reflection on pairs of words

Content vs. form:
Why do we need to wrap our presents with pretty paper and colorful ribbon bows? This wrapping adds delicacy to the present, while the present might be purely functional. The wrapper makes it look fine, the color and shiny from the ribbon bow brings attraction and suprise. Now the present evokes feeling such as pleasure and supprise, and what that present is becomes not so important. Also to hide the present inside the wrapper adds a taste of mystery. That's what the wrapper can present to us. An example about how important the form is.

Another exmaple is a lot of people dress up according to different occasions, dress for the office, dress for the party, dress for dating, dress for traveling, and etc. Different styles of dressing give different feelings, formal -> trustable, casual -> relaxing....

As for restaurants, maybe we have cared less for the food, but more for the environment, the services and others....

Ends vs. means:
Just like driving from LA to SF, we can either go on 101, or 5. This is an example that we reach the same end with different means. If efficiency is more important and you would like to get there as soon as possible, then 5 is the right choice, although it is very boring. If you care about the process or the means, and would like to make the process more fun and meaningful, then definitely you should pick 101, because there are great scenes along it. Means can mean different things for the same people at different situations.

To play a game, some care more about the result than the process, some just purely enjoy the game itself. Ends and means can mean different things for different people.

Sometimes, ends are very vague, like to relax or to have fun, in which case, means is almost, everything...

Sometimes, we forget what is our true end. Colleagues or friends get together to have a lunch, or dinner. We are not sure whether our end is to fill our stomach, or to chat and enjoy the time with friends. In this case, the dinner, or the drink become an excuse to other ends.

For some people, life is about to set ends and plan means to reach those ends. For others, life is about to find things and ways to enjoy, and the end is a natural outcome from them. A well planned life is a closed life. We act according to the plan and close ourselves from other opportunities. Taking life as a means of enjoy, instead, we lead an open life, full of curiosity, eager to try new things, and ambitious to explore the new world....Organizations and big projects care more about ends, and need more plans, but to individual, where the creativity is from, means are more important...

Abstract vs. Concrete:
Some paintings are abstract, some are concrete. For the abstract paitings, you can directly feel their beauty, but maybe don't know why, and don't understand the meaning of it. For the concrete paintings, we can easily understand the content, but maybe they don't strike us very beautiful.

We tend to use abstract words to explain theories, and these words can make neat and beautiful statements, but they are usually too dense to read. We can hardly understand them until we see concrete examples. So we tend to start from concrete, then to abstract, and then apply back to concrete. Usually that's the structure of a book or paper.