point of causing suicide.

Conversely, sounds theoretically irrelevant, such as bird songs, are pleasant. The reason may be a co-evolution, or the fact that hearing them signals the absence of threats. The best proof is that, on the contrary, the cries of raptors are strident and sinister.

Smells

(Permalink) Basically, smells allow us to recognize the chemical nature of materials around us. They can be classified into three categories:

- Angelic smells, like flowers or fruits. Why the scent of flowers is angelic is an interesting mystery, which we will see later in this chapter.

- The earthly smells: bread, skin (clean), cooking, wood, humus, rain, etc.

- Diabolical smells (figuratively, sometimes literally): dirty body, feces, putrefaction, burned, burned flesh, some chemicals (the stench of a product is often related to its toxicity, even for a compound which does not exist in nature, but there are exceptions)

We will see further the importance of body care for our own smell.

Tastes

(Permalink) We can classify tastes in the same way as smells. Their physiological utility is more direct. However, the «angelic» tastes are rarer.

- The angelic tastes, fruits, certain aromas.

- Earthly tastes: food, vegetables, clean skin, bread, etc.

- Diabolical tastes: dirt, excrement, dirty body, rot, meat, wine, tobacco, burned.

We note that, much more than with odours, our sense of taste adapts to the available foods, and even to our internal (organic) state. This phenomenon, called alliesthesia, is a qualitative extension of the sense of hunger (need in quantity). It is used, for example, in the vegetarian transition: pre-emptively replacing meat with appropriate cereals moves meat hunger to cereals. It is then possible to stop the meat easily, without experiencing craving.

Nobody will be surprised that wine, tobacco or meat are in the «diabolical» vibrations. It is more astonishing that onions also are considered not advisable by several spiritual streams. Yet the reason is the same as with meat, save that the problem of onion appears only when we already purified our taste of the most gross attractions, such as meat. Personally, all along my life my taste rejected several aliments in a succession, in expectable or unexpectable ways, as my own purification was going on. On the other hand, a person with his mouth and throat tarred by tobacco will need strong tastes such as onions and burned meat (BBQ) to rouse his anaesthesied taste buds.

Vibes, ambient

(Permalink) The atmosphere, the ambient of a meeting, or a place, gives immediate information about what to expect: welcome, love, respect, or on the contrary humiliation, disorder, rejection, violence. This is called vibration, which can be very strong, endearing or uncomfortable. (We define vibration in chapter V-17). The main activity of the artists is to create vibrations, in their novels, films, drawings, etc. The readers then choose the creations which satisfy their needs in vibrations. And as for physical food, the vibration tastes can be perverted... or re-educated.

The good moods are purity, calm, kindness, mutual help, love, etc.

Bad moods result from egocentricity, aggression, anger, frustration, laziness, apathy, etc.

Section II The biological basis of beauty

(Permalink) Just like sexual desire (chapter VI-5), the sense of beauty has a biological basis: tens of millions of years of Darwinian evolution endowed us with nervous circuits sensitive to certain elements of our environment, and which produce sensations of pleasure or displeasure, ideally depending on whether these elements are useful or dangerous. It is therefore an instinct, as defined in chapter V-16.

This instinct of course notes food as positive, but also good weather, sun, the body of the partners, children (this is the reason why their mimicry and awkwardness are so endearing to us), the useful animals, etc. And of course it gives a negative note to predators, enemies, faeces, dirt, diseases, poisonous plants (which our sense of taste often marks as bad), bad weather, rot, swamps, etc. Even our faces show our pleasant or unpleasant emotions to others: hatred, anger, joy, friendship, tenderness.

What precedes is already enough to explain most of our appreciations, and why modifying them can lead to problems, such as making people love dangerous things.

 

However, our sense of beauty is not so simple.

 

Indeed, it is not identical from one person to another. Like any instinct. This can also be explained in a very Darwinian way: various reactions to a situation increase the chances of survival of the group, if not of each individual.

But our sense of beauty is able of adaptation to our specific environment. This is especially true for food: people love what they were fed when children, even if others find it disgusting. We saw this above about the meaning of taste, and how it can be used, for instance for an easier vegan transition. In a general way, this natural adaptation of the sense of beauty is what allows the cultural preferences related to a group. Without going as far as reducing personal preferences.

