XV] HUMAN NATURE AND AESTHETIC GROWTH FRANCES WILSON My purpose in providing art experience for others is to make it possible for each person to explore and learn to use his own aesthetic sense, not because the creation of products in art media is of tre- mendous importance in every life, but because my experience leads me to believe that the aesthetic sense is also the moral sense, and the sense of self ~of being. It seems also to be the person’s imagina- tion, taste, and integrity —his source of love’and truth. Using the aesthetic sense seems to produce a feeling’ of being more intefsely alive, of feeling significant, of knowing what is liked or disliked, wanted or not wanted by the person, and what is possible or im- possible for him. Using it results in greater sensitivity, clearer per- ception, clearer memory, and a more effective selection of what is needed for growth. Using it results in more successful experience, increased feelings of optimism, confidence, courage, flexibility, sta- bility, freedom, and responsibility. Using it results in a more unique and dynamic integration that permits optimum functioning with the greatest economy of time and energy and resources. The aesthetic sense here refers to the power of imagination which makes the process of a person a creative one. Imagination, as the aesthetic sense, is very inclusive. Its use results not in contradiction of reality and of rational thinking, but in a'more profound kind of thinking, based on a perception of a reality that is nearer the 212 :HUMAN NATURE AND AESTHETIC GRowTH = 213 truth because it is perceived not as static and in parts, but as things, forces, tensions, and movements interacting in time and space with the perceiver. Imagination here is the unconscious function which integrates the person-in-a-situation in a dynamic way that allows growth to occur. It provides unconscious awareness of a complexity and of changing relationships too great for the conscious mind, It provides for whole perception, simultaneously perceiving opposites so that elements are not static but become specific only in a par- ticular interaction. It selects from the changing outer situation and from a changing memory those elements, movements, and relation- ships which are important and suitable for this particular person — on the basis of his changing physical condition, mood, and available energy; his knowledge, skill, his world-view, his experience, and his sensitivity; his self-esteem, self-confidence, his needs, his goals, his values, and his immediate purpose and his unique process and growth pattern, ‘These functions of imagination, of the aesthetic sense, have be- come so rare that they are now frequently called unnatural. So” many cultural factors inhibit its development that visual art expres- sion is now one-of the few experiences int which the aesthetic sense can be coaxed into use, to develop the creative process in richness and variation, to intensify the process so that it becomes increasingly uniqué, alive, and whole and far-reaching in the areas of space and time in which it can achieve an organic integration. But paradox- ically, the art, experience cannot be effectively used for this purpose or any other. It must be a purposeless activity, as far as we under- stand “purpose.” It can only be an experience in being —being 4 human organism doing what it must and what it is privileged to do— experiencing life keenly and wholly, expending energy and creating, beauty in its own style —and the increased sensitivity, in: tegrity, efficiency, and feeling of well-being are by-products. My ‘picture of what is*possible for human beings has been con- stantly changing, sometimes slowly, sometimes radically. Occasion-214 THE SELF ally I have been privileged to witness a “miracle,” when a child, or sometimes an adult, without conscious knowledge of what consti- tutes an aesthetic work of art and without having been taught, ef- fortlessly, but with intense absorption, produces a product of breath- taking aesthetic quality..And the wonder and awe I have felt are intensified by the understanding that what is portrayed in the product is a revelation of the beauty of the person —of his dynamic ‘wholeness at that moment. His behavior, too, is at the moment beautiful and rare. He is “God-like.” The experience stamps itself in memory and provides a glimpse into human potential that gives new meaning to all past and future observations and charts the course for imagination and action, The other extreme is all too well known to anyone—the striving, competing, pretending, the discouragement, fear, lethargy, monotony, righteousness, or rigidity, and the products which reflect this state. The art educator in helping the individual express the aesthetic sense acts on intuition freely, confident that the action will be right for the situation, even if she does not consciously know why but merely recognizes the feeling within of completeness, of wholeness, of an unrestricted movement—a feeling of dynamic equilibrium, frequently called “intuitive knowing.” It is not really a mysterious phenomenon and can, with effort, be at least partially brought to Consciousness. It is a natural part of using the aesthetic sense to think simultaneously of the immediate and the distant, the specific and the totality so that the solution to an immediate