Why Grace & Dignity Are Important | A Philosophy of Beauty, Body, Face & Soul
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- čas přidán 12. 05. 2024
- This video is about faces and bodies and how we move them, which is far, far more important than we realize. This crazy journey beings with Audrey Hepburn, runs through German and Chinese philosophy, and, by various and sundry routes, arrives back at each and every one of us.
Grace is beauty of movement. And moving beautifully matters. For example, we know that our human relationships (with with parents, children, family, friends, strangers, and enemies) are foundational for our lives, but we often don’t appreciate the fact that the WAY we move our bodies in respect to those people forms the baseline for the quality of those relationships. So much of our broader moral interaction comes down to facial expression, to tone of voice, to the way we look at people-whether in a restrained, graceful, dignified way, with clear-eyed, confident respect, or in a cowardly, aggressive, lewd way.
Grace and dignity are what make for better lives, a better society, and a better world.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Intro 00:00
Grace 1:21
Movement and Meaning in Life 3:44
Taoism: Be Like Water 5:47
Dignity 17:40
The Completion of Human Nature 20:28
Graceful and Dignified Reformation 26:45
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Instagram: / empire_of_the_mind
Facebook: / empire-of-the-mind-102...
Patreon: / empireofthemind
MUSIC
Mahler, Adagietto from Symphony No. 5
Debussy, La Mer, 1. "De l'aube à midi sur la mer"
Beethoven, Egmont Overture
Schubert, Serenade
SOME SOURCES
FRIEDRICH SCHILLER
Aesthetical and Philosophical Essays: www.gutenberg.org/files/6798/...
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: plato.stanford.edu/entries/sc...
AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO, Confessions
TAOISM & TAI CHI
Tao Te Ching, Translated by Stephen Addiss & Stanley Lombardo
The Complete Works of Zhuangzi, Translated by Burton Watson
The Tao of Tai Chi Chuan, featuring Taoist Priest Zhou Xuan Yun: www.brown.edu/about/administr...
The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi: 12 Weeks to a Healthy Body, Strong Heart & Sharp Mind by Peter M. Wayne, PhD, with Mark L. Fuerst
ARISTOTLE, NICOMACHEAN ETHICS
ALFRED ADLER
Social Interest: A Challenge to Mankind
What Life Should Mean to You
Some stock footage from Videvo.com
yadayada
You remind me of a quote. I cannot remember its source, but the quote has stuck with me.
"Authenticity is defecating on the living room rug; grace is excusing yourself to use the bathroom."
Nice and true.
Most important of all, I live up to my motto: "dignity, always dignity"
Dignity is not the most important. Christ crucified had his dignity stripped from Him. Love, commitment - these are the most important. When one has singleness of loving purpose, even willing to sacrifice grace and dignity before the eyes of the world, then you have true grace, then you have true dignity. Like Abraham, you can only build your legacy when when you are willing to sacrifice it all.
@@valq10 Forgive me, it is not my intention to be pedantic. Christ persecuted and crucified is, actually, Christ glorified. The trial and the tribulations inflicted on the "King of the Jews" may have stripped him of his robes, but it did not render him undignified nor did it humiliate him. Rather his dignity, through his passion serves as the model for everything human for all of us today.
There are, likewise, other ways of looking at the actions of the Patriarch. In Temple times on the day of atonement (Yom Kippur) there were two goats. One was dedicated, rather sacrificed, to the Lord in the Temple and upon the other, the Azaz'el goat, were laid the sins of the nation. Azaz'el was a demonic spirit, and the Azaz'el goat was sent into the desert to die, or sacrificed to Azaz'el. Abraham has two sons, the half-brothers, Ishmael and Issac. Ishmael , the elder, and his mother Haggar, are driven into the desert and Issac is taken by Abraham to be sacrificed. Perhaps, well probably, not an accidental parallel. Although exactly what sin Abraham is seeking atonement for is not clear, well at least not to me. Maybe even Abraham, as the story goes, decides that his transgressions are insufficient to warrant the sacrifice of his younger son and heir and he sacrifices the conveniently available ram instead. Child sacrifice and a lack of monotheism is a feature of the Northern Kingdom until it's fall in 721 BCE are pretty clearly explained by the prophet Jeremiah. The El in Isra'el and Azaz'el certainly isn't the YHWH of the temple in Jerusalem in Judah or it's prophet Jeremiah.