 

Taste also plays on contrasts. A sauna is welcome after the cold, while a cold shower is appreciated after the sweat. These differences in appreciations are called the alliesthesia sense, which also modulates our appreciation of food, effort, sex, etc. according to the variable needs of our body. But we also find it in our artistic tastes: even if we like a piece of music, listening to the same one over and over again quickly becomes tiresome. We therefore need a variety of styles, scenery, landscapes, etc. So we need to think about beauty as we think about food: we need to «change dish»: change the atmosphere, change the style, change the culture, change the continent, change the climate, etc. Thus, paradise worlds probably offer many experiences, with a way to switch from one to the other, a bit like virtual worlds already do.

 

A third element adds itself to these genetic or social causes: everyone can modify his tastes, for various reasons unrelated to survival: to integrate into a group, during spiritual training, or from pure hedonism.

We detailed this process in chapter VI-5 on sexuality, where it leads to a search for pleasure which can be modified in «alternative sexuality», an expression that I carefully chose to avoid any pejorative connotation (in 2015…). Despite the legitimacy of this quest, we saw that some forms of alternative sexuality are still questionable, while some others are to be prohibited (rape, pedophilia...). It is the same in the field of taste: while beauty can happen from unexpected swaps, some changes are clearly perversions of the taste, which make us love harmful or dangerous things (wine, tobacco, meat...). Spiritually, such a perversion will make us attached to low vibrations (chapter V-17), which can be a serious obstacle to our evolution, or even force us into an unpleasant after-life.

Biological basis of the beauty of flowers

(Permalink) Few scientists wondered why we find flowers beautiful, despite the lack of evolutionary pressure to do so. The answer to this question, however, is of the utmost importance: many things depend on this answer.

There is indeed no clear Darwinian adaptation explanation for the beauty of flowers, butterflies, birdsong, snow, stars, rainbow, etc. And we can not invoke politics or manipulations of the media: these tastes are also observable in animals, where they even condition their evolution for tens of millions of years.

 

Indeed, 65 million years ago, in a world devastated by the Chixculub cataclysm which just eliminated the dinosaurs, a New Age began: the Cenozoic, which saw extraordinary novelties: flowers, singing birds, butterflies, etc. They introduced the beauty of colours and songs, where previously was only the brutality of reptiles, in silent forests of a dull plain green. More subtle, but even more importantly, parents started caring for their youngsters, instead of just leaving their eggs unattended. This in turn forced the appearance of altruism, the sense of family, tribes. At the level of ecology, there also was a co-evolution, where different species collaborate and help each other, instead of posing as competitors (according to the fascist predator-prey system).

 

Of course scientists will invoke a Darwinian evolution. But one element is missing: nothing was pushing life in this direction. Therefore, the cause is different: spiritual, that is to say the result of an action of consciousnesses, which owes nothing anymore to Darwinian evolution or to neurology. Well I know that the idea of spiritual animals will shock all the bigots, religious and atheists as well. But in this book this is no longer my concern. Of course, no animal sat in lotus to meditate (until recently, but that too will change). But the direction of their evolution clearly shows an influence of this kind: search for beauty, colours, appearance of altruism, cooperation, etc. We can even wonder in which direction is the of cause and effect relationship: an adaptation to new forms of gestation would have allowed altruism, or on the contrary it would be the appearance of altruism which would have allowed the new mammals to take care of their puppies. According to the functioning of free will as I explain it in chapter V-3, altruism had to appear first, even in a purely instinctual form (neural program) to be able then to be chosen by consciousnesses.

 

What probably happened is that plants, as soon as they were able to make colourful flowers to attract pollinating insects, also took the opportunity to create colourful and nourishing fruits, to attract mammals and birds, and make them spread their seeds. Indeed, the colours, scents and tastes of fruits are complex signals, designed to attract an herbivore at the right time, neither too early nor too late, just when the seeds are ready. And if these fruits are attractive, nutritious and easy to eat, the seeds on the contrary have a variety of systems to make them be swallowed without chewing: bitter tastes, hard shells not to be crushed by the powerful molars of the herbivores, smooth surfaces, even lubricated, to survive the intestinal transit and enjoy the warm trip to germinate really away from the mother plant. So we have a co-evolution, which benefits both partners. As a proof, plants are not making fun of us: their fruits are actually nutritious, rich in sugars and vitamins.

