I won't beat around the bush; this blog is going to explain what it means to be Gothic. No goth can really proclaim him/herself as such without coming to the conclusions I have in this blog. Well not really in my opinion.
Now, the Gothic period was a time of people obsessed with the sublime - in other words, that which is not physically beautiful, but is profound and needs deep thought to be understood. For example, imagine two staircases: one is a new staircase, never before stepped on, wrought with sparkling marble; the other, an old staircase, cut from granite and so worn the stone is faded where men have walked. To which staircase does the goth gravitate? The answer is the old one. The concept is this: while the new staircase may be a wondrous sight to behold, there is not much more to do than behold it. The old staircase, however, has seen many feet in its day; it has more character, more stories to tell. Willy Nelson's old guitar is a sore sight - there are holes worn into the soundboard from use, but its age has seen far more variety than the plastic newness of a brand new guitar. The old staircase and the old guitar are sublime - rather than prove physically beautiful, like the new staircase and the new guitar, they offer more intellectual fodder. The true goths of today are, as those of the Gothic period centuries before, obsessed with the sublime.
Now this is not to say that something new isn't to be sought after, but after some thought you'll see why something older, maybe a little tarnished, could be, well, more fulfilling. And this doesn't just apply to staircases and guitars, not just to material things for that matter. But to anything, any person, place, idea, etc.
I think that it would be better if one had to qualify to be Gothic. First, the applicant would have to come to the same conclusions I did, after hours of thought, and only after they've proven themselves worthy would they be awarded with a card certifying that they are bona fide Gothic. Without need to show this in the way they present themselves, though I do feel goths should look a certain way, it doesn't mean they all should look the same.
