Chapter 1

"The ancient Greeks... were convinced that an explanation of, and definition for, Beauty was as concrete and discoverable as the answer to why the days got shorter in winter" - Bruce Maddox (The Art of being human, Bruce Maddox, Page 5, Right margin quote two)

1882, Ancient Greek Female Costume.  London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington

I agree with the premonition that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What was beautiful to the greeks would not be beautiful to say someone from an African tribe or a native American. Different cultures shape who, what, how, has beauty and why it's considered beautiful. The Greeks may have been able to perfect their own definition for beauty but that would vary person by person. Personally, I don't even know what I find beautiful so the idea that one concrete thing can be beauty is bizarre. Everyone holds themselves differently and looks better wearing/doing certain things. Also, one's personality contributes to how we perceive them. A supermodel may be demonized as a horrible person because she bad mouthed a disabled person or went on to disrespect someone's culture. The beauty that the public once recognized her for turns to resentment and recognition of a spoiled and shallow human being. Physical beauty is not all there is to the world.



"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of science" -Albert Einstien (The Art of being human, Albert Einstien, Page 11 right margin quote one)

after 1456, Portrait of Jean Miélot. France 

Mystery sparks wonder in people. If you stare into the unknowing it's just human nature to poke at it and attempt to define it. People are stubborn they don't like not knowing things, it scares them. Mysteries are dangerous and make people go against what their cultures shape them to believe. Even in a utopia, a man will attack to show he is not apart of a machine and that there is more to life then just what is given. The thoughts that something else lies past your current world make people try and create those things. I find it a wonderful thing it makes us creative, and inquisitive! Without the instinct to know a little about everything we would be stuck in the past with little technologies and possibly no religions or arts. What would we need humanities for if we didn't want and wonder what could be?



"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body" -Joseph Addison
 (The Art of being human, Joseph Addison Page 10 left margin quote one)

                  1850 and 1855, Monk in White, Seated, Reading. France                       

I have been a bookworm for as long as I can remember. The experiences books can give you are unmatched and irreplaceable. Books give your mind somewhere to drift off to and think about things that would be hard to think about on your own. Once you begin to read you find out new interests that engulf you. Personally, I found out I love psychology and mythology. I love to read about ancient religions and how they believed the gods watched over them. Languages, History, Gods, reading about any of that expands your knowledge and truly is what exercise is to the body.

I believe this quote also correlates to the previous quote about the beauty of mystery. Reading can lead to so many questions that provoke you to read more on the topic or others. I know personally, I have fallen down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out how the hierarchy works in the old Irish Celtic culture before the British caused a large famine and then went on to look at their gods and other traditions. The same can be applied to science because a scientist may read a study about how X is impossible and become infatuated with solving X until eventually they come up with a solution or discover something completely unrelated