Cultural heritage, human heritage

Preserving, handing down, studying cultural heritage cannot be something divorced from attention to human heritage. All too often in our reasoning, in fact, we tend to perceive culture as something separate, a product unconnected and, so to speak, without any filiation from human activities. The enormity of this nonsense is evident. Culture is historicized creativity, that is, it has become historical heritage. This process, that is, the assumption of its bearing in time, certainly implies a distancing but this must not mean disavowal of the sources, denial of those who preside over it. It is a fact that creative tension is a characteristic peculiar to human beings, perhaps even the most pronounced, and as such cannot be considered a mere manifestation of what it has produced, beyond those in whom the idea originated. This would be, we repeat, a baseless abstraction.

I just read an interesting reflection shared on social: «What makes humans different than other living beings? I think that it's our amazing way of expressing ourselves through art».

It is also true that, on the contrary, creativity stands at an unhistoricized degree, so it does not necessarily generate culture. But it is in any case its indispensable premise and medium. And moreover, its driving center lies largely in emotional experience, perhaps far more than in the cognitive sphere. The emotional degree is what enables creation and understanding, even bypassing any cognitive gaps. Intelligence inspired by the sensitive aspects thus helps the regulation of our emotions, enabling more refined decisions and clearer thoughts before we act. The UNESCO Conference on Arts Education held in Lisbon in 2006 sounded the alarm about the growing gap between cognitive and emotional processes «leading to a greater focus in learning contexts on the development of cognitive skills than the value accorded to the emotional sphere. This emphasis on cognitive aspects, at the expense of the emotional sphere, is causing the moral decline of society. The emotional process is part of decision making and acts as a carrier of actions and ideas, promoting reflection and judgment. A deep moral sense, which lies at the roots of citizenship, requires emotional involvement. By encouraging emotional development, arts education can promote a better balance between cognitive and emotional development, and thus support the building of a culture of peace».

An excerpt from the article in Italian published by Claudia Ciardi on her website: https://www.claudiaciardi.net/2023/10/02/patrimonio-culturale-patrimonio-umano/