With this story we see the establishment of the principal of ultimogenator (succession of the younger or youngest son) that occurs again in the stories of Esau and Jacob, Joesph sold into Eygpt by his older brothers, Aaron and Moses, and most importantly the selection and anointment of David rather than his older brothers, etc. Again, likely not a coincidence.
Unfortunately the entire story about the story is a bit too long and convoluted to unpack in a CZcams comment, although it would make a fascinating "Empire of the Mind" episode, or seven, especially if both the concept of the "scapegoat" and the analysis of Rene Girard was woven into the discussion along with an explanation of the much later Iron Age synthesis of the Patriarch trilogy (Jacob is of the northern kingdom (Israel) while Abraham and Issac are from the southern Kingdom (Judah)).
Looked at as literature, some might say propaganda, the trilogy of the Patriarchs makes a compelling story of how aspects of Bronze Age and maybe even earlier oral traditions and moral truths are reworked in later times to motivate a people to take cohesive action to assert a vision of their pre-ordained destiny. The British Empire was very good at this and the ennobled sacrifices of both Franklin in the Arctic and Scott in the Antarctic had much the same effect as the unwitting compliance of Issac with his father's plans to make a sacrifice.
Grace, Dignity, and appeasing the algorithm.
Dignitas and social media to the rubbish bin.
That is how cruel slave drivers uses to control slaves in a capitalistic economic work place... 😅
She Captivated me 2 years ago...and she's still Captivating me.
That Woman was Beautiful Magic.
In the last part of the video you mentioned modern society's rejection of grace and dignity in favor of authenticity, and that reminded me of your Eden video, where a proper balance of nature and nurture produces fruit; likewise, a proper balance of authenticity (nature) and restraint (nurture) is needed for a healthy and happy society.
Absolutely!
Thank you~
How many steps in a mind proper direction m found after listening to your thesis..
Purely ❤
Thank you for another thoughtfully constructed and thought provoking video. As a child of the mid-1950’s I witnessed the decline of the graceful and the dignified that you suggested was motivated by a desire for authenticity. Sadly there was little positive or authentic about it. Non-conformity was it’s watchword and the need to conform to and adopt the outward trappings of the Non-conformist were at least as repressive as the elegant post-war conformity that it claimed to have abandoned. Most of the models of authenticity were quickly commercialized and co-opted such that the real message was that authenticity was something that could be purchased rather than developed. Buy the ‘real thing’ and ‘teach the world to sing’. Fortunately, there are still disciplines and groups that preserve the best aspects of prior grace and dignity. Grace was just a way that people showed that they recognized the purpose of their lives and that they had the confidence to fulfill it. It was therefore, appropriate that you would include a quote from Jordan Peterson. It’s never too late to do some good in the world. The graceful bit will follow naturally.
I found your channel just yesterday, and must say that I have never seen anyone balance, and deliver, the philosophies of our age in such a digestible manner. Thank you for your Kubrick analysis it was really incredible, but especially for this one. Grace is an underestimated quality, and its disappearance is particularly heartbreaking for women to witness. Without referencing certain political ideologies of our time of which seek to caricaturize feminine nature, the gradual diminishment of grace as a value is something that I think both men and women alike feel deeply mournful over, but somehow is not discussed even in the most populist movements now.
This is literally the only place I've found that descibes the grace I was obsessed with as a kid. Thank you! This should not be lost.
