14 Final

Unfortunately, of all the living beings on our planet, only one person is a reasonable being. So we can only learn from each other (although sometimes it would not hurt us to learn from unconscious beings). Only we are worried about the problems of consumption, when we are full, for all the others they only arise from hunger. People make stocks far in excess of their actual needs. True, so does the hamster, and therefore the hoarder is often compared with him. But have you ever seen a hamster who paraded his property and assumed the right to rule everyone else? The hamster will probably not do this, and it’s the custom among the people - if it is impossible to dominate the others, then at least to rise above them, to have more than them. And if we recall the massive destruction of material assets not only during wars, but also in peacetime, for example, to prevent the prices of certain goods from falling and that the hungry was forced to surrender to those who have the means to satisfy his hunger?

The list of similar examples could be continued. Against them, the hamster's behavior would look very rational and expedient. In this case, the mind we have, and the hamster is absent, and this is one of the most terrible paradoxes of human existence. In the whole history of mankind, the ability to recognize the causes and consequences of our actions presented difficulties.

So, Homo sapiens, although it has become “rational,” it only learns to rationally solve problems concerning the very foundations of its existence, not only at the level of society, but also at the level of an individual when meeting their vital needs.

What to do if people for two thousand years got used to the idea of ​​what to have, and, moreover, as much as possible - the only guarantee of confidence in the future? This is difficult to overcome in the course of several generations. In modern conditions, outdated habits are sometimes ridiculous, and those who have them, most often produce a tragicomic impression. But neither the most convincing arguments, nor the understanding of what aesthetically negative impression their actions produce, yet does not deter people from them. We are talking about senseless actions of mostly nice people who at some point start to behave completely unreasonable from the point of view of consumerism. For example, they are building themselves with great difficulty not a house, but a real palace, but they live in a small kitchen, or they work, knowing neither sleep nor rest, only to buy a car more luxurious than their neighbors, or give their daughters an elegant wedding on hundreds of guests and spend on it all that saved for his whole life. The aesthetic side of their behavior indicates that they have preserved alien aspirations, rooted in the past.

But the past left us not only remnants in the consciousness and behavior of people at the laid table, it also left us with the means by which people protected themselves from the inhuman power of things that in the most severe conditions helped them to preserve human dignity, faith in themselves and even feel the joy of life in the fight against all adversity. For example, Ian Kollar writes about the harvest at the end of the XVIII century: “Not only gray-haired old people come to the field or come, but also children and babies with their mothers, if they cannot work and reap, they should at least be present on the field, collect spikelets, play with flowers, lie in a cradle or basket specially made for this occasion. ” As Kollar writes, even for heavy work, people do not go with their heads bowed, but, as he says, “every Slav carries a heavy burden on his back and sings, works all day until seventh sweat, endures hunger, thirst and heat, and evening sometimes comes back from work with a wreath on his head and a song like a winner. ”

Perhaps the idealization of Slavic character by Collard will cause a smile today. But let's not forget that his words are significant: the folk song once really helped to overcome the harsh life and not only confront the power of things over people, but also develop and strengthen human self-awareness, a sense of belonging to a family and national community. People sang because they felt the need to sing to brighten their lives. The song, of course, could not change their heavy fate, but it brought relief to a person. Thanks to her, whole generations in the conditions of social and national enslavement have preserved and developed the basic positive values ​​of human life.

Comparing the past with the present, we will discover an interesting but unpleasant paradox in the mechanisms of human social behavior. What is preserved in them is rather negative, and what was the positive side of these mechanisms is irrevocably a thing of the past. This also applies to people's attitudes towards aesthetic values, at least to some of them. Today we are all fed up, but many not only collect crackers, but also engage in senseless accumulation of unnecessary things. On the way to and from work, although we no longer have to overcome the difficult path on foot, and we go by bus or even in our own car, we not only do not sing, but also grumble, always dissatisfied with something. Unfortunately, the negative sides in our behavior remain. Therefore, we must vigorously form and develop positive values ​​that once helped people resist the hardships of life and were taken for granted. Negative phenomena in our consciousness have become an anachronism, from which we must get rid of. Anachronism can be called and many of the rules and habits in the relationship of people.

