The Self-Transcendence of Life Experience : On the Aesthetic Process

The appreciation of beauty originates from human experience of life and not from a mirage; however, it will not remain only like this but should transcend itself to realize an aesthetic experience. This self-transcendence is realized through an imagery transformation of the original life experience which is regarded as a reference object before an aesthetic re-experience of it. This aesthetic experience is a step-by-step process which develops from aesthetic perception, through aesthetic imagination, comprehension, pleasure, finally to the life experience of the harmony between man and nature. This aesthetic process is in fact the representation of the basic aesthetic functions.