The way this essey puts into words a subjective feeling i constantly experience is cathartic and sublime. Thank you.
Autistic people usually have problem with expressing emotions through their face and voice, it's just not natural for us, and it's very painful because, despite feeling so much inside, we find it hard to connect with others.
You are exactly right about Hepburn. I understand she had an issue in WW2 with not having enough food. Sometimes physical hardship creates a need to find grace and dignity. Once a person by effort achieves this it may become part of a new person- a person with authentic grace and dignity.. Once they have it some people can undergo great suffering and yet maintain it. I have seen it and it is amazing. I also had a friend that was an international sculptor who did a bust of Cary Grant from life. He told me many years ago that Grant possessed this in real life- it was authentic.
I comment chiefly to satiate the algorithm gods on our behalf. From the standpoint of nonverbal communication, Hepburn “friend signals” often and well. Rather than focusing her friend signaling on her mouth, she head tilts from side to side and eyebrow flashes. Eyebrow flashes give everyone deep feelings of acceptance and contentment.
Ballet training teaches students to begin and complete movements with intent. The mind fully occupies the full extension of all of one’s limbs.
At its beginning, I thought this video might simply be an appreciation of Audrey Hepburn's appeal. At its conclusion, I have a better understanding of why Miss Hepburn is so appealing. Thank you.
Speaking of Grace and Dignity, how incredibly insightful of you to take a long cherished symbol like Audrey Hepburn and make her the foundation of a study of these critical aspects of human existence. This in itself is an example of your own aspirations in regard to Grace and Dignity and your ability to find those so very subtle connections that exist within the interconnected realms of art, philosophy, history, and human existence itself.
You have, consciously or unconsciously, produced a piece of art here. Most impressive. And thank you so much. It is so rare to see such introspection in our culture, and even less rare to be touched by it as many of us are in this sometimes hostile and shallow medium.
How do you only have 15.5k subs? You're killing it. Don't stop putting this out. This is truth, and truth is damnably hard to come by, these days. Be well.
Gotta start somewhere I guess... But thank you, sir! I will do my best.
It will come. I believe life is a pendulum that naturally reaches a “peak” and then swings the other way. For example left wing / right wing. Right now knowledge is acquired wide and thin, with instant gratification and immediacy being the current zeitgeist. This is accompanied by the cancel culture - closing down debate and difference. Closing down peoples’ ability to debate and have their questions answered will only last so long, and then the pendulum will swing back.
When it does, channels like this will become increasingly important. The ability to think for ourselves, search for meaning, challenge, learn, debate are what got humankind out of caves and onto the moon. The desire to know more, to know what is over the horizon, to always go a little further.
My personal view is this channel feeds my questionings and then some. That others are not subscribed just makes it more delicious.
@@andrewmcneilismcneilis6596 I certainly hope you are correct. And indeed, I kind of enjoy having a ‘smaller’ channel where I can interact more with people. The interaction is one thing I hate to lose, but it becomes almost impossible the bigger the channel gets.
Too many people have no desire for truth.
In an age of the shallow and insipid there is no harder profession than philosopher.
22.8 thousand today: a 50% increase in two weeks.
One of the few Adlerians to survive the 1990s. I enjoyed this meditation greatly. I especially appreciated the famous "Be Water" exchange from Bruce Lee.. Total dignity, riding upon a frame of pure Grace.
I felt warmth and smiled in the very beginning. And now when I watched it till the end, I genuinely would like to say out loud "Oh my God, this is beautiful". Grace and dignity is a charm of our life in a higher level, but so there's a charm in simple people. People that don't care or are shy or else. Not angry or cruel but they just be themselves. Maybe that applies more to those about whome you think as good intentioned people. It is the beauty of life and a human being.
Your way of narration is just perfect, very calm and good at emphasizing important moments with pause and tone. It's music to my ears. Your videos can give food for thought, art to enjoy, and serenity for the mind to rest, all at the same time. Thank you.
