Attuned To The Aesthetic
Highland does aesthetics. Its members embody the arts e.g. music, dance, painting, sculpture, architecture, calligraphy. The grounds and premises themselves are a tribute to beauty, evoking a sublime quality of life itself. Being sensitive to what is beautiful is the way to discover the ultimate value of the world, the subject of our discussion piece (Attuned to the Aesthetic).
Previous MM sessions have been likewise inspired e.g. MM 6/3/19 Birthing Beauty (architecture, Dominique), MM 4/4/22 Are You Not Moved? (visual Arts, Van Gogh’s ’Night Cafe’), MM 8/12/19 Wabi-Sabi (Japanese aesthetic featuring beauty in imperfection), MM 8/29/22 Calligraphy (lettering as visual art, Amanda), MM 10/30/17 Music's Evocative Magic.
May we embrace this philosophy of life called “aestheticism” i.e. a life lived in pursuit and reflection of aesthetic principles (whether created, shared, or appreciated) which, in and of themselves, make the world worthwhile. It suggests a certain absoluteness, a kind of ultimate, universal, or final value. It needs no justification in terms of some other good. In fact, it may be harmful, like a storm or volcano. In trying to parse the phrase, the closest term that came to mind was “awesome,” the subject of MM 1/22/18 Awesomeness.
This search for beauty in all things is cosmic, we are told, in that aesthetic value, distinguished from moral value, finds common ground among both theists and atheists: St. Augustine in the beauty and orderliness of nature; Nietzsche, in the drama of opposing forces that mark creation and destruction. N.b. The preceding is directed to the advanced class – all we have to remember for the exam is that aesthetic value is distinguished from moral value. Extra credit: distinguish aesthetic value from moral value and prudential value.
In any event, aesthetic values engender a kind of optimism and constitute a psychological toolkit that enables us to appreciate literally everything. What’s more, the proper aesthetic attitude contributes to a well-lived life and is quite independent of one’s practical aims – it even endures when one’s life is going badly. It might be an important buffer against nihilism and despair. We learn one need not be an artist to be aesthetically sensitive as the term applies to anyone beholden to seeing the goodness of the thing in its own right.
Okay, then, but how do ugliness and evil fit within the aesthetic attitude? Well, when it comes to, er, “difficult beauty,” there are many occasions when an artist may deliberately produce ugliness in search of some other value e.g. humor, sympathy, or a kind of reverence (character ceases in a craggy face) or by injecting some discord to highlight a larger harmony (maybe a dissonant note in a musical piece or a “bastard piece” in a set design). More of a stretch, perhaps, but we are told there might even be a kind of aesthetic value in the face of evil.
May we gather to share our own aesthetic sensitivities. Perhaps, after all, we are all aestheticists, some simply dormant, ready to be awakened by the reports of exaltation on the part of our own resident artists.