Trends of the looksmaxxing community today include the remit of accelerating the transformation process. These scenarios frequently traverse contentious areas, such as the use of various pharmaceuticals, yet an examination into these areas and the superficial harmonious entitlement to the philosophical underpinnings of Yukio Mishima. A key element of Mishima’s philosophy revolves around the idea of the body being more than a mere tool, but an instrument of truth, a place in which the constructs of words dissipate, replaced by the immediacy of real experience. In Sun & Steel, Mishima writes of how, for “most of my youth, words came first…and already, clothed in concepts…came the flesh,” reversing the normal progression of body preceding words. It was the recognition of the insufficiency of intellectualized truth which led him into the world of bodily experience. This orchard of the body is cultivated by sun and steel, the sun being the vital force of the body, and steel consisting of weights used in body-building equipment.
“The groups of muscles that have become virtually unnecessary in modern life … bulging muscles … were as unnecessary as a classical education is to the majority of practical men. Muscles have gradually become something akin to classical Greek.”
In this excerpt from Sun and Steel, Mishima frames the body itself, the muscle and proportions, in relation to classical beauty: He He saw the physical ideals of ancient Greek art as standards of human form toward which one should orient oneself. Mishima’s fascination with classical Greek statues of the human form as an embodiment of perfection and harmony indicates to what extent he regarded developing the body as his aesthetic objective. His belief in muscles and shapes resembling those of classic artworks quality of timelessness could easily match that of artworks. According to Mishima, the body should neither be weak, flaccid, nor disconnected from reality; it should be able to express the clarity, existence, and intensity of reality itself. It is already dreadful enough to contemplate the ignoble death of a poorly cultivated body; a noble or significant one demands a form worthy of it. Such is the rhetorical polarity in this discussion because it exemplifies an underlying philosophical belief that the body and form are of existential significance, rather than simply superficial. Mainstream figures such as Clavicular, Androgenic, and Flechzilla have occasionally appeared online as voices for the philosophy of ruthless optimization and the optimal routes to achieve it, no matter how extreme the method, e.g. the use of appetite-suppressing stimulants. This ruthless optimization, the prioritization of efficiency over conventional procedure is what lends credence to any kind of comparison between Mishima and looksmaxxing. The aesthetic of Mishima and looksmaxxoning rhetoric in particular have a common imperative in a refusal of passivity and complacency, and a desire for change, whether physical, philosophical, or both. While Mishima pursued classical ideals through long-term physical training, the underlying drive and the relentless pursuit of aesthetic perfection remains the same. Looksmaxxers & Yukio Mishima both treat the human form as a medium for self-expression, a canvas through which beauty and intensity are communicated. Whether through disciplined exercise or accelerated chemical enhancement, the body is positioned as a vehicle for realizing ideals that transcend ordinary existence. The Greeks sculpted perfection in marble; Mishima sought it in flesh and presence; modern aesthetics communities, including those experimenting with pharmaceutical aids chase the same perfection in the temporal realm of human form. The tools differ, but the aesthetic aspiration is fundamentally aligned.
In conclusion, Yukio Mishima and modern mainstream looksmaxxing practitioners inhabit a common conceptual space: the elevation of the human body to an artistic and existential ideal. Mishima’s engagement with Greek form and his philosophy of attaining excellence or dying in the pursuit all resonate with the modern take on looksmaxxing.
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“The groups of muscles that have become virtually unnecessary in modern life … bulging muscles … were as unnecessary as a classical education is to the majority of practical men. Muscles have gradually become something akin to classical Greek.”
In this excerpt from Sun and Steel, Mishima frames the body itself, the muscle and proportions, in relation to classical beauty: He He saw the physical ideals of ancient Greek art as standards of human form toward which one should orient oneself. Mishima’s fascination with classical Greek statues of the human form as an embodiment of perfection and harmony indicates to what extent he regarded developing the body as his aesthetic objective. His belief in muscles and shapes resembling those of classic artworks quality of timelessness could easily match that of artworks. According to Mishima, the body should neither be weak, flaccid, nor disconnected from reality; it should be able to express the clarity, existence, and intensity of reality itself. It is already dreadful enough to contemplate the ignoble death of a poorly cultivated body; a noble or significant one demands a form worthy of it. Such is the rhetorical polarity in this discussion because it exemplifies an underlying philosophical belief that the body and form are of existential significance, rather than simply superficial. Mainstream figures such as Clavicular, Androgenic, and Flechzilla have occasionally appeared online as voices for the philosophy of ruthless optimization and the optimal routes to achieve it, no matter how extreme the method, e.g. the use of appetite-suppressing stimulants. This ruthless optimization, the prioritization of efficiency over conventional procedure is what lends credence to any kind of comparison between Mishima and looksmaxxing. The aesthetic of Mishima and looksmaxxoning rhetoric in particular have a common imperative in a refusal of passivity and complacency, and a desire for change, whether physical, philosophical, or both. While Mishima pursued classical ideals through long-term physical training, the underlying drive and the relentless pursuit of aesthetic perfection remains the same. Looksmaxxers & Yukio Mishima both treat the human form as a medium for self-expression, a canvas through which beauty and intensity are communicated. Whether through disciplined exercise or accelerated chemical enhancement, the body is positioned as a vehicle for realizing ideals that transcend ordinary existence. The Greeks sculpted perfection in marble; Mishima sought it in flesh and presence; modern aesthetics communities, including those experimenting with pharmaceutical aids chase the same perfection in the temporal realm of human form. The tools differ, but the aesthetic aspiration is fundamentally aligned.
In conclusion, Yukio Mishima and modern mainstream looksmaxxing practitioners inhabit a common conceptual space: the elevation of the human body to an artistic and existential ideal. Mishima’s engagement with Greek form and his philosophy of attaining excellence or dying in the pursuit all resonate with the modern take on looksmaxxing.
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