I love the reference to Schiller. You missed Joy when speaking of Hepburn, and her performances were frequently joyous. Now I see that Hepburn was an embodiment of Schiller's Ode to Joy.
Just discovered your channel. Magnificent. I have friends that teach in an all boys high school. Im going to suggest they listen to this presentation on grace/masculine grace. A much needed virtue for both sexes today, but especially men. The word "gentlemen" needs to gain back its pride of place.
This is going to sound super cringey because my name is Audrey, but I have always felt a kinship with Audrey Hepburn. This is a wonderful tribute to her. Thanks Empire!
These videos are very useful. I wonder how much of this is now going to be absorbed by my subconscious and acted out in the real world.
Thank you, I'm glad to have found this channel 😄
Thank you, sir! Glad you’re enjoying them :)
This was great. I searched for: grace, dignity, and humility and this video was one of many that popped up. But I think I just stumbled across a perspective I didn't know I was looking for. I cannot wait to dive into the rest of your content. Lovely!
I will faint looking at her grace. She taught me being a man the importance of grace and elegance. And i embraced the masculine aesthetics...
Genuinely one of the best channels on CZcams, keep up the great content.
Body movement is also an artifact of body geometry. The length of limbs, segments of limbs, relative proportions...
I'd like to praise your readings. Whenever a quote is read, you allow time for the words to move your voice in a, may I say, graceful manner.
"Fame is something to beat people down with. Society praises as a way to control people." Wow. That perfectly articulated why I'm uncomfortable with the idea of celebrity being attached to art. The artist should rebel but fame and celebrity are systems of control. There seems to be very few artist who can survive fame with their authenticity/integrity in tact.
Excellently explained why Audrey is so captivating, thanks!
Hi from Toronto 🇨🇦. I only just discovered your channel this morning, and I’m enjoying your guided commentary. Thank you so much for your efforts. I’m happy to be better informed and enlightened on the iconic stories, images and characters that continue to live in the background of my psyche. 😊
Perhaps we will realize this change in society. I would be dishonest not to admit my fears that such a value has been lost forever, but maybe the idea, and practice in my own interactions will be just enough to leave behind the question. Thank you for sharing
Your video has made me realize I have been living the principles of daoism without ever knowing about it.
Anyone that will not suffer fools should be given the immortality of our remembrance.
This is beautiful well produced content, normally I watch on x2 speed, this I cannot, your musical choices are superb!
So thrilled to find your channel. New sub. Whose catching up on past vids. Right up my alley. Congratulations on all your creative and wonderful work 🌹
I quite appreciated this video and the thoughts and philosophy within; thank you!
Every time I watch one your videos I disagree with one third or one half of your opinion. Yet I keep coming back. The greatest value I can say of your work is the highest praise I can give to anything people do; It makes me think.
Also thank you for adding Schubert's Serenade at the end. Keep going!
Mind blown. This is a Gold Mine of information. Thank You, for your presentation.
I'm brand new to this channel and almost never comment on stuff, but the way you tied Schiller's philosophy to Audrey Hepburn as an embodiment of his ideas was brilliant. Injecting other philosopher's ideas into the mix too along with Beethoven and Mahler in the background is just truly something to behold - keep up the good work dude!
This is the best channel since Academy of Ideas! Thank you
I'm not sure how I found this channel, but I'm so glad I did. Truly one of my favorites to watch and learn from. Very insightful and well-produced content. Praying for your continued success.
Thank you .... gentle, subtle and beautiful.
I've been to Munich once for a ski race. Stopped by the Theatine Church for a moment on a walk through the city and recognized it in this video in a split second. But no time spent cramming could get math to stick when at uni. Thanks brain.
Your voice is majestic. So calming to listen ✨
Grace, I feel is the embodiment of what we aim to be a channel for in our highest ideals, what we used to call the search for God. And to be a master of our needs is to find restraint within ourselves. Thanks for the video
She has grace and also cuteness. She did not look cold in the movies.