The task of society is to eliminate coercion and hunger, that is, the factors that in the past dictated to each person what he should do and create conditions under which the nature and goals of their activities people can choose from the widest possible range of possibilities. The richer these opportunities, the more consistently the society overcomes and eliminates the millennial fetters that bind people, the less effort people need to defend their dignity and make their lives tolerable, including through aesthetic means, which include, for example, folk poetry. Of course, they do not lose their significance today, but their functions change, and, like other values, they become the subject of conscious choice of people. This means that we still need aesthetic values ​​today, but we use them differently and for completely different purposes than in the past.

If deep-seated uncertainty always forces people to behave stupidly and meaninglessly, then nothing prevents us from behaving intelligently. Such behavior is highly socially necessary, it is increasingly dependent on ourselves. It only depends on us whether the richly laid table will also be beautiful and whether it will be nice to sit at it. And although it is only figuratively about a table with all kinds of food intended for food, for the sake of clarity, let us begin to reflect on a real table set for dinner.

Well, actually, food is wonderful, and why do people satisfy their basic biological needs so difficult? “Hunger is hunger, but hunger drowned out by boiled meat cut with a knife and fork is quite different from that when raw meat ingested by hands, nails and teeth is ingested.” Perhaps, this statement of Marx will cause objections to someone. After all, we do not eat raw meat, and then - what's the difference, do we eat it with our hands or with a knife and fork? After all, not so long ago, and during feasts in luxurious palaces, they ate with their hands, and the guests were often only symbolically washing their fingers in the vessels with water that the servants brought them. In the end, you can eat with wooden or metal sticks, who ate them will confirm that it is both practical and pleasant. Especially if the eastern hostess offers guests to wipe their hands with a terry towel moistened with warm water before eating and if they do the same with a bow after a meal. This is not only the observance of hygiene requirements, but also a symbolic beginning and end of the feast.

Undoubtedly, it is important to observe hygiene requirements while eating from a clean plate, but why, strictly speaking, do you have to hold the fork in your left and the knife in your right hand? However, it is more convenient for most people to cut the meat with their right hand, and it’s also true that it’s better not to eat with a knife, as this is dangerous. But on the other hand, you can get hurt with a fork, and one can hardly assume that the one who uses the set of devices will be more full and healthy than the one who eats with one spoon. And not for nothing that people invented all this? It is all about meeting our most basic needs. So at first glance the question is legitimate, given that the rules of behavior at the table in different countries are different, and it is difficult to say which are better than others. Finally, when we need to quickly eat, we go into a bistro and eat while standing or buy a sausage with a bagel and eat it on the way to the tram. But we do this only when we want to stifle hunger, to silence the stomach, which we strongly recall that it is empty. But when we want to eat slowly, we go to a restaurant or we lay a white tablecloth on the table at home, even if we have only potato pancakes for dinner.

And in solemn occasions crystal glasses sparkle on the table, the meal consists of several dishes, and each has its own remarkable appearance.

In a word: you can get enough whatever you like, but you want to eat in a good mood. Food is a process as a result of which we want not only to satisfy hunger, but also to get pleasure from food. So simply it is possible to characterize the difference between two types of hunger: animal and cultural. Observing certain rules, we make a ritual out of a feast, a special process, the meaning of which is not only to eat, but also to satisfy many other human cultural needs. To the laid table, we sit down not just to eat, but to do it in a certain way and communicate with people in addition to everything else. Therefore, not only the purpose of this activity, but also it itself became our need.

We need a fork and a knife, not so much to get enough of ourselves, as to eat as we would have taken, so that we realize that we belong to a particular human society (which we eat that way); we need confidence arising from this consciousness, and many other sensations and experiences in its essence aesthetic or aesthetically determined.

What applies to food applies to any consumption. We build our own houses, which are different from the caves where our ancestors lived, not only because they are warmer and drier, but mainly because they allow us to live as it was impossible in a cave. We have separate rooms, each of which serves a different purpose, and we emphasize their distinction with furnishings and furnishings. We meet in the living room, and at night we go to the bedroom, we prepare food in the kitchen, and we receive guests depending on who they are - close people, acquaintances or rare guests. The culture of our home depends, of course, on the size of our apartment. But even if it is small, it is possible to live in it culturally, but it is possible to live in a big cave life as well. It all depends on how we use the apartment. Newlyweds who have received housing are not only happy that they have it, but also make plans, how they will live in their apartment, how they will furnish it, etc. And this is more important than the apartment itself - just as food is important to us, not only in itself, but also the process of the feast itself.

This subordination of the material to the spiritual determines the truly human cultural interest in things and the human way of their productive and creative use. That is why we want our home to be beautiful, original and well-lived, so that everyone who comes to us will see not only what we have the means, but, above all, what we are and how we live. Thanks to this, things become the spokesmen of our life sensations, our way of life.