For this to work, Darwinian evolution had to endow animals with nerve circuits opening the appetite to the sight of the fruits, or by their taste, their perfume. However, these fruit detector circuits could not easily discriminate the flowers from the fruits. It is therefore a simple explanation of why the view of the flowers would be so pleasant to us, that is to say that we find them beautiful. We can still assume that Darwinian evolution taught the first mammals to respect flowers, as promises of future fruits. We never see frugivorous animals trying to eat flowers. Only humans who really are revolted against life are able to ransack flowers. Flowers are sacred for everybody in the entire biosphere!

And while we are there, the algorithms of these nerve circuits could not discriminate other coloured objects, also labelling them as beautiful, in bulk: rainbow, birds feathers, snow, stars, etc.

Spirituality enters the equation from the moment when nervous circuits give rise to tastes or emotions in the consciousnesses, at first in animals, then in humans. Indeed, the rise of flowers at the beginning of the Cenozoic (-65 million years) is quickly followed by the appearance of singing or coloured birds (-55 million years), butterflies (-40 million years) etc. By a very simple way: the selection of the most beautiful partners during mating. Thus, for the first time in the history of the Earth, we escaped the gross prey-predator adaptation determinism, for an evolution based on the search for happiness and beauty, no longer for the survival of the strongest.

It will be noticed that during all these stage, Humans played no role (since we did not existed yet). Even individual animals did not played a conscious role: It is the biosphere as a whole, which felt the beauty and integrated it! Here we come to the strong Gaia hypothesis, where the biosphere as a whole is the host of a consciousness. Spiritual people also know this consciousness as the Planetary Logos, chapter V-7.

Biological basis of the beauty of music and birds songs

(Permalink) Birds, like flowers, bring no Darwinian benefit to humans. Yet we find them beautiful. Well, almost all.

There are, of course, exceptions, such as crows who have a hoarse song, because they use a spread spectrum technique to recognize themselves even in a noisy environment, or from very far. However these sounds are not intrinsically distressing (The claim that crows are gloomy is of course cultural). On the other hand raptors have a sound which evokes anxiety and danger. They were probably dangerous for young monkeys in the savannah. They always were for farmers.

Otherwise, the singing birds use multiple notes or glissandos. It is these that we find beautiful.

The only Darwinian reason I see is that these songs only occur in a peaceful environment, and so are reassuring. But that does not seem to me enough: the songs of the birds carry intense and multiple emotions. It is tempting to think that they feel the same emotions as we do, and this is very plausible, since their songs are mostly used in courting. As a proof, this personal anecdote: the song of the tits is one of the most beautiful, bearer of gaiety or serenity. But one day I had to climb on a tree to protect a tits nest and their little ones. While seeing me, the parents were flying around, and their song was really sad!!

 

The deep reason would be to seek in our own sounds: before our ancestors developed language, they communicated through sounds: cries, tears, babble, etc. which served them to make known their emotional state. These sounds have formed a code, in melodies, that our brain is still understanding, and which is specific to mammals. We therefore see:

- sounds forming chords (integer frequency ratios, called harmonious) are felt as beautiful (sad or merry), while discordant sounds (producing an audible beat) are unpleasant, annoying or disturbing. One reason could be the fact of vocalizing in unison, in a good moment in a tribe, while during a bickering everyone vocalizes for himself.

- The sounds of nature or acoustic instruments are more pleasant or reassuring, while metallic sounds, rich in dissonant frequencies, are unpleasant. Although well arranged metals (or electronic circuits) can be found in the harmonious category.

- Arrangements of successive notes (melodies, and to a certain extent the simultaneous sounds of chords) are decoded by our brain, which then produces the corresponding feelings. This explains very well the fantastic evocative power of music, which composers have been able to harness for centuries to express emotions.

- That we also understand the affective states of animals (who have the same code) or even of birds (I observed it on tits while I worked on their nest to protect it: their usually joyful song was then sad).

- We can think that extraterrestrials would not necessarily have the same code. But there also are reasons to think that they might have something in common, if the creation of the code is based on certain imperatives, as with harmonious or discordant sounds. Thus extraterrestrial music would look beautiful, but not necessarily expressing the expected feeling. Even though we can argue for an identical code.

- That appeared a code coherent between all species, indicates that a co-evolution played: it is the whole biosphere which would have evolved to create this code.