Just discovered your channel. Crazy that you don't have more subs. Keep it up these are awesome!
Your channel has quickly become my favorite subscription. What your exploring is greatly needed in our culture. Keep up the great content!
I can't remember when was the last time I watched a good video with so much ads in it. People want to advertise via you. Good job, again!
Thanks for putting this together and putting this out there.
You’re welcome!
I had to smile when you said "for our simple purposes here. . ." because you have the least simple and most profound channel I have yet encountered on youtube.
This was fascinating and wonderfully thoughtful. So glad to have discovered your channel!
Amazing as always, thank you.
This can come off as a bit prudish at worst or anachronistic at best. However, I can see the point of grace and dignity as archetypal ideals that help the physical body through the spiritual subject/object split. Movement, speech (not language or dialect differences), and affect are critical to resolving dualistic tension in the physical dimension. But be careful in thinking that the elementary ideal or form or universal truth of grace and dignity is limited to the upper class, or in Western Culture, reflected in Monarchal and Enlightenment Age Bourgeoisie aesthetic. I understand that much of the video draws from Daoist and subsequent Confusion philosophy (I'm not opposed in the slightest), there is much wisdom there, but it is also limited as the Stoics of Rome in implying, though not necessary to the ideal, a natural order and rigidity of society. Yes, America which is a pluralist society and rightfully so has become casual to the point of being destructive to the self-esteem of the individual while claiming liberation. But I contend that this is a response to yet unresolved abuses by the conflation of grace and dignity with wealth, power, education, and prudish religious sectarianism.
beautiful analysis!Thank you for sharing with us
Astounding. Accompanied by sublime music. You have a new fan. Thank you.
this might be the most articulate video ive ever watched on youtube
This channel is gold. I love your work.
Yo this videos are great, I genuinely enjoy absorbing and reflecting this information and ways of thinking on my daily life. Keep it up!
I daresay the famous Nazarene had grace. The only record of his losing it was on account of the tradesmen in the Temple. Even Pilate seems to have been impressed by his calm and gracious demeanour, likewise the young guard at the foot of the cross. 🤔 ( Green Fire, UK ) 🌈🦉
Exceptional work good sir.
Well done, as always.
Another useful and applicable video. I appreciate that with each video of yours I watch, you give (to me at least) new insight on topics which are meaningful to the world around us today.
Yet another outstanding video. Your gifts are unique and rare.
Absolutely terrific as always. I've been working my way though all your videos, and the things that you think to closely analyze, like defining dignity, that many including myself just take for granted, blows me away.
Wow. This video was really beautiful! Who knew I was going to meet Schiller vía Audrey Hepburn, now I want to read him. There's something about his words that makes me feel that I've found something I've been craving for a long time, but couldnt put it into words. Thankyou for this meaningful piece and I love your channel.
wow. really enjoyed the introduction to Schiller. Thank you so much for producing this video!
I love the way you read through your well written and thought provoking script.
Beautiful 💎💗
Raising young children often forces me to question how I conduct myself when I'm with them and others. Thanks for these great ideas for how to be. What to say, however, will continue to baffle me.
You’re welcome! Parenthood has to be one of the great challenges of life.
Absolutely glorious
Brilliant, what a vibe in your videos. Just watched the one abt Barry Lyndon (waiting for..abt The Shining!).
A sign of maturity is to really know what you love in life and see how that thing resonates. One of those is Audrey Hepburn. No one else from her age is as enduring.
Remember an interview with her first son, ... Ferrer: "We have a game in our family: In any larger place, count time until you find an image of her"
She can be described as a kind of special jewel of a woman: light shining into her is being reflected as sparkles, in colors you haven't seen before. Such are her movies. There are DVD cassettes with all her major movies available.
Thank you.