Therefore, our ancestors respected the table at which they ate, so much so that when misfortune came to their home, for example, there was a fire, they carried out from the burning house, first of all the table. Heavy oak tables were specially adapted for this, they could be quickly disassembled, otherwise they would not have passed through the door. Where does such respect for a regular table come from? The whole family gathered at the table, the food, although modest, was earned by hard work, so the table on which bread was put deserved respect, and the newborn, the successor of the family, whose representatives gathered at this table every day, was put on it.

Thus, the table in the representation of people was transformed from the actual object into a multi-valued symbol, which includes, in particular, various activities related to this table in one way or another. From this point of view, as we see, there is not much difference between creativity and such an approach to things.
Both are products of culture, and their cultural significance is manifested with particular force in their aesthetic function. If someone just needs his desk, apartment, car or something else to stun others with a high price, luxury, singularity and God knows what else, then this is a typical case of unproductive consumption, when a person needs a thing not for himself and his development , but for completely different purposes. Such a person does not have long to become a slave of his own table, whereas with productive, creative forms of consumption, things must serve man. Only in this case they acquire special value for us.

The way things are used is changing, so its formal, ritual side also changes. And the family today is completely different than a hundred years ago. Therefore, changing and will change the nature of the feast. And not only this. Genuine human consumption, unlike primitive, satisfied with raw meat, torn by teeth and nails, always retains its ritual, and therefore aesthetically functional character. According to some theorists, beauty is always connected with the technology of cultural activity, that is, with how we create, how creatively we consume, we live creatively. That is how the form of meeting our needs turns into a need. From the need for food there arises the need for a feast, a certain way of feasting satisfies us aesthetically, thus becoming the subject of aesthetic needs. Therefore, Marx is right when he claims that hunger, satisfied with the use of a certain ritual, is completely different than the one that has no other purpose than to fill the stomach.

True, feasts are not and cannot be every day, and not only because it is impossible to eat so much, but the ritual of the feast itself would have lost its charm. Its aesthetic significance would approach zero over time. This is the next serious conclusion that reveals the essential secret of the beautiful: it must always be rare, exceptional, unusual. This does not mean that we meet with him from time to time; on the contrary, anything can be beautiful and it can be met at any time if certain rules are observed. These include the fact that we always perceive the beautiful against the background of if not ugly, then at least aesthetically neutral, gray, uninteresting, colorless. And since ritual technology can also become uninteresting, if we use it too often, we will have no choice but to save this technology for rare cases or periodically update and modify it.

A guide to a person should be the aesthetic norm. But this is not only an immutable rule that must be considered and applied mechanically.

The aesthetic norm is a socially determined view of the aesthetic value of a certain activity, which serves not only as a means of aesthetic evaluation of this activity, but also as rules that should regulate this activity. The difference between aesthetic, legal and other norms lies in the fact that the aesthetic norm must not be strictly followed, that is, it will be used in each case separately, individually. Effectively, the aesthetic norm can only be used creatively - slavishly following it does not give the desired effect.

Any such rule implies an exception, as it is used specifically, in accordance with the meaning of the activity, which should be aesthetic in nature. Therefore, the aesthetic norm is a rule that allows exceptions and takes them into account, since it requires that it be used differentially.

This means that the aesthetic norm does not order to do something in just one familiar way, but takes into account various situations and requires behavior from us that corresponds to these situations. In the case of a feast, we distinguish solemn and everyday, exceptional and everyday situations and we give each of them an aesthetic character differently and to varying degrees. Иногда может не быть ни вилки, ни ножа, но зажариваемая на костре свинина, жир из которой капает на хлеб, будет на лоне природы вкуснее, чем что-либо другое. При этом такой обед или ужин будут эстетически функциональны и своей исключительностью придадут особенный характер и таким ситуациям, когда мы едим совершенно нормально, то есть ни празднично, ни по-туристски. Диапазон от обеда у костра до праздничного застолья находится в рамках эстетической нормы и является даже условием эстетической функциональности деятельности, которая перестала бы быть эстетически эффективной, если бы в рамках нормы она не видоизменялась.