 

These biological or neurological explanations however are not enough to answer all the questions. Indeed, there remains a lot of arbitrariness in the code, and in beauty in general.

Moreover, it is difficult to see how similar forms of beauty would have appeared simultaneously on separate continents, with only a Darwinian evolution. Indeed, the Americas cast off from the rest of the world 60 million years ago (there is no more precise date on wikipedia than «the beginning of the Cenozoic», that is a little less than 65 million years ago), and Australia for even longer. Both of them before the appearance of beauty. This suggests that there would have been a global influence of the consciousness of the inhabitants, without material communication.

The definitive proof, however, can only be obtained with a complex study of the chronology of the appearance of different forms of beauty: if they appear simultaneously on separate continents, then the spiritual explanation is needed.

It could even be that we had an extraterrestrial spiritual influence. Possibly this influence could still try to guide us today. If so, then the bases explained in this chapter would not be unique to our planet, but universal bases. Which is very logical, anyway, if the beings of all the planets are to be gathered in the hereafter.

The relationship with the body

(Permalink) We spend 100% of our time in our body, and it always is the first thing we discover in others. Hence the importance of:

- Its appearance, which we will see a little further.

- Freedom of use, through contraception and control of sexual desire, chapter VI-5.

- The guarantee of use, by health and longevity.

- The freedom of appearance, which we will also see a little further.

- The freedom of race, which implies to preserve them, and even to protect them against a general mixing which would make them all disappear. It is even more likely that others will appear, either naturally or by genetic manipulation. In the long term, we could see the appearance of different species, either evolving from humans, or animals in turn obtaining the necessary intelligence.

The body, spirituality and hedonism

(Permalink) In a general way, spirituality teaches to eliminate attachment to the body. This is a good thing in itself, but that does not mean that one must actually give up the body or its functions. Hedonism, on the contrary, seeks to obtain more from the body, in terms of pleasure and happiness. Which implies to be able to better maintain this body, and even to modify it.

However, spirituality will always have the last word, because of death and impermanence of the body. Even without waiting for this end, the simple fact of living together requires some training.

 

So, one of the main activities in this sub-chapter would be a spiritual hedonism, in two parts:

1) to prepare for a happy afterlife, in paradises and in wonderful bodies

2) to train here and now to better relations with the others, through psychoeducation (chapter V-12), and more precisely to better appreciate and express beauty. To appreciate the beauty, we can imagine many methods based on visualizations and meditations. But also on concrete visualizations, by art, cinema, virtual worlds. This already is my main activity, but it is safe to bet that these activities will become more and more important in the future, as a concrete application of spirituality, in parallel with the liberation spirituality: a spirituality which teaches to live together, and to better enjoy life, without frustration or aggressiveness.

This is somewhat (but not exactly) what the Pure Land Buddhism does. However it would be wrong to think at it as purely hedonistic: the main determinant of the afterlife remains our state of mind, itself resulting from our past actions. Hence the required basis, as demanding as for other more ascetic forms of Buddhism: altruistic, virtuous actions, and irreproachable morality. One thing that is often lacking to hedonists, to the point that hedonism is often confused with immorality.

I think that spiritual teachers will hesitate to teach an hedonistic spirituality: everyone knows very well that if we offer together in one package: spiritual liberation, altruism, psychoeducation, beauty, wisdom, paradise, and sex, then 99% of people will hear only «sex», hurry to open the package and throw away everything else. Even Buddhists of the Pure Land avoid talking about life in the said Pure Lands, and representations are rare. Indeed, passing the desire before the mind can actually lead to profound perversions of spirituality, such as with the Raelians and their «sensual meditation», or the promises of virgins of paradises motivating terrorist acts. I myself had to give up having an adult version of my «Elf Dream» group in virtual worlds. It attracted weird people, and if you need to start with warning the members of a group not to interact with the other members, then there is no purpose in making a group. So I preferred not to recreate it after the end of Inworldz. Even without such deviations, carnal desire is simply not the right motivation to approach spirituality. There is therefore a strong chance that spiritual sex will remain a personal choice, which spiritual teachers will avoid endorsing and even mentioning.

Still, a happy relationship is a huge help, put at use in some Tantras to create energy.

