Should we adopt the commandment Shall Not Want in the name of sustainable development? What happens when we all just "Live Simply So Others May Simply Live"? Will the world really be better? Stephen Greenblatt's New Yorker piece made me rethink the idea that if we greatly scale back the culture of beauty and materialism, we will live better. His piece describes the shift that occurred between the classical age and the dark ages when beauty and the "principled pursuit of pleasure" was seemingly buried for good, save for a few important texts saved by monks-- texts that inspired the "swerve" that was the Renaissance. Sometimes it feels we're entering one of those dark ages. I, for one, want beauty and pleasure AND healthy practices. Why can't they all co-exist? Or HOW can they co-exist?
Image: Shall Not Want, 2011, courtesy of the artist Mel Day, dimensions variable (coat: Miriam Dym for Dymproducts; photo credit: Jeffery Cross) from http://www.thelab.org/schedule/events/552-pieces-of-you-topia.html
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