My wife sent this video to me a month or so ago thinking I would be interested. I've had it in my watch later list. She was right, this was very helpful to me. Thanks for sharing
This is good. This is praise worthy. Excited for this channel to take off
another great video. really loving this channel
Very interesting, still absorbing it.
20:18 I got goosebumps. Thank you for introducing me to Schiller my friend. This topic is especially pertinent and an excellent commentary on it.
You’re very welcome my friend.
Wonderful video. Thank you so much for this visual essay.
Very thought provoking, thank you.
Perfect
Love your work
Epic stuff 🍻
Thank you.
the rule over the instincts by moral force is the emancipation of the mind. the expression by which this independence presents itself to the eyes in the world of phenomena is what is called dignity.
~~~ schiller ~~~~~~~~ i appreciate your entire script and visuals but esp this bit ~~~ thanks
The video is graceful
Thank you for these videos.
You’re welcome!
Great stuff... keep it up!
I think, in contemporary popular culture, Anne Hathaway comes very close to the grace and beauty you describe ❤
Fighting the urge to binge these. (They’re not suited for that.)
I like your Channel... It's one of my Fav's now... Standing between (in a Line) Story of Old, Were in Hell, Philosophy Tube, Renegade Cut, ContraPoints, Hbomberguy... and many more... Thank you for your Essays... they have given me some new Directions to Explore.... Cheers from sunny Zermany
I think the other quality Hepburn had was timelessness. Some actors are in and of their time, but she seemed to transcend that. She strikingly modern, but always was.
Thank you for making this film. It was a very moving experience. I agree that the 21st Century has lost much of the grace and dignity of our forebears and if I had to condense into a CZcams comment the reasons for this shift, I’d say that the attempt to knock man from his pedestal which Julian Huxley called for, and the profound and sustained program of social engineering that has been launched to achieve this goal, has a lot to do with it. The question that intrigues me is, should the people working towards this end be treated with grace and dignity?
"Every act of perception presumes a value hierarchy"." Very glad you used this quote. Fits perfectly.
Graceful and dignifying video .
Very well said
Moon River. Wider than a mile. I'm crossing you in style. Someday!
Love the videos man
New subscriber here. Your content is too good. Keep it up you'll have 100k by summer. Trust me.
It still goes beyond me how your channel doesn't have more views. Great video with amazing content as usual, it's funny to contrast Schiller's view of dignity with what is usually understood as dignity in the common speech (as a vague sense of "inherent worth shared by all human beings"). Why do you think this gap between these two notions exists? Thanks again for the great work!
Thanks! I suspect it has something to do with the general moral paradigms of our time, which include the pervasive modern ‘tolerance culture,’ which doesn’t want to presume to tell people how to live. It is easier to tell people that they already have dignity than to tell them they they are not, and that they have to act a certain way to be dignified. That might be seen as mean or intolerant. Of course, what is usually meant by (modern) dignity is (I think) that people have intrinsic worth and value above mere animals, which is true, but might deserve another word than dignity, and definitely should not exclude the need for moral action and the dignity of moral becoming. Tolerance that allows people to live as they please without hurting others is good; tolerance that is completely silent about how people should act is bad.
This video really touched me.
I wounder if you are aware of the writings of Roger Scruton on beauty - tangential but quite relevant to this subject.
This essay makes me think quite alot about my own music and what makes creative music unique among creative arts. Perhaps it is the temporal dimension - music is often described as moving like an object through space. Not just metaphorical "a piece of music moved me" but also quite literal. Music does feel like it moves in your imagination - in space and time. Perhaps then It's beauty has grace too.
anyway - keep it up. Best content I've found on CZcams!
Thanks Gabriel! Love me some Roger Scruton: one of my favorite contemporary philosophers and really missing him since he’s passed. I guess music does move, in the sense that it is vibration in space. And it only exists when people move their bodies in the process of making it, recordings notwithstanding. Definitely something to think about.
Excellent.