Style essences and the meaning of life?

Do the style essences reveal the meaning of life?

The right answer probably seems like no.

But if we look at what the essences represent, we might find that they symbolize core human needs, desires, and elements of a meaningful existence.

How each essence symbolizes core human needs

Dramatics look intimidating and powerful.

What Dramatics symbolize: The human need for recognition, achievement, and autonomy.

Ingenues look kind and sweet.

What they symbolize: The need to experience kindness, compassion, warmth, and human connection.

Ethereals look wise and angelic.

They symbolize: The need for spirituality or transcendent beliefs and experiences, for believing in something greater than yourself.

Gamines look fun and playful.

They symbolize: The need for amusement, entertainment, and play.

Classics look extremely balanced.

They symbolize: The need for balance, stability, moderation, and regulation—homeostasis, in biological terms.

We see some duality here—Dramatic represents having control over others, whereas Ingenue represents connecting with others. At its most extreme, Dramatic could symbolize things like tyranny and unchecked political power, while Ingenue at its most extreme could symbolize things like a parent who’s overly permissive and never tells their child “no.”

For optimal functioning, most people need moderation—some ability to assert control over others (and ourselves), represented by Dramatic, and also some ability to demonstrate compassion and kindness to others (and ourselves), symbolized by Ingenue.

Similarly, for optimal functioning, most people probably feel compelled to do some degree of reflecting on serious things like the meaning of life, symbolized by Ethereal.

But if you only did that 24/7, most of us would probably feel bored and unfulfilled—some degree of fun and diversion, symbolized by Gamine, is also necessary for human flourishing.

The point is that it’s hard to build the ideal life if you’re upholding only the values symbolized by Dramatic (power-hungry without any compassion) or only the values symbolized by Ingenue—kind and compassionate without asserting yourself in any way. It’s ideal to find a way to balance these.

And what’s really cool is that the need to balance all these opposite concepts is actually symbolized by one of the style essences—Classic. Classic symbolizes the human desire to balance power and control (Dramatic) with kindness and compassion (Ingenue), and to balance focusing on deeper, more serious things (Ethereal) with funner, more entertaining things (Gamine).

And of course these figurative opposites are also literal opposites—Dramatic is symbolized by long, sharp shapes, Ingenue by short, curved shapes; Ethereal by long, curving shapes, Gamine by short, pointy shapes.

What do Romantic and Natural symbolize?

The Romantic/Natural distinction can feel harder to grasp. With its intense, elaborate curves, Romantic can symbolize having intense emotional experiences, including romantic love (whereas Ingenue, the smaller, more restrained version of Romantic, might symbolize platonic love).

Romantic can also symbolize passion in general, whether that’s for your job or hobbies or whatever else—just having intense emotional experiences, especially when that emotion is related to attraction or love.

That leaves Natural—what core human need/desire does it symbolize? Naturals often appear friendly, so we could say Natural symbolizes friendship—in contrast to the passionate love symbolized by Romantic, Natural love is more platonic, a less intense but still meaningful form of affection.

Although above I said Ingenue can also symbolize platonic connection. But maybe two essences can symbolize the same or similar themes.

Is love the death of duty?

Another symbol for Natural, arguably very related to friendship, is of duty or loyalty. Naturals often appear confident, which can make them look competent, and Natural fashion is practical, the kind of clothes you could wear to do a physical job.

The distinction between Romantic and Natural makes me think of the Game of Thrones quote “Love is the death of duty.” And of the Talking Heads song “Uh-oh, Love Comes to Town,” which is about how when you’re in love, it’s harder to be productive, and your work and duties feel less important. The song has lyrics like, “I've called in sick, I won't go to work today/ I'd rather be with the one I love/ I neglect my duties, I'll be in trouble, but.”

So the Romantic essence represents love and passion—doing things because we feel like doing them. Skipping work to be with the one we love.

In contrast, the Natural essence represents duty and practicality—doing things because they’re important, even when we really don’t feel like doing them. Being loyal to our commitments.

Because it’s such a down-to-earth essence, Natural could also represent caring for bodily needs—getting enough nutrition and exercise, and working hard but also getting sufficient rest. Again, caring for practical needs.

Conclusion

There’s likely many other ways of conceptualizing all the essences. These are just initial thoughts.

What I like about conceptualizing the essences in this way is that it shows how symbolically important they all are, and how no essence is objectively better than another. No essence is objectively more conceptually or physically beautiful.

You might have preferences, like preferring work or play, love or duty, but really, for optimal human wellbeing, most people would probably agree that you can’t work all the time, or play all the time, or be completely serious all the time, or completely entertainment-seeking all the time—it’s ideal to find ways to integrate and balance these in our lives.

And while they can be thought of as dichotomies or opposites, it’s also cool to think about how you can implement apparent opposites simultaneously. For instance, while there’s sometimes truth in the idea that “Love is the death of duty,” love can actually sometimes motivate us to be more dutiful and more productive, giving us energy and inspiration. The core human desires symbolized by Romantic and Natural don’t have to be incompatible.

And we can also find ways to lead (Dramatic) with compassion (Ingenue) and to make deep, serious topics (Ethereal) entertaining and enjoyable (Gamine). We can strive to find ways to balance it all.