“Seeing the World with Fresh Eyes”

In this article, I draw on Gurdjieff’s philosophy to initiate a phenomenology of aesthetic experience, which I define as any intense emotional engagement that one feels in encountering or creating an artistic work, whether a painting, poem, song, dance, sculpture, or something else. To consider how...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Seamon, David 1948- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2017
In: Religion and the arts
Year: 2017, Volume: 21, Issue: 1/2, Pages: 150-175
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Gurdjieff, Georges I. 1872-1949 / Bennett, John G. 1897-1974 / Phenomenology / Aesthetics
IxTheo Classification:AZ New religious movements
Further subjects:B G. I. Gurdjieff P. D. Ouspensky J. G. Bennett phenomenology aesthetic experience art phenomenology of aesthetics phenomenology of art
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
Description
Summary:In this article, I draw on Gurdjieff’s philosophy to initiate a phenomenology of aesthetic experience, which I define as any intense emotional engagement that one feels in encountering or creating an artistic work, whether a painting, poem, song, dance, sculpture, or something else. To consider how aesthetic experience might be understood in a Gurdjieffian framework, I begin with an overview of phenomenology, emphasizing the phenomenological concepts of lifeworld and natural attitude, about which Gurdjieff said much, though not using phenomenological language. I then discuss Gurdjieff’s “psychology of human beings” as it might be interpreted phenomenologically, emphasizing three major claims: first, that, human beings are “asleep”; second, that they are “machines”; and, third, that they are “three-centered beings.” I draw on the last claim—human “three-centeredness”—to highlight how aesthetic experiences might be interpreted via Gurdjieff’s philosophy. Drawing on accounts from British philosopher and Gurdjieff associate J. G. Bennett, I end by considering how a Gurdjieffian perspective understands the role of the artistic work in contributing to aesthetic experience.
ISSN:1568-5292
Contains:In: Religion and the arts
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685292-02101006