Beauty and the Bystander

Aesthetic judgments allow us to define and categorize beauty in a world of indeterminacy and relativity. Aesthetic objects, however, first strike us unconsciously––we are fascinated by the beauty of a snowflake before we realize its delicate symmetry. While initial sensory experience may bring about a pure moment of awe, aesthetic judgment provides a standard by which we can further measure and strive toward the beautiful. Experiences of aesthetic judgment cause us to consider our unique role in the world, and bring about an even more expansive and personal ‘feeling of life’ than that obtained by sensory faculties alone: one that persists throughout time and circumstance. Regardless of truth value, the very action of judging objects provides an individual with a newly reconstructed perspective of herself. In becoming conscious of the relationship between judge and aesthetic object, we are able to regulate this boundary to an extent that is meaningful for us. By exposing and clarifying our relationship with the beautiful, aesthetic judgments provide an avenue for the growth that characterizes life.

Evaluation itself is an enjoyable activity. When we first encounter beauty, the strife and repulsiveness of everyday life is suspended; we are spellbound, fully immersed in the experience. But when we make judgments, whether in favor of something or not, we are reminded of ourselves and our agency. While the gratification granted by aesthetically pleasing objects is a sort of gift received passively, the activity of aesthetic judgment requires the viewer’s involvement. This may seem tiresome, but its initial benefits are almost wholly unconscious. Just by creating an aesthetic judgment, we begin to feel as though our mental faculties are sufficient for interpreting the world around us. Further, if we judge something to be aesthetically pleasing, the patterns and processes of the world seem to make sense––not only in the moment, but persisting into the future. When we judge things as beautiful, then, we are satisfied both with our neat mental categorization and with the world as such. We are afforded the sense that we live in a hospitable, sensible place––that we are cared for and considered. Creating an aesthetic judgment gives one the illusion that the world can be articulated, organized, or ranked by mankind, that we are evaluative creatures in a world of determined value. Our need for control is satisfied rather nicely by the feeling of stability that results.

Although aesthetic judgment may be innately enjoyable, considering why our judgments arise opens a far wider perspective; we are no longer just evaluating beauty, we are evaluating ourselves evaluating beauty. We are reminded that we have strong feelings and convictions, that we are capable of dictating and advocating for our opinions, even about something so vast and ineffable as the sky or the sea. When we realize our preferences, we can consciously seek them out, continuously affirming the feeling of being involved in life. Aesthetic judgment not only allows for preferences to emerge, it can also provoke us to distill the principles which constitute those preferences. Aesthetic objects can then represent personal values, giving an individual a template of beauty toward which to strive. In this way, the beautiful may eventually mirror a person to the extent that her creation of an aesthetic judgment is life-affirming in itself.

While striving to reflect and enact what is beautiful can give one a sense of purpose, there are certain situations in which a feeling of life does not arise from a hope to extend ourselves to beauty. In cases of the sublime, our capacities are so drastically distinct from the capacities of an aesthetic object that it is unreasonable to pretend to take on or further seek out its characteristics. It may seem as though the difference between subject and object is too massive for any judgment be justified––a rugged, mountainous landscape can be judged as incredibly beautiful, but in a wholly incomparable way to the more accessible beautiful person. In cases of the sublime, though, we do not hope to reflect beauty, we hope somehow to become absorbed by it. By representing to ourselves the wondrousness and intensity of the landscape, we can not help but place ourselves into context with it. We become aware of our smallness in its presence, our safety inside a cabin, perhaps our general insignificance in the world. Strangely though, recognizing this chasm between ourselves and the natural world is exactly how we may consciously bridge the divide. A sense of life, here, is obtained by surrendering power entirely. In this way, aesthetic judgments can allow for a dissolution of the boundaries that divide us from nature at large. We allow ourselves to become annihilated among the vastness and power, yet feel privileged still, for the opportunity to be in harmony with the sublime.

On the one hand, aesthetic judgments bring about feelings of security, providence, and individualism, possibly leading one toward a more personally fulfilling future. Awareness of oneself in light of the beautiful, or the beautiful in light of oneself, yields a lively feedback loop, and a sense of meaning. On the other hand, judgments of sublimity create a conspicuously large boundary between ourselves and the world, but offer a path toward reconciliation by means of surrender. Whether in admiration of some attainable beauty or in recognizing the majesty of a lightning storm, our judgments place us among that which we find worth considering aesthetically.