problem in- volves a reintegration of all that one has experienced and can’ imag- ine. If the solution “rings true,” if it “fits” with what one knows and imagines so that all is integrated in the present in a wholeness, the solution may be assumed to be the right one. Occasionally the solution may not quite fit and be retained with some tension until a new insight causes the totality —all of memory and all that one imagines—to change to fit the solution. This seems to be the na- ture of intuition in the creative process. It is in this way that I haveHUMAN NATURE AND AESTHETIC GrowTH = 215 formulated my philosophy of human growth as a framework within which I operate intuitively, ‘What is offered here does not express all the truth that is known. And the truth that is known unconsciously is in itself still develop- ing as*knowledge, experience, and sensitivity increase. The follow- ing premises are intended to emphasize a view that is usually over- looked —to paint a picture of human nature and aesthetic growth that focuses on human potential as revealed in the experience-of an art educator. 1. Change in the universe is constant and complex arid follows natural laws which maintain it in a dynamic equilibrium. Because this premise is basic to this philosophy, the philosophy, itself, is tenta- tively held, These words will change and speak differently to each person who reads them. The experience of forming these words is at the moment changing even the writer, and hence the philosophy. * 2. This concept of change according to natural laws is based on a belief that all that és, that exists, is in a never-ending state and process of simultaneous being and becoming. It is a constantly changing, interacting totality moving in a vastness of space and in- finity of time usually beyond the grasp of conscious human intelli- gence. 3, The human organism is an integral part of this totality, form- ing it and being formed by’ it. Although the totality may exist in and of itself, it‘also exists for human beings only’through human experience, What is experienced outwardly is simultaneously expe- rienced inwardly, each in constant change acting on and being acted upon by the other. 4. Each human organism is related to the totality by the creative process. The same process which forms and integrates all that is exists in him simultaneously as the same total process and as his own unique process, forming and integrating him and relating him to the larger totality. 5. The process changes constantly from a static to a dynamic in-216 THE SELF tegration and vice versa. When it is dynamically integtated -there seems to be an openness to unconscious thinking. Ideas come. easily and change rapidly. They are more dynamic, unique, complex, con- densed, and more interrelated. They deal less with things and more with the essence or quality, rhythm, movement, and relatedness of things—or with qualities, rhythm, and movement without things (objects). The person is relaxed and alert, feels light (almost bodi- less), alive, capable, intelligent, optimistic, lovable, and respectable. His movement is relaxed, purposeful, graceful, and effortless. Per- ception becomes clearer, color more intense, outlines sharper, space q more three-dimensional. Everything seems to be miore alive —to be flooded with light. When the integration is static, conscious and un- conscious processes sem to separate, and sometimes to work against each other. Ideas become more stereotyped, dealing with things (objects) and not feelings. They are more literal and descriptive of appearances rather than essences. ‘The static person, if he is aware of feeling-anything, feels “earthbound,” heavy, tense or lethargic, “half-dead,” pessimistic, stupid, mean, wary, or frightened. Percep- tion dulls and concentrates on objects needed or feared. The world “closes in”; movement slows or ceases. Things are not seen if a dynamic relationship. His movement is tense and mechanized or erratic—or lethargic and careless, 6. Each human organism is conceived with a potential for be- coming a complete human being —as a seed contain’ the potential for becoming a complete plant. But his becoming may be. completed in an infinite variety of ways. What he becomes depends on the in- tegration of his process at conception and then on his unique inter- action with the environrnent (before and after birth) —the love (acceptance, respect, and genuine caring) he receives, the food he eats, the air he breathes, the experiences he has, the ideas he comes in contact with, and the way in which the aesthetic sense selects from, intensifies, and integrates all of this with his total process, intluding his unique growth pattern and structuring system.:HUMAN NATURE AND AESTHETIC GRowrH 217 7. Each human process is characterized by a unique structuring system which, in interaction with the aesthetic sense, becomes thé person’s “style” —his way of forming the structure of his “self.” ‘The structuring factor cannot be isolated since it is in constant inter- action, affecting and being affected by such other factors as the person’s immediate physical condition and mood, his life-experience, his memory, his art experience, his muscular skill, his openness to his aesthetic sense, and factors in the environment. But even so, the expression of one person over a period of time can be recog- nized by a particular style and sometimes by a lack of a particular style. The style changes slightly with each experience and medium. (A radical change indicates that he is not consistently using his own style.) The style grows and develops; its development in the course of a healthy lifetime can be likened to a simple melody which, as the child grows in experience, skill, knowledge and wisdom to adulthood, becomes a symphony with greater subtlety, variety, strength, and.complexity, with an equally dynamic integration. 