 

An important point here would be to lift some taboos about the body. Well, the view of the body or its functions is not always pleasant, but at least we should not send people to jail for a triffle. I propose in chapter VI-5, sub-chapter on naturism, that nature would be «private»: if we come across naked people, or people making love, it is up to us not to disturb them, and not to them to flee in shame.

In the same chapter is studied the case of certain sexual practices, which pose the problem of the dirty vibrations often associated with them. Here too, scientific research is needed to limit the problem and allow freedom without paying a useless price.

 

But the main conclusion here is to visualize sexuality as something beautiful: beauty of the body, colours, delicious scents, enthusiastic love, purity of the energies leading to magic. Of course the physical reality does not follow. But as it is unpermanent anyway, it is not important. We can do these visualizations in books, movies, virtual worlds, etc. However the sexual representations themselves can still be distorted by porn eyes, so I think it is better to avoid them.

Body smells

(Permalink) In this subchapter, I avoid as much as possible to go into unsavoury details. But there are things to know, especially that smelling bad is not inevitable. And in a world of sensual beauty, with the necessary ingredients available everywhere, it would even be rather of a hillbilly. But there still are things that not everybody knows yet. Let us see in detail, zone by zone:

☺Of course start with banishing alcohol, meat, fish, tobacco, etc.

☺Some strong tastes like coffee, onions or grilled (BBQ), or several veggies, can give temporary bad smells.

☺(Added in March 2023) Creozote, a mixture of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals, which is found in smoked meats, also is an additive in... organic products, euphemistically renamed «beech smoke extract». This thing transmits a weird smell to sexual secretions.

☺The body in general does not require three showers a day, but at least a soaping from time to time. The frequency depends on the people, but also on the entourage: the promiscuity of a couple being more demanding.

☺The same applies to linen, bedding, etc.

☺The mouth requires at least one brushing a day, to eliminate the dental plaque generating odours, but also teeth decay and infections of the gums (periodontitis). If this is not enough to curb a bad smell, consult a dentist.

☺The armpits have a slight natural smell which resembles bread. It may be acceptable depending on the context, but it is difficult to get rid of it unless you use deodorants. On the other hand a pungent smell, of the style «soccer dressing room» indicates that the bacterial flora is contaminated by bacteria producing this kind of smells (propionic acid). I know it because, as far as I am concerned, these smells appeared after I was forced to wear stinky football shirts, at the Victor Duruy school in Mont de Marsan (in 1968). The only thing in this case is to regularly disinfect the armpits with an alcoholic lotion, rubbing wide around. It takes several months to succeed, especially since the bacteria can come back through the laundry. But this works!

☺The pubis and buttocks cleft arise roughly the same problem as the armpits, with the same remedies.

☺Faeces: wash after each emission. With water for urine, with soap for faeces. For women wipe from front to back. Also do that when taking care for a little girl.

☺To avoid at all cost: splashing in the toilets. Even if this water looks transparent, it is still containing all the imaginable scat bacteria, more even worse anaerobic ones. Put a handful of paper before use. Once I had to work in some dodgy place, I straightforwardly squatted down besides, on a paper tissue. I narrowly escaped being caught, as all this paper work had ended clogging the pipe, lol

☺The glans, foreskin, clitoris, labia minora, when they are clean, have a pleasant fruity odour (some say of pineapple), that I actually encountered. In case of «fishy» odour, whitish residues of skin peeling, sperm residues or urine, wash with water. I was taught to do this when I was eight years old, and I keep doing it since.

☺The feet have a natural smell which resembles the one of dry sausage, due to the intense desquamation. To limit it, regularly wash with soap, and change socks every day.

☺Feet stinking rotten or mouldy are caused by unwelcome bacteria, as with the armpits, aggravated by maceration in the closed spaces of the shoes. The remedy is the same: disinfect with alcohol, including shoes and socks. And here too I can say that it is effective. If the smell persists, consult a doctor: alcohol is not enough against a mycosis which infiltrated the skin or under the nails.

☺Nasty odours on the scrotum or labia majora indicate a microbial imbalance, as for the armpits. The remedy is the same, and I can testify that it is effective. These organs naturally emit a slight odour, but pleasant or at least acceptable.

