I sometimes find it a shame...

[Belacqua]

Such as what?

Anything that society is in practical want or need of, obviously. You're a theist, surely imagination is not something you lack?

I guess we could look at the evidence here, and ask: in recent years, what has our society decided it is in want or need of? What gets built? And what are the results of these decisions? 

If we make a list of large-scale projects, maybe we get: sports stadiums, airports, shopping malls. Anything else? There are large buildings for purely functional purposes, like factories, but these are not intended for people to pass through and enjoy. 

So what kind of stadiums, malls, and airports do we get? What criteria are emphasized when people are designing them? Largely economics, efficiency, things like that. An airport might look good on paper, and might have some features that make it a cool experience (like a high ceiling or something like that) but the people who experience the airport largely have an experience of concrete drop-off zones, of waiting in line on hard floors, of buying over-priced day-old sandwiches, of waiting in crowded areas with unpleasant TVs blasting. In other words, the moment-by-moment aesthetic experience of the person who is there is about the last thing on the designer's mind. 

Contrast this to a cathedral in Europe or a temple in Japan, and the difference becomes clear. (And I understand that there are also religious buildings that are also built for efficiency and economics -- megachurches, etc. There will always be exceptions and poor choices.) 

So you can go to Ishiyama Temple southeast of Kyoto. (I choose this one because it is not spoiled by the influx of tourists that the modern age has inflicted on some other temples.) You go in the gate and every inch you can see has been cultivated for beauty for the last 1000 years. Every direction you look is a wonderful aesthetic experience. For the people who run this place, the beauty is a part of the meaning. It is not incidental decoration -- the medium is the message. There is no point where you are blasted with loudspeakers or expected to line up in front of concrete curbs. The point that the whole meaning of the place is a million miles away from our modern values of efficiency, profit, and economics, means that they can do what no sports stadium, airport, or shopping mall could get away with. 

If I were Elon Musk I would stop shooting big heavy things into the air and devote my life to making a part of the world as beautiful as this temple. But because I have those values, I'll never make enough money to do that.