This example reveals something extremely important. It is not enough to master, say, the rules of a feast or any other rules of using what is the subject of our needs, so that these activities are aesthetic in nature. In order for it to really be such, within the framework of the norm, we must find and assess a specific situation and select such a “technology” of satisfaction of needs that would correspond to this situation. To act, to behave in accordance with aesthetic norms means to feel the situation and use the aesthetic norm in the manner that this situation requires. Otherwise, even the most complex ritual will cease to be aesthetically functional. The beautiful does not tolerate strict etiquette, indifferent to the practical meaning of our actions.

Напомним, что этикет – совокупность правил поведения в обществе и контактов между людьми. Строгое соблюдение определенного этикета без учета меняющихся обстоятельств может производить комичное, отталкивающее впечатление, как проявление неспособности осознать действительную ситуацию и приспособиться к ней.

Этикету близок бонтон – то есть изысканные манеры и поведение в обществе.

Известны аристократический этикет и мещанский бонтон.

Эстетизация нашего поведения не тождественна соблюдению определенных норм, учет этих норм имеет эстетическую значимость лишь тогда, когда с их помощью мы выражаем нечто человеческое, когда они имеют для нас позитивный человеческий смысл.

С точки зрения приема пищи это не имеет особого значения, но по отношению к нашим более сложным общественным потребностям это чрезвычайно важно. Поэтому мы соблюдаем ритуал застолья и правила, по которым он протекает. Тем самым мы проявляем уважение, прежде всего к самим себе и к другим людям, не только к тем, с кем мы сидим за одним столом, но и к тем, что вырастили хлеб, который мы едим, и бесчисленному множеству других, кого мы даже и не знаем. Для нас важно сознание, что мы принадлежим к числу этих людей. Это более серьезно, чем мы об этом в каждодневной спешке думаем. Мы утверждаемся в нем, кроме всего прочего, и эстетизацией нашего потребления.

Но ритуальный характер нашего поведения сам по себе не является гарантией позитивной эстетической значимости. Каждый обряд имеет совершенно конкретный смысл, а если он его потеряет, то перестанет действовать эстетически, или же его позитивное влияние превращается в негативное. Когда кто-то намеренно демонстрирует свою власть над другими, нас возмущает это так же, как если бы кто-то с помощью чуть ли не мистических обрядов открыто провозглашал свою ненависть и злобу. Свастика, горящие кресты ку-клукс-клана – это символы некультурности тех, кто ненависть возводил и возводит в жизненный принцип. Эстетика таких обрядов вызывает в нас чувство сопротивления и отталкивает нас именно тем, что она выражает

С подобным обрядом с негативным эстетическим действием мы можем встретится и за накрытым столом, стоявшим когда-то в пиршественном зале средневекового замка. Здесь до сих пор сохранились каменные корытца, предназначенные для того, чтобы пирующие могли опорожнить свои желудки, когда были не в силах уже есть дальше, но хотели продолжать участвовать в пиру. Пир длился иногда по несколько дней, и пирующие отличались от бедноты под крепостными стенами тем, что имели возможность есть, пока могли. Так феодалы подчеркивали свою значимость, демонстрируя свое превосходство над другими. И в этом случае застолье превращалось в ритуал и символ, но это был символ бесчеловечной власти, подтверждавшей ненормальность отношений, при которых один голодает, а другие не только переедают, но и находят в этом подтверждение и свидетельство своей власти над остальными.

The Middle Ages are a thing of the past, but rude consumerism has not disappeared. A lot of examples confirms that it is still alive. There are still people who lead a consumer lifestyle and find justification and justification for it. The richly laid table, which was once the privilege of the ruling classes, is now available to everyone.

И мы во второй половине XX века учимся жить в условиях материального достатка, который когда-то был привилегией небольших групп людей. В прошлом в таких условиях не было иного образа жизни, кроме потребительского, и хотя он бессмыслен, преследует корыстные цели и свидетельствует об отсутствии культуры, он все же привлекает многих людей. В частности, потому, что он прост и примитивен: предписывая готовые образцы потребительского поведения, он не требует ничего взамен, кроме платы наличными.

Там, где этот образ жизни стал общепризнанной нормой, можно купить действительно все что угодно вплоть до уважения и поколения со стороны других людей. А что нельзя купить за деньги, можно заставить хотя бы делать вид – например, изображать любовь или дружбу. Но по-настоящему прекрасную жизнь невозможно купить ни за что на свете, и никому ее нельзя подарить.

