Role Of Beauty As Value In Everyday Life

Here's a comprehensive summary of the Jain text "Role of Beauty as Value in Everyday Life" by Hemant Shah, based on the provided PDF pages:

The paper explores the concept of beauty as a value in everyday life, drawing upon both Western and Indian philosophical traditions, with a particular emphasis on Indian perspectives.

Introduction and Core Concepts:

• Difficulty in Defining Beauty: The author acknowledges that beauty, being a subjective feeling, is notoriously difficult to define and explain comprehensively. The paper aims to provide a broad survey to encourage deeper understanding.
• Inclusion of the Sublime: The author clarifies that "beauty" in this paper also encompasses "the sublime" to avoid lengthy distinctions.
• Beauty as a Value: The central thesis is that beauty is a value, intrinsically pleasing and evoking a sense of pleasure or joy. This pleasure is both subjective (a feeling within the soul) and objective (inherent in the object itself), though the objective aspect remains a "puzzle."
• Beauty in Modern Physics: Interestingly, the paper notes that contemporary physicists view beauty as a driving force, with nature at its fundamental level being "beautifully designed." The rallying cry is "Let us worry about beauty first, and truth will take care of itself."
• Indian Perspective: Indian aesthetics, particularly from the Vedas and Upanishads, links Truth, Beauty, and Goodness as attributes of the Perfect Being.

Philosophical Explorations of Beauty:

• Ancient Greek Philosophy:
  • Plato: Believed beauty is a reminiscence of the soul's prior existence in a world of perfect beauty, harmony, and light. Beauty, like Truth and Goodness, is a divine attribute. Experiencing true beauty leads to true goodness and potentially immortality.
  • Aristotle: Defined beauty by magnitude and order, with symmetry, order, and limitations being key conditions. He also saw beauty in the organic and functional.
  • Plotinus (Neo-Platonist): Saw beauty in objects, good character, and as a transcendent source from which all beauty flows. He emphasized withdrawing from corporeal forms to the "fair original form."
  • Stoicism (Zeno): Focused on the arrangement of parts in music as the basis of beauty.
  • Longinus: Discussed "Sublimity," stemming from magnanimity of soul, heroism, and high virtues.
• Middle Ages:
  • St. Augustine: Emphasized integrity, unity, number, equality, proportion, and order in beauty.
  • St. Thomas Aquinas: Defined beautiful things as those apprehended with pleasure, including integrity, due proportion, and brightness.
• Renaissance: Focused on rhythm, symmetry, and harmonious relations. Beauty was seen not just in mathematical proportion but in the expressiveness of the human face and the inner world reflected in external form. Art aimed to delight and instruct.
• Kant: Argued that experiencing beauty silences inner verbalization and thought, leading to joy. Beauty is a matter of feeling, not cognition, and is an aspect of God. He distinguished between "free beauty" (conceptless) and "dependent beauty" (with pre-determined concepts). Beauty is a road to heaven, free from suffering and aging.
• Marxian Concept: Linked beauty to socio-historical conditions and human relations. Art and beauty are determined by society, and if there is attraction in human relations, there is beauty. Marxists believe beautiful and useful are not incompatible.

Beauty in Indian Philosophy:

• Neglect of "Pure Beauty" in Art: Indian philosophy is seen as having neglected "pure beauty" in art, focusing more on religion and liberation (Moksha).
• Rasa (Aesthetic Delight): A central concept in Indian aesthetics, "Rasa" is an aesthetic beauty or delight dependent on "Bhava" (emotional complex). It can be compared to empathy in Western aesthetics.
• Sources: Indian aesthetics draws from the Vedas, Upanishads, and Sanskrit scholars.
• Nature of Aesthetic Pleasure: Indian scholars consider aesthetic pleasure to be spiritual, unlike Western thinkers who see it as psycho-physical. It's a blend of emotional and intellectual elements.
• Advaita Vedanta: Links liberation from ignorance to the taste of Divine Bliss, achievable by entering a world of peace and beauty, free from passions. Aesthetic pleasure leads to spiritual pleasure.
• Sankhya School: Views the world as dualistic (pleasure/pain, beauty/ugliness). Pure bliss is achieved when the "Satva" element (goodness) dominates.
• Upanishads: Equate the Absolute with "Rasa" (delight). Bliss (Ananda) is categorized into Priya (simple joy), Moda (conscious joy), and Pramoda (loftiest joy), experienced through active participation in creative expression.
• Trinity: Satyam, Shivam, Sundaram: A unique Indian contribution is the trinity of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, where Beauty is the manifestation of Truth and Goodness.
• Jainism and Buddhism: While not focusing on physical beauty, they acknowledge beauty as a value. Their emphasis is on the soul in a state of equanimity, compassion, and serene music, statues, and temple architecture reflect this quest for beauty.
• Sri Aurobindo and Rabindranath Tagore: Both emphasized beauty as divine, linked to love, bliss, and the manifestation of the Supreme Person. Beauty is the divine language of form.

Beauty as a Value in Everyday Life:

• Axiological Conception: Beauty is intrinsically valuable, providing a framework for life, meaning, and purpose. Values are rooted in culture and are constituent elements of life.
• Role of Values: Values guide, direct, and determine character. They influence individuals and societies, giving meaning and movement to life.
• Beauty as an Intrinsic Value: Beauty is pleasing and everyone seeks pleasure. It mediates between the purely conceptual (truth) and the sensuous. It provides a universal and necessary pleasure, unlike the private and contingent "agreeable."
• Beauty in Modern Complex Life: Despite the disheartening realities of war, materialism, and moral disintegration, there is a persistent love and craving for beauty. It has permeated commerce and business, with people desiring beautiful possessions, dwellings, and even personal attributes.
• Attraction and Creation: Beauty's inherent property is attraction, which is linked to joy (Ananda) and is the source of creation.
• Harmonizing Life: Beauty has the power to harmonize life, bring balance, and make it attractive and joyful. It is universal and points to an identity beyond individuality.
• True vs. Vulgarized Beauty: The paper warns against neglecting or being deluded by "inferior, low, or vulgarized beauty" found in cheap advertisements or commercial exploitation. True beauty is linked to Truth and Goodness and a pure pursuit.
• Path to Improvement: To improve life, making it loving and peaceful, one must understand, accept, and live with Beauty as an integrated value. This is echoed in Keats' famous lines, "Beauty is truth, truth beauty."
• Guidance for Right Living: Right living in today's world is only possible if beauty, as the most valuable value, becomes the guiding force for individuals and society.

Conclusion:

The paper concludes by reiterating that beauty, as a value, has both ideal and practical aspects. The author urges readers to be concerned about "pure and real" beauty, believing that by prioritizing it, truth will naturally follow. The ultimate aim is to move from ugliness (of thought, feeling, and action) to beauty, and from beauty to Divine-Beauty.