Reflection on Oscar Wilde's Theory (click title for reference -paul greenhalgh's lecture)

Paul Greenhalgh in the Fourth Annual Dorothy Wilson Perkins Lecture talked about: Social Complexity and the Historiography of Ceramic in which he mentioned Oscar Wilde’s ethical analysis of (Victorian) society. One of the points in that was, “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”

The discovery of oneself is, to me, the beginning of life. Only when one loses contact of their superficial self and transgresses through the norms of their past life, do they reach the path to self discovery. It is then that life ceases to exist as one knows it. What is right and what is wrong; these are just fragments of perception. And this is the time when people rethink their perspectives; while some might renovate them, others might totally reconstruct them.
Once the bags are packed and the journey to self discovery begins, one realizes that the journey is one that will not end… ever. However, it is only this realization and a constant interest in oneself that leads an individual to the stage where he would start to be comfortable with himself and maybe even start to love himself.
As much as I would love to agree to with the point I just mentioned, I would also like to add that I felt a bit of disdain and cynicism in few of the other points. There seems to be no belief in the feeling of righteousness. Truth only exists under the threat of detection, wickedness is a myth and those who separate the body and soul are body-less and soulless. Maybe, the author has an entire theory to support himself, but at this point I am not convinced. I have experienced that at some level a lot of people do have malice in them. I also truly believe in the existence of truth, although this belief leaves me quite disappointed at times but hope is a glorious thing. I believe hope is that one phenomenon that helps us in ways that we cannot even imagine. It is that one philosophy that uplifts a life even from the brink of destruction.
The second part of the list summed up what decorative art should constitute. In this section one of the quotes that made a deep impact on me, was, “No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style.” I felt no one could have expressed this better or in any other words. I feel this holds true if taken positively or negatively. The ‘mannerism of style’ comes from within, from loving and understanding yourself. Keeping true to your style or deviating from it deliberately is a personal choice which would be forgivable or not is a matter of perception.
I also agree that “it is only the superficial qualities that last.” After a few years people tend to look at a piece of art and say “isn’t it beautiful,” rather than contemplate on what that piece was actually meant to communicate.