Something is missing in the world.
I see in the people around me my own reflection: hunched- shouldered, slack- eyed, enclosed continually in a miasma of technology and over scheduled lives. Mistaking efficiency and a checked off chore list for a good day done.
I hear my own thoughts in the droning misery reported from every news source, in the quiet laments of the hardships expected of life, in the bitter sneers of relativists and nihilists.
I feel the lacking in the nostalgia that rises from reminders of by gone eras where elegance was at forefront of every consideration.
This is not how I want to live. I do not want to look with resignation to the trials and tragedies of my future. I do not want to live a life looking only for the bad and never for the beautiful. I do not want a life where the beautiful is only an ideal to be found in art or the occasional hour of rest.
But I do not feel the modern paradigm gives me the structure or inspiration to turn my life into a living, vital work of art. However, re-creating the ideals of the past would leave me with an empty shell and no ability to relate to the modern world. People change, ideas evolve, society advances. What held true in the Victorian Era can not be applied wholesale to a modern life no matter how beautiful it seems.
There seems to be only one choice left when the present and the past can no longer fulfill: create a future.
This blog shall chronicle my exploration into the unknown realms of the Neo-Aristocrat. I have chosen this moniker to describe my self-made alternative aesthetic based on the Greek word 'Aristos' or best. I am looking to create a lifestyle not just taken from the Victorians, though a great deal of my inspiration shall come from that era, but from all ages when striving for the best was considered a worthy endeavor. When living by a moral system was not consider naive. When a desire to add more beauty to the world motivated each action.
Perhaps such a time never existed, but I shall endeavor in my own life to recreate it.
My exploration shall be broken into three parts:
~ Discovering the Aesthetic. Here I shall take pieces of art or fashion which inspires me and try to understand what about them appeals to divine a list of traits that I believe are worthy of imitation.
~ Applying the Aesthetic. Here I shall apply, in theory, the qualities of what I believe make a Neo-Aristocratic to certain aspects of living. Such as fashion, food, interactions with others, etc.
~ Living the Aesthetic. Here I shall chronicle my attempts to live the philosophy I created.
This is my first ever blog. I have never written for an audience, much less attempted an undertaking like this. There will be mistakes and I shall be grateful if you point them out in a constructive way. I will be learning and changing my opinions through out this exploration. If you have suggestions for where to look for inspiration or stories of your own undertakings, I would love to hear them. Part of the reason I am making this exploration public is to find a like minded community who is looking for something more out of life. The accountability of a public blog will keep me focused on my goal.
