Hm, Is it just me, or does everyone want to be, as I would call it, "Picturesque" sometimes? What is "Picturesque" ? Well, I mean to say, do you ever just feel like feeling like something? Do you ever do something just so you can do it, and feel so picture-perfect doing it?
Here's an example. Picture a thin woman in a 1940's style cocktail dress early in the morning in a sort of old, grungy-looking, but clean apartment. What do you see her doing? Obviously, you, or at least I, would picture her stepping out onto her balcony, or down onto her small front steps with a cup of black coffee to smoke a cigarette. It's just perfect. Ah! Or how about this! Coffee house. What comes to mind? Well, what I would picture is a somewhat cozy, dim-lit coffee shop with big, stiff chairs, and in the corner, on a stool, a young woman with long, brown, wavy hair, (loosely tied back, of course) boot leg jeans, a dressy, flowy shirt, and maybe a couple bracelets, playing some calm, slow-paced song on an acoustic guitar, and singing in a rather whispery voice. Again, perfect! I guess maybe some people would call these things stereo types. But I don't know if I would. I mean, I suppose they would, since these are so easy to imagine . . .
But sometimes I just get the strongest urges to do those things; To be "Picturesque". I just really feel like feeling like that.... Just so I can feel what it feels like! And I've begun to do it too! Ha ha, like the other day when I bought my first pack of cigarettes. I was wearing the PERFECT cigarette-buying outfit. It was so exciting! Ha ha! Baggy, long, sweat pants, a semi-junky T shirt, flip flops, and a messy, high pony tail. I felt so picturesque!!!
My question is, do you ever do, or want to do things that would be picturesque?
I wonder if being picturesque is easier for people who haven't really discovered who they are yet. Would someone who is set and confident in themselves want to do and feel like different things/people/stereotypes?
Do people who we see and think "they are Picturesque" KNOW that they are?
. . . . I dunno. . . . What do YOU think?
-me
well to answer the question i think we have to start by really thinking about what "Picturesque" means. what do you think of this definition... A picturesque moment is one in which what is being taken in by your senses(for example:smell of smoke,taste of coffe, the look of the dim-light coffee shop, the sound of music, etc) and what you are doing(buying cigarettes, chilling in a coffee shop) match up just so with your mood or emotions.
ReplyDeleteNow as far as the question if i ever want to be picturesque... absolutely. but I never thought about that being because of not really knowing who i am... really interesting idea... i think that in a way wanting to feel picturesque is wanting to experience emotion and the world around us in a very romantic way... which i think can be a good thing... God gave us emotion and the world around us so wanting to experience these cant be wrong as long as you keep moderation in mind. you cant live your life constantly going after these emotionaly stimulating moments or they will eventually become a motivating factor in your life. and life cannot be lived according to emotions because they are constantly changing. So no. i dont think that wanting to feel this way means you dont know who you are... but rather if you are not confident in who you are you should take care that these moments dont begin to define you... idk if any of that makes any sense but obviously i like this first topic christina! lol
Hm, well that's very inrteresting! I never thought about it stemming from an emotion. But tha does make sense. I also never thought that it could evolve into something so big or important that it could control your life. I guess that is true because being "picturesque", at least to me, is exceedingly delightful! And as wonderful and good a little indulgence in delight can be, it can easily be done in excess, and anything done in excess wil begin to control your life, because one can start depending on the "delight" rather than on the only thing that can really sustain them; God. And when you depend on anything other than God, you are not free. I suppose because you are letting somthing smaller (in importance and goodness) than you be "bigger" than you. . . ? hmmm...
ReplyDeleteAnd to touch on the "not knowing who you are/ un confident" question, I think that people who don't quite know who they are (personality wise), or who are under-confident, would be more likely to want to be "picturesque" (make sense?) because they don't have any particular way to be yet. It's almost like a time of experimentation; discovering yourself, or who you want to be. It seems that people who have their life and ideas in order usually stick to one "stereo-type", style, or way of life.
. . . But I guess this goes back to the whole emotion thing. The way you look or act really does not necessarily define WHO you are, because who you are, and EVERYONE is, is simply a child of Christ. And, when it really comes down to it, all we really have to BE is the presence of Christ to others, right? So you can look, dress, and even DO whatever, however you want, as long as it is moral and harmless, of course, as long as, in some way, you are letting Christ work through you, right? SO, the question IS, is being picturesque, and constantly changing your looks/style/actions, letting Christ "shine brightest" through you? Or can it show some sort of repulsive inconsistancy? I think this is very interesting, I think....
I agree with both of you guys. I for one have def wanted to seem "picturesque" before. For both reasons... I have a very low self confidence and I've always desired to look/be like certain ppl who always seem to have it all and look perfect all the time, but I think it's because I want to experience the emotion of being happy and confident, kind of like Jake was saying...
ReplyDeleteWhen you watch certain movies or listen to certain songs there are scenes in which they make ppl or situations seem like the most incredible thing to experience in life! For example: If you see a scene in a movie where there's a young couple holding hands, laughing and enjoying themselves, and then it starts rainging and a big inspirational ballad starts playing in the background, and then they share a romantic kiss, I think that gives us the idea (subconsciensly) that if we were like those ppl in the movie we would get to experience that kind of amazing emotion and contentment that appears on the screen.
Anyways, so yes I think I've wanted to LOOK picturesque simply for the purpose of looking "good" to others or appealing to others for some sort of feeling that I belong or fit in in this world at all... but also I've wanted to FEEL picturesque because of the anticipated emotion and sense of contentment it seems like it would bring. Which of course it wont... happiness and confident have to come from withen.
Good observation, Noelle! (by the way, just gotta say, this is SO FUN! :D )
ReplyDeleteI totally agree. It's like what I was saying before (perhaps not very clearly); If you try to build your happiness off of something so weak as an emotion or feeling, you will not be satisfied, for the "picturesqueness" will pass, and the feeling will crumble, often times leaving you devastated. That is, of course, if you know what you are getting into when you indulge in a little "picturesqueness". The action itself, and even the feeling, is not wrong, but, like Jake said, you should be wary because if that becomes your "motivating factor" then. . . Yeah, I am going in circles.
But here is something I did want to point out about this who caboodle! i think maybe it doesn't matter if you are under-confident or set in your ways to WANT to be "Picturesque". I think that rather, an under-confident person might experience "picturesqueness", and, finding the joy or euphoric feeling it brings, might more easily let it become that "motivating factor" because they have nothing else to cling to. Think of the great composers and artists. It seems that their whole lives were pretty much Being "Picturesque". So much so that they became known as "Picturesque". so much that it came to the point in which they lost all sense of the goodness and "realness" in themselves that they even ONLY know themselves as this odd "Picturesqueness". Do you know what happened to most of the great composers and artists? They all usually ended up locking themselves away for the last part of their lives and grew more and more intensely, but sorrowfully "Picturesque".
Now isn't that something!!! So it can almost be a dangerous things, being picturesque, if you don't know what you're getting yourself into, I suppose.
So, I think, if one wishes to be "Picturesque" more than often, one must really have confidence in their self worth and know that they are divinely made. Their beings are far above any experience, or feeling, or vision.
Yes, yes! See what we've come to together through philosophy! How wonderful!
What do you think on that?
Haha thats true too... wow I'm not used to all of this deep thinking when it comes to stuff like this! Its very interesting
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