Социологические исследования последних лет показывают, что некоторые молодые люди, живя с родителями, привыкают к достатку, и когда заводят семью и им приходится жить на собственную зарплату, начинают испытывать неудовлетворенность, чувство несправедливости к ним. Как это так – нет денег на то, на что раньше их тратили не задумываясь?! И если такие люди не способны заполнить дни своей жизни ничем другим, кроме как приобретательством, на которое у них к тому же не хватает денег, то они оказываются действительно в сложной ситуации. Но нормально ли это? Люди такого склада даже при достатке средств вечно своей жизнью недовольны.

Ведь нет на свете такой вещи, только ради обладания которой стоило бы жить. Конечно, одними идеалами тоже сыт не будешь, но материальные ценности имеют смысл лишь как средства для достижения духовных ценностей, которые мы называем счастьем, удовлетворенностью, любовью, дружбой, для занятия тем делом, которое нас к этим духовным ценностям приближает. А сколько материальных средств нам нужно для того, чтобы наша жизнь была по-настоящему прекрасной и счастливой? Некоторым сколько ни имей – все мало, а кто-то довольствуется совсем немногим. Это зависит от того, как мы с деньгами обращаемся и для чего они нам нужны.

С предметами долгосрочного потребления дело обстоит так же. Они нужны для жизни, и чем наша жизнь сложнее, тем больше их нам нужно. Но мы живем не для них. Стоит только подпасть под их власть и начать думать, что в них счастье, как мы окажемся от них зависимыми и растратим свою жизнь по пустякам. Верным признаком власти вещей над людьми является зависть. Завистники кипят злобой, если видят, что кто-то богаче их, и стремятся разжечь зависть в других, в тех, кого им удается в чем-то “переплюнуть”. Однако и это не приносит удовлетворения, и тот, кто полон зависти, лишается покоя навсегда. Зависть пагубна не только для завистника, но и для его окружения, так как она разделяет людей и восстанавливает их друг против друга. Сколько дружеских и других прекрасных человеческих отношений гибнет из-за зависти.

It seems to some that if you divide everything equally, then envy will disappear. But this only seems to be the case, since equalization is the principle that is brought to the end: "Let no one have more than me." The roots of this principle are in the envy that makes a person, first of all, an owner and often no one else. Therefore - let everyone have as much as he served and let the person manage the money earned for the benefit of himself.

But also earned by own labor can be spent irrationally, even if we are talking about durable goods. Furniture, which is bought only to stun guests, was, in fact, made in vain, like a smart car, which the owner does not use and keeps it only for prestige. Neither expensive Japanese stereo equipment, nor color TV, nor any other expensive means for recording and reproducing the rarest cultural values, if the owner pursues all of this with only one goal - to show his high level, will not save them from emptiness and boredom in a luxuriously furnished apartment. position in society. Cultural values ​​can enjoy in an atmosphere of creativity, creative attitude to life. And only in such an atmosphere are they functional. It is not at all necessary that it be scientific or artistic creativity, it is enough of our desire to create the microworld that we call home, home, and make it such that not only guests, but above all ourselves, feel well and comfortably in it. . The desire to aesthetics of the hearth is not just the pinnacle of creativity, it contributes to the formation of the creative nature of all our activities. This desire makes us constantly invent something, combine, look for new ideas, try to implement bold projects. This approach does not allow us to blindly copy, mechanically repeat, imitate another. Therefore, the aesthetic development of reality is one of the conditions for creative use and such values ​​that are intended for the long-term satisfaction of our not only material, but also spiritual needs.

A completely perverted attitude to these values ​​is observed in people who worship them as deities. Snobbery is a contagious disease that has been condemned an infinite number of times, but each time comes to life in a new form.

Snobbery is manifested in arrogant behavior, which should cover the inner emptiness of a person. This is a superficial attitude towards certain values, dictated, as a rule, by fashion; through him, the snob seeks to occupy a special position among other people over whom he wants to rise and to whom he makes his imaginary superiority understand. Snob depends on the things and principles he serves, but he gives this dependence to his advantage and imagines that it is he who gives him the imprint of sublimity and exclusivity.

Snob is always perfectly aware of how to behave, what you need to make an appropriate impression. Therefore, the snob boasts of his attitude to art, he is aware of all the secular gossip, he never misses an opportunity to boast of his taste, exactly corresponding to fashion. Snob loves to show his contempt for those whose aesthetic experiences and tastes do not match his tastes, and wants others to recognize his authority. Snob is praised and all the rest: material goods, position, title, anything. But if it was only boasting, it would not be so scary. We all have our weaknesses. But the snob spends so much energy to draw attention to himself, that he will have neither time, nor energy, nor will, nor the desire to truly take advantage of all the benefits and values ​​that he exposes and which he needs only for cover up his inner emptiness. He profanes true values, thereby harming not only himself, but - because of the infectiousness of snobbery - and the whole of society.