☺The vagina has a sweetish or acidic odour which cannot be changed, unless daily ablutions that gynaecologists advise against. Sperm residues can bring a strong unpleasant smell of «dried fish». Not all women have this problem: I saw with and without. I do not know if this odor is normal or not. There are several solutions: use a penis sheath, a condom, practice withdrawal, or the tantric retention of ejaculation. A frankly unpleasant or fetid odour indicates a disease, consult a doctor in this case.

☺(Added May 2022) Even with a correct hygiena, an unbalanced or inappropriate vaginal flora can cause unpleasant smells. Consult a physician in this case. Some times in the past, feminists advised to put yoghurt, in order to rebalance the flora. I don't know if this works, but in any case I would recommend scientific research on this problem, which is a bane in many couples, and potentially a cause of health problems.

☺(Added in March 2023) A recent science study (article in Phys.org, paper in cell.com) found that healthy men can keep vaginal bacteria for at least two months in their urethrae. This opens up the possibility of the transmission of bad vaginal smells. This transmission may be at the origin of the idea that non-virgin women would be «impure», an ancient and widespread cultural trait which already existed before the monotheist religions formalized it (Of course men would be as much «impure», but we were in a misogynist world...).

☺(Added in March 2023) That bacteria may be responsible from bad vaginal smells suggest a possible cure: to totally sterilise the vagina, and to re-implant a healthy selection of the previous bacteria. Well, this may be actually more complicated, and it certainly entails a lot of medical caution and research before becoming a practical cure.

☺ Menses do not smell. Smelly menses indicate a problem, consult.

☺ Flatulences cannot be avoided, but at least we can make an effort to limit noise. Good food hygiene and daily evacuation limit their number or intensity. Well, I know, it is not always working. Smart people don't hear (well sometimes they do. But then they laugh with you, not against you) Added Sept 2023: the sound of flatulences work as with a trumpet: if you just blow in a trumpet, it makes no sound, you have to pinch your lips in a specific way. For the anus, just do the opposite. We have less control (I never heard of playing trumpet with it), but still we have a mean: to let the gaz flow increase only slowly. This avoids the noisy vibration modes to appear.

☺The exchange of clothes, shoes or towels is a serious problem, which often transmits unbalanced bacterial flora, or even real diseases.

☺Wear cotton undies, avoid tight clothes, plastic, latex, leather, etc.

☺The alcohol used for disinfection is a mixture of water with 70% to 95% alcohol, sold in pharmacy and hygiena stores. Check that it is not «perfumed». Alcohol for «drinking» does not contain enough alcohol for being a disinfectant, and not all perfumes do.

☺Soap is made of about 75% of oil or fat, more soda or potash, and nothing else. Reject anything with other ingredients, especially with pseudo-latin names, they can contain allergens or other questionnable products.

 

Once these basic precautions taken, unpleasant body odours can be reduced to a minimum, without recourse to Marxism to «free oneself from bourgeois prejudices on body smell» or «accepting oneself as we are» fashoned among tramps (note 89) and other dirty people . I do not promise miracles, but still a life in a group or couple facilitated, with minimal effort and without sacrificing anything essential.

And, ehm, men have less excuses, since their body is less problem prone.

 

At last a little reward for whoever read me until there: once the coarse odours gone, we can perfume naturally our pleasure organs, with food. Indeed, various foods, oranges, dried plums, etc. contain perfumes which get out at these places. Some artificial aromas also do this. But the finest is fenugreek, already used for this purpose by the ancient Egyptians (source lost). Take a small spoon of fenugreek each day, let it soak in water to make the seed more tender, alone or with other foods. Added Sept 2023: I have to test again, but it seems that quinoa produces an unexpected perfume. In any case if this turns out to be true, I want to open a cuni clinic in Peru.

We can only imagine a Disney Princess or Galadriel with snow white underwear and sweetly perfumed parts. Of course real persons are not so good than in fairy tales, but if we take care of ourself, we do not have to be ashamed of the result.

 

Added Sept 2023: at least, even if we do not obtain entirely satisfactory results, we can think at the afterlife, and visualise not only beautiful bodies, but also scented and with a wonderful taste. For women, putting our head under her skirt would be like having our nose in a rose: a symphony of wonderful colors and delicious fragrances. For men, imagine having the color, taste and perfume of wholegrain bread (smoother though). On the raised crests, the crust is darker and tastier. For the body, it would be to the hollows to be darker and tastier. Well, I am not sure of what women will think of that, but gay men will like it, I bet, ha ha ha ha!

