Being 'Cultured'

The term 'being a man of culture', or in the term of a more modern vernacular 'being cultured', is a term that always escapes me by definition. For me, being cultured is only in the mental form, such as your perspective of subjects; not being left-winged or right-winged on any topic, but to be above in such a way that you can argue your case both ways on any topic of discussion to enlighten others about their one-sided thinking. For example, I enjoyed physics, but also questioned the validity of science as a knowledge form in being able to be a symbol the reality that we perceive. Additionally I would also be mentioning the possession of knowledge on art forms, literature pieces and news pieces often regarded as basic trivia today. For example, being able to recite poetry from memory is always something that I admired from people, in addition to being well informed on current events and being able to express different art styles involved in the production of an art piece, whether a painting or other forms of art like cinematography and framing in videos and photographs alike. 

But there are other forms of 'being cultured' that I did not mention, solely because I consider them secondary, and there is a reason. By these secondary forms I mean etiquette, being genteel and being of absolute good manner. I say this because we live in an era now where people may prefer not to be treated in the cultural way that we did previously, as early as 60 years before. If one were to speak in such a dignified manner you may be ostracised on the basis of being obnoxiously pompous as you fail to speak as per the social norm. Of course, I have met such people and enjoy indulging in conversation whenever we have chance to intercourse, but many do not feel as similarly as I do. As such, in our modern world today, these indications of cultured personnel are secondary (unfortunately). However I may also add that this is also being included as secondary personally because I do not excel at interpersonal relations unless to the most intimate extent. 

But in the world of today, I find that many younger people do not enjoy possessing knowledge that is 'cultural' and with good reason; for what use does knowledge of good literature have on a society that is so monetary driven? Even now, after pondering for so long, I find no reason, yet I continue to read and talk about things that are so disregarded in the world of today.  I suppose it is for one's personal pride, and the need to feel that in a world where everyone knows so little, you may just know a little bit more than every body else.

Cheers,

Matthew Tan