Art and Civilization Within the Context of Human Nature

Notes are the sounds we hear in nature that have been put into a certain systematic order. Music is the act of man giving back to nature what he has taken from nature, by adding his soul and mind to it. Art is man expressing the "good" within him. So, does art and its creator man always serve what is good through art?

Art is the expression of man's aesthetic characteristics. Aesthetics is the aspect of man that represents what is good. But there is also evil inside man. This good and evil can coexist in the same soul, brain and body. Or rather, it does. It is possible to see poetry as a propaganda tool for fascism as a feature of holding this good and evil together.

The core is the source that creates the nature of anything. The core of man includes the good side of aesthetics and the bad side of savagery, destruction, ruthlessness, selfishness, etc. Good and evil reside in each individual to different degrees. There are no definitions that all of humanity has agreed upon in history regarding the definition of good and evil. The processes by which historical periods and societies affect each other within themselves make it impossible to make a single and correct definition. In historical processes, generally accepted ideas and approaches emerge periodically.

The human being, who has aesthetics in his nature and the power to produce art along with aesthetics, also has the power to wear out in the same structure. At his core, that is, at the source of his nature, there is the power to feel and think. My tendency to define what is good is in favor of aesthetics and art. With the orientation of this source, humanity continues its adventure of existence between good and evil. Orientation determines and reveals the shape, format and form of its existence.

The concepts experienced and practiced within the family, the understandings assimilated in school life, and the feelings and thoughts of the people and communities influenced by the social environment throughout life determine which aspect is dominant in each individual.

Civilizations can be born, develop and mature to the extent that they approach what is good. There are huge differences between establishing a civilization and forming a community, creating a country or a state. Establishing a civilization is much deeper, much more complex, much more difficult to create and a long process than other structures. The earth has witnessed the establishment and destruction of many countries, but it has hosted the establishment and destruction of much fewer civilizations. The qualitative life cycles of societies determine the existence, quality and life of civilizations.

In ancient Greek tragedies, the bad characteristics of human nature such as murder, brutality, and bloody events were reported by the chorus on stage, but were not portrayed by the actors. In other words, in Greece, which established one of the important civilizations of history, it was not desired to stage what was bad through art. What was bad was pushed to the background in social interaction. Tragedy writers such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides used their preferences in favor of good. In other words, they did not want what was good to serve evil, such as poetry being used as a tool for fascism.

The Arabs also lived a golden age. They served science and art, that is, what was good, for a while, but then they put the civilization they created into a process of decivilization. The situation they are in today is obvious. The process dragged them into a darkness that could neither produce nor serve what was good, and they cannot get out of that darkness.

Europe emerged from a terrible darkness with the Renaissance. They used the power of man to feel and think to strengthen the aesthetics and art in his nature. They created paintings and sculptures that I can't get enough of watching in museums today, and musical compositions that I can't get enough of listening to in concert halls.

Civilizations can be created and developed as long as the good feelings and thoughts in the individual core of human communities can transform into good things collectively as a result of social interaction processes.

The collective preferences of societies can shift from good to bad or from bad to good over time. For example, Hitler can come to power as a result of the predominance of what is bad, but a social interaction that has mobilized the feeling and thinking power in its core for a long time to make what is good in its nature dominant can quickly turn to what is good. German society provides an example of this.

Social life cycles are very long and individual life cycles can coincide with the good, the bad or a process experienced in between. What is important is that the individual can reflect the core of feelings and thoughts within himself by serving the good in his own life cycle. Because, the individual is often unable to see the results of his actions in a long journey of civilization. Those who come after start everything "from scratch" without any knowledge of civilization, good, bad, the history of the feelings and thoughts of their species.