Section III A more beautiful world

(Permalink) We now come to the real purpose of this chapter: to propose a world which is truly better, and therefore more beautiful. On the previous bases, we shall deliberately seek beauty in all our actions, including when it is apparently useless, like machines. Of course, there is not a single style, but many guidelines:

Body appearance:

- (Permalink) Fighting obesity and abnormalities which make us ugly. The ideal being slender and simple forms, with however all the variety of skin colours, styles, features, etc. This goal may require research, and it may be one of the goals of a eugenics with benevolent purposes and methods, chapter VI-7.

- We shall even get a right to cosmetic surgery, to correct unsightly traits (yes I know, many countries do not even have Social Security for serious diseases. As you are very numerous to bear the responsibility, I request a contribution of 20 euros per day for each of the responsables, to be able to pay somebody in your country to kick your arse.)

Hairs and body hair:

(Permalink) Hair is better natural. We should not have to cut them off, neither to hide them. To ban especially, all the partial or unnatural cuts, or the deliberately anti-sensual cuts of rap, punk styles, etc. On the other hand we always need to comb them and wash them. For body hairs, of course this is not an obligation, but it is better without. For this reason, we need more effective hair removal methods... and for all the races, because the only really effective method, laser hair removal, is... racist (works only on clear skin).

The style advocated here is clearly the «elven» style.

Clothing

(Permalink) We saw above the choice of colours: varied to infinity, but no black grey, dirty green, poo. (We saw above some possible exceptions)

For the cut, the only guideline is to not deny the body. We therefore avoid rigid or mechanical forms (suit-tie style, city gangs style, stiletto heels) and we prefer comfortable clothes. Functional for work, or more formal for meetings. Let us be clear: loose clothing such as the hijab hides the body, but is not unpleasant to wear. So it does not really deny the body, being rather in the category of tunics.

An important guideline here is to eliminate all the stereotypes, like trousers for men and dresses for women, grey for men, colours for women, pink for children. Everyone should be allowed to wear tunics, trousers for work, and all the beautiful colours. This was always done, at different epochs. And if women have bras (or are even forced to have bras), why should not men be allowed to underline their anatomy. That too has been done. If Montaigne had not disagreed...

Added September 2023: we note that men's trousers and generally undies are built in the denial of what they contain, unpleasantly crushing it or pushing it sideway. To the point I have to wear some clothes the front behind. Which has double advantages: uplining the buttocks separation with the part intended to torture me, and leaving ample baggy room for what is in front. In any cases men's trousers must be sewn in an ample V, so that it constitutes a sufficient pouch.

Unsurprisingly, there too we have an «elven style», but more flexible and more varied than in the movies. Between us, it must be said, Peter Jackson really had to hate the Elves, to give them those gawky and stiff looks.

Houses

(Permalink) There is an incredible variety of possible styles, which can be graded along several axes: natural-modern, simple-sophisticated, neutral-stylish, and other criteria. The bottom line here is not to always go to the technically simpler or less expensive, and always look for aesthetic. For example a harmony in the proportions does not cost more than the loony, so why to deprive ourselves.

- The model that I advocate is the «elven style», with curved and organic shapes, sculptures, etc.

- An important guideline here is to avoid the «modern» square style, or «shoe box» style, uniformized and cold, and to prefer curved, organic shapes.

- In addition to traditional materials, brick, wood, adobe, etc. which offer a wide variety of shapes and styles, today we find modern and ecological materials, which can easily achieve curved shapes, crisp and with beautiful colours:

- Autoclaved aerated concrete, which we are starting to find in curved blocks. It would also be possible to make sculptures.

- Foam concrete or aircrete, is non-autoclaved cellular concrete, that we can produce and mould ourselves. It allows for even greater freedom. It is a technology which matured only very recently (a few years in 2019), so it is prudent to inquire for recent products of good quality. It would be easy to make sculptures, and already attempts appear to print it in 3D.

- The potash silicate paints can last for centuries, and offer a beautiful palette of pure (saturated) colours (on siliceous stony materials, recent compositions allow other materials, but their durability is not yet demonstrated).

- Rounded corners and joints for bathroom accessories, faucets, etc. and monobloc bathrooms, greatly simplify the cleaning, which otherwise confines to slavery.

