'Art Aesthetics and Woman: Some Reflections' (Part 2)

The parameters of aesthetic objects are enlisted as proportion, balance, rhythm, harmony, grace delicacy, curves, smoothness, swiftness, a blend of concealing and revealing, grace, continuity, life into the unknown infinity and so on. Knowledge gives a sense of completeness and helps to grasp the truth. Truth is something final, full and perfect. Feelings give beauty. Beauty is not a final state or form of an object. It always tends to develop into more depths. It is never full and final; it keeps the flow of consciousness continuing in enjoying beauty. It makes the enjoyer to feel the sublime. In beauty there is an ever freshness and novelty at its every appearance. These characteristics of beauty keep the mind of an enjoyer always alive, growing, imagining, enjoying and creative. Although there is no fullness and completeness in an aesthetic experience, it is an endless experience. A partial hiddenness of an object adds to its beauty immensely. In the case of beauty there is an astonishing mixture of known and unknown which makes the spectator to search for the unknown. This journey is not an epistemic venture but it is an affective expedition to obtain the aesthetic experience using the power of imagination. The journey of exploring the unknown part of an art-object inspires creativity and this journey of creative exploration becomes a pleasant enjoyment.

A woman is associated to creativity. Creativity is an endless process in the living world. A woman in her creative role bears a child and keeps the race continuing. This is the most beautiful and adorable creation by a woman. It is depicted in the form of a goddess mother. While bearing a child the pre-conceiving foreplay gives an intensely pleasant experience. This phase is an early part of the creative process. Thus the creative process in its early part gives pleasure and in its end part as a result gives satisfaction. This biological fact is lived on a supra-carnal subtle level in the world of art creations. Life on this level is the life of aesthetic experience giving supra-mundane pleasure. The life of art creations and aesthetic experience is an elevation of the carnal life in an abstract and subtle form in which the interplay is between masculine and feminine counterparts. It has been observed as a sociological fact as supported by an empirical evidence that a woman is not a fully comprehended member of the society. She is not fully explored in extent and depth. She keeps the spectator always curious with a stunning shock of an unexpected trait of her nature getting revealed in the journey of explorations to interact with her. This aspect of her nature is captured in creating an art-object and adds a new dimension to an aesthetic experience. In the fully grown form a woman is mature and she gives maximum pleasure. There is an aesthetic experience giving pleasure in her motherhood also. Thus a woman is arts is depicted in a mature young form. With maturity she does not loose her delicacy but gains strength. Maturity opens up her creativity retaining her delicacy and strength. Thus a woman is depicted in various arts like dance, drama, sculptures, painting, music, literature etc. as a blossoming young person with her delicacy, strength, potentiality and creativity with freshness. Her delicacy on her non-physical level is seen in her sensitivity, shyness, volatility and freshness of her responses in an interactive discourse. Her nature is a continuous flow of transient features with an ideal blend of known aspects with unknown aspects. In its manifestation this flow becomes the most beautiful expression of her existence as a living being. Her one feature creates her succeeding feature as the preceding feature becomes a potential for new creation. Thus it becomes a continuity of a creative process. An attempt to observe and understand this process is an enjoyable experience giving pleasure and making a spectator creative and imaginative. To observe and understand this process mere perception and intellect are not sufficient. They need to be supplemented by feelings, thinking and imagination. With these faculties culture, celebrations, enjoyment and pleasure are to be understood where a woman occupies the central role.

In Indian tradition the metaphysics and aesthetics are developed on the lines where the basic model is adopted from the human world focusing the process of creation. The world given to us is creation and we live in this world as its constitutive part to enhance and continue the process of creation on all possible levels. Some approaches to metaphysics state that the world we experience and live is appearance. It is understood in this way from an epistemic point of view where the interaction of man with the world is thorough knowing. The process of knowing takes one to the truth which is an ultimate reality. In the light of ultimate reality the empirical world is an appearance and the status of the world gets lowered down. Although the empirical world is real to the knowing subject, it is not the ultimate reality, but it becomes an imposition of the (human) construct over the ultimate reality which is transcendent to the normal epistemic operations. The world of appearance is creation by man and is known as forms which are particular. On the other hand when the world is interacted through feelings it gives pleasure through enjoying it. The ultimate reality as it is not enjoyed but a transformation into enjoyable forms is enjoyed. These forms and transformation is the construction of human creation.  Thus in both these ways in some or other form there construction, transformation and creation. This is possible due to energy which is inherent to the reality. Thus the reality is conceived in two halves where the creation force is responsible to make a contact of man with the reality either through (the process of) knowing or through enjoying. The energy or power which makes constructions, transformations, imposition, possible is Maya and it is unreal where as in the other approach it is energy of power in its original form which creates the reality by transforming it through manifestations to make it enjoyable and approachable to man. The energy or power is presented metaphorically as a feminine element which creates, conceals and constructs. On the practical level the feminine element is presented in the form of a woman and it assumes the most crucial role in the approach where the process to obtain and realize the reality is the process to obtain and realize is process of enjoyment.

- Dr. S.E.Bhelkey.