8, Each person has an integrating system which I call the aesthetic sense, (also the moral, social, and religious sense — the sense of self, of being —becoming). It is an integral part of the process and in- separable from the structuring system, growth pattern, and total changing-person-in-changing-situation; but for communication in writing (at the expense of greater truth), I have given it a name and described the way in which it seems to function in the total process of the person. The aesthetic sense functions to integrate the person-in-environment and moves, whenever conditions permit, away from a more static, monotonous wholeness achieved through sameness and toward one with greater differentiation and intensity. ‘The aesthetic sense is the person’s guide in the selection of healthy experiences. When they are right, the person can sense the move- ment toward integration and feels an approaching wholeness and satisfaction; when they are wrong, he might vary from uncomfort- able to feeling intense pain.218 THE SELF Growth becomes painful when the environment is not’ suited to natural individual growth or when pressures force an experience prematurely. Then the lack of integration is too’ great, forcing either too rapid an acquisition of knowledge, skills, or insight, or else a pretense of being what one is not in order to escape repercussions fromthe environment. This destroys confidence in and respect for one’s own way of growing. 9. The aesthetic sense makes possible the perception of opposites so that the organism does not move too far in one direction or be- come’ monotonous, thus providing stability and liveliness. The more open the person becomes to his aesthetic sense, the more simultane- ously the opposites appear, and the more compatible they become, fusing finally into light or life, without either opposite being dis- tinguishable. 10, Natural human growth is determined by the growth pattern, the aesthetic sense, in interaction with the total-person-in-environ- ment. When the unique growth pattern and the structuring system are respected, and the aesthetic sense used, and there is an environ- ment available which meets growth needs, the organism remains dynamically integrated — confident, loving, sensitive, inventive, im- aginative, alert, graceful, relaxed, and moral, with an abundance of life’ and energy to promote life around him, When the natural growth is inhibited, or forced at too rapid a pace or into the wrong experiences, other types of integration occur, varying from those which merely make the person slightly less alive, to what can be called a “negative” integration because it is a deadening condition. 1. The aesthetic sense operates to integrate the person-in-his world whatever its size. Only when the existence of the person is thteatened does the aesthetic sense integrate the pérson without equal consideration for all of the life he knows, because in a weak- ened condition his world shrinks to himself. When the process of the person is dynamically integrated, and he is open to his aesthetic sense, he is sensitive to a lack of wholeness and life, and for his ownHUMAN NATURE AND AESTHETIC GRowtH 219 comfort moves to bring about a dynamic integration in his world —to protect, maintain, and promote life, to create wholeness. With less sensitivity and skill, he tries to achieve integration through “sameness,” by imposing his style of integration on others, by elimi- nating differences. The more open he is to his aesthetic sense, the more knowledge, skill, and wisdom he acquires, the more he is able to allow for differentiation within the whole, allowing other life to be as it és without trying to integrate it in his own style. Conc.uston Considering the forces, apparently intentional and accidental, that inhibit the-development of aesthetic sensitivity which is imagination, , the sense of self, and the sense of relatedness to all of life — it seems not only miraculous but significant that it persists. The aesthetic sense, which is the power that integrates the opposing forces to create life, resolves, when the person is most open to. it, to an aware- ness only of forces held in a dynamic equilibrium, of vibrant life or light, of a clarity of perception, of a feeling of relatedness with all that is life, of profound knowledge and understanding without knowing what is ufiderstood but merely feeling completely satisfied and accepting. The intensification of the aesthetic sense results in an inner perception of the yery essence of being—of a unit of energy moving within its wholeness as a simultaneous process and state—a microcosm of the process and state that constantly re- creates all that-is. Perhaps the aesthetic sense persists in spite of all opposition becausé it is that part of the _ being that is eternal and indestriitible.