From everything, whatever the snob would do, whatever he might surround himself with, breathes in chill and homelessness, like from an empty house, turned into a warehouse of furniture in which no one lives. The lack of genuine interest in the values ​​that the snob is proud of and which surrounds itself leads to the extinction of their aesthetic functions, since any value lives and persists only with a truly creative approach to it. Marx draws attention to the fact that even a product takes its final form only in consumption, since it also depends on consumption what the product will become in terms of its value. The emptiness of the activity developed by the snob leads to the aesthetic devaluation of the items depicted by his needs. And a snob, whether he wants to or not, replaces beauty with pompousness, humor with slander, real experiences with sentimentality, etc.

The arguments about snobbery are somewhat abstract moralistic, because few admit that this applies to him. In fact, snobbery threatens everyone, since none of us can completely break the habit of imitating others, and snobs are the very people who happily offer themselves as role models. Often, being in new situations, we, being helpless, take as an example the more experienced, podnatorevshego. We can not be a snob, but soon become them, because imitation is convenient, a person quickly gets used to it, and who does not resist the temptation, he believed that he had submitted an application for admission to a snob club. This applies to the interior of our apartment, and the choice of profession, and ways of entertainment, etc.

The more opportunities a person has to choose, the harder it is to choose. In this respect, it is always harder for someone who sits at a rich table than for someone who chews a sausage with a bagel. But the denial of material values ​​is not a solution to the problem, since asceticism is alien to us as much as its opposite - hedonism.

Asceticism is life in excessive abstinence and rejection of the sensual pleasures brought by the material world and the activity connected with it. The ascetic deliberately refuses the joys of life, and, as a rule, he justifies his behavior by serving the highest abstract principles. A typical example of asceticism was the life of a hermit or some monks.

Hedonism is a way of life in which sensual joys and pleasures are considered the highest goal of life. Sometimes a hedonistic function was also attributed to aesthetic values, only that they should bring pleasure and enjoyment to a person.

These two extremes strongly remind us of the need for a sense of proportion in everything we do. Under the measure, we understand the number, size and shape, a certain level of relationships, etc. When a measure is exceeded, the significance of the phenomena that the corresponding measure concerns is changed. For example, what is useful, if you exceed the measure can become harmful, what is good, can turn into evil. Every thing and every activity has its own measure, which must be respected. For example, it is known that even a story about a tragic event can make the audience laugh if the narrator breaks the measure and emphasizes too much those moments which, in his opinion, can strengthen the tragic essence of the event. Like this person, who knows a lot of jokes, can spoil the mood of everyone in the company if he does not close his mouth in time. But here we have already started talking about an aesthetic measure.

Aesthetic measure - culturally-historically conditioned and commensurate with its subject level of existence, relating to the form, quantity, size and relationships in which the corresponding phenomenon is located. The aesthetic norm always includes an aesthetic measure as a quantitative expression of a particular view.

Accounting for an aesthetic measure is necessary both in relation to individual types of activity, and to the whole, which they form, or to the whole, consisting of aesthetically functional objects. The apartment, furnished with the most beautiful furniture, will not become beautiful until we manage to establish the corresponding functional relationship between the individual furnishings. Depending on how we arrange the furniture, the appearance of the apartment may act calming or cause an anxious feeling. People living in it, furniture arrangement can unite or divide. It may even optically increase or decrease the size of rooms, emphasize their dominant function, and have many other meanings. It can act completely randomly. At the same time, the aesthetic measure of either individual things or the whole that they form is not given at all times as an immutable rule. It should correspond to the nature of the activities of people who, for example, housing serves, and this character varies depending on their profession. Therefore, it is necessary to look again, open and differentiate to use the appropriate aesthetic measure according to the characteristics of a particular situation.

The fact that an aesthetic measure changes with time is eloquently shown, for example, by films of old times, whose characters often produce a comical impression only because their behavior seems too pathetic to us. Today's cinemas are much less expressive, more stingy in spectacular gestures and postures, but the problem is not only that the means of artistic expression have changed. A similar impression is made by the recordings of sporting events that have nothing to do with acting. And remember how people look in old photos! Well-fed handsome men of the beginning of the century today would certainly have been tormenting themselves with a diet for weight loss. This once again proves that with the change in people's lives, the aesthetic measure also changes.