The Theory of Aesthetics

The Artist

Art is perhaps what we would most commonly associate with creativity, but beyond the the physical medium and the academic field of the arts, we hold a more generalised perspective of an artist, as a person who strives towards a sense of aesthetic unity in his work. The artist is one who strives towards Ideals, who seeks to find the purest and most direct embodiment of the higher unity in whatever field he works in. The most common Ideal strived towards in art, and what we strongest associate with aesthetic unity, is beauty, but the artist engages across a vast spectrum of expressions including love, order, longing, and all the flavours of Ideals perceived.

The artist begins with a vision towards which his artwork strives. This vision engender a physical characteristic, but it is the Ideal which it embodies that is its essence; the vision should not be thought of as much as the image but as the singularity of the work, the meaning. This is why the initial image the artist holds in his mind is rarely ever the final piece. The artist grasps the initial intention and carries it through his work, allowing it to shape his inner discourse and find outward dimension through its own being. The artist is the medium between the inner and outer worlds of meaning, they convey the higher orders of being through physical expression in a profound way, making their work more than a whole in itself, but as a part in a greater whole that they so clearly embody and direct our vision towards.

The Artwork

The aesthetic unity of the artwork, what makes it art is found in its completion, in viewing the artwork as a whole. Each fragment of inspiration, each idea and movement, every brush and stroke, are all the parts of the artwork which amalgamate into a greater whole. The piece becomes more than the sum of its artistic technique and vision, but finds itself as an ontological totality, a whole in itself. It is in this whole that the piece finds meaning, to transcend its limitation in the physical medium to convey a message of higher unity, the artwork becomes a form of the Ideal strived towards. This is what it truly means to call something beautiful, we speak of an understanding beyond the sensational pleasure of the physical body, but of an abstract stimulus touching the heart with a beatific vision of perfection and oneness.

Unification

Artwork is the medium between the inward and outer realms, between the subtle and manifest. They are a singularity of their artistic parts, making them a crown-piece of the physical realm when considered as a whole in themselves. But they are also a form of their higher vision, of their intention, and in this they convey a greater meaning and purpose beyond their material structure. It is in this equilibrium and merging, in the form which purely reflects its singularity, that we can informally say that the form contains the singularity, a play on the poetic verse of the 'drop that contains the ocean'. Artwork truly is this drop; a part in a greater whole, yet a sea of beauty in itself.

We find ourselves lost in certain pieces of art, completely intoxicated with their essence, feeling at one with them. This corresponds to the clear path of conception towards the higher awareness, in viewing the artwork as a distinct whole in itself, we turn the minds eye towards the greater whole being strived towards, and find a deep resonance within the heart with the art form. As creativity and imagination are the passions of birthing forms in our image, in art we see ourselves within the work, we see our own story told from a higher perspective. The striving and idealism found in artworks is a reflection of our own lives, and in certain pieces of work the meaning is one we can deeply relate to. As the physical medium directs us to gazing at the greater whole, it inspires us to view our lives from the higher perspective finding our place within the cosmos and perceiving a greater dimension of individuality, one pure from egoism and shallow idolatries, but clear in its pursuit and purpose. Contemplation upon art raises our level of consciousness. In seeing beyond the outer, but grasping the inner essence, we see a spiritual light within art of oneness, binding the lesser and greater in fixed union and dissolving the artificial boundaries our ego erects which divide the purpose and meaning of form from singularity; this is the meaning of aesthetic unity.