- The interest of enamel is that it is a glass, which forms itself naturally in a smooth, hard, durable, aesthetic and easy to clean surface. But it is expensive because you have to heat the entire part at high temperature. For a monobloc bathroom, it would take a huge oven, and the slightest breakage would require to change the whole. It would be interesting to be able to do it without heating, by simple painting. Such technology would significantly lower the price of enamels, and open up multiple applications that we are not thinking at today. Probably potash silicate could replace enamels if a surfactant makes it smooth.

- Double shape walls are actually two close walls, which may not be parallel (hence the name). The space between the two walls serves as thermal and sound insulation, but it can also receive ribs, pipes, heating air circulation, insulation, etc. As the two walls do not touch each other, they really improve the sound insulation. This technology makes it possible to acoustically isolate a bedroom designed as a monobloc, touching the general structure only on silent-blocks. Such things can be assembled automatically at the factory and quickly put on the building site, reducing the price of buildings.

- Piping and technical accessories are better hidden.

- An interesting roofing material would be synthetic slate (from clay).

- The potash silicate paint makes it possible to make cheap imitations of a wide variety of wall or roofing materials. A 2D print head would greatly facilitate this work, allowing everybody to select and apply textures, just as in virtual worlds.

Living landscapes.

(Permalink) These are the landscapes which surround the houses directly. It is clear that there is much interest in having a lot of varied greenery (with the exception of large trees too close to the houses, because they can fall on them).

- Stop the deadly sin of shaving lawns and the constant harassment by noisy devices to cut, destroy, mutilate, deny the plants. The grass needs to be mown only once a year, in August when it turns yellow, to avoid the growth of brambles or trees. The rest of the time, we shall let it grow, and especially let it bloom, to attract butterflies and insects. Mowing flowery grass should be considered a crime.

- We can alternate houses and flower spaces, arbours, etc.

- Provide walking paths. Many existed once, but were replaced by roads. They must be recreated, and moreover comfortable, without mud or bramble.

- Also provide vegetable gardens. They are the simplest yet most efficient way for anybody to connect with Earth.

- Provide for collective spaces.

- In densely populated areas, there may be an underground level for vehicles, pipes, etc. And even for pedestrians, as in Canada.

Farming landscapes

-(Permalink) The elimination of meat will bring the elimination of the worst calamity of the countryside: barbed wire everywhere. Well, strictly speaking, we still shall have to protect ourselves from wild animals, when they will become numerous again. But we can then provide gates and passages for pedestrian paths.

Countryside in developed countries today are actually closer to the factory than to nature. It is badly needed to restore hedges and groves, or to alternate woods and fields. And at least leave some flowers. And also places where it is possible to walk under tall trees. Walking in the countryside must be bucolic from start to finish, not an obstacle course, with 1km of noisy road to reach 50m of wood.

- One thing that we shall see more and more will be solar panels fields. It may be time to think about their aesthetics, especially the structures which support them. And make floor space useful in one way or another: shade loving plants, activity spaces, batteries, garages, storage spaces, animal places, etc.

- We saw in Chapter VI-7 the organization of soils in humanized spaces and natural spaces interpenetrating, fractally, to allow for a continuous circulation between plots of each type. Thus animals can circulate, or walkers, without leaving nature.

Workplaces.

(Permalink) Workplaces, whether offices or factories, are often thought to be solely functional. This is a very bad reason, because we spend a lot of time there, sometimes more than in our home. It would be interesting to think more about their aesthetics. A beautiful factory, an intimate office, personalized, would give much more desire to work there and achieve their goals. This would break the terrible separation between «private life» and work. Separation which will cancelled anyway by better motivations.

General conclusion: beauty as a primary objective.

(Permalink) A world of beauty begins with appreciating, teaching, and endorsing the value of beauty. So far, urgency commanding, we sought to improve the social, ecology, health. It could be a mistake finally (that the Marxists also did): the search for a better world, more beautiful, happier, could be a much more powerful motivation for concrete efforts.

Hence the idea here of making beauty a primary objective, as well as ecology or health, instead of always relegating it to «after». To share it, to teach it, to illustrate it in a thousand ways. Beauty brings energy, meaning and motivation, the rest would come so much easier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

General Epistemology        Chapter VI-9       

 

 

 

 

 

 

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