This is my post for day 7 of the Inkhaven writing retreat.

I once joked on twitter that, “When I say that something is aesthetic, what I mean is that I like it and I don’t know why.” This was meant to be a joke, but one which, of course, has a kernel of truth. What is the kernel?

I think I use the concept of “aesthetics” to refer to a reaction I have to certain stimuli which is instantaneous, involuntary, like something being “painful” or “surprising”. I do not deliberate on what is aesthetic in the same way that I deliberate on what is good or true. Instead I deliberate on why that particular thing was aesthetic.

Because it is instantaneous, the experience can usually be captured at the sensory level, like visuals or music. And understanding why I had that reaction is an additional step. I don’t instantly know why I had the positive reaction to the aesthetic stimuli.

I think that often, what causes the positive reaction is that the instantaneous stimuli managed to capture something deeply meaningful. And the efficient resonance from the nerve endings to the soul is what feels aesthetic.

To give some examples;

I once saw a good friend playing taiko drums in a group. If you haven’t experienced them before, taiko drums are thunderous. Some part of me processed the powerful sound as my friend being powerful. The collective production of it was processed as the group being harmoniously powerful. The rhythmicity, yelping, and physical motion of the performers was processed as playful, celebratory.

I once saw one of the Iron Man movies. I don’t even remember which one. Earlier in the movie, we learn that Tony Stark has added a feature to Jarvis where he can hold his hands up in a certain gesture, causing the pieces of his Iron Man suit to be summoned and fly into place around his body. Later in the movie, he’s at his home with Pepper Potts, and the bad guys show up in helicopters and start shooting into his living room. In slow motion, ready to save the day, Stark does the hand gesture, and the suit pieces fly into the room — and assemble around Potts. Instantly, the audience is shown that Stark cares about her safety more than anything else.

I find Islamic mosaics to be enrapturing, almost painfully beautiful. The patterns are complex enough that my whole brain refocuses on it. And then, despite the full attention, I can just never quite manage to understand the whole pattern. As soon as I think I understand what I’m looking at, I saccade my eyes to an adjacent part, and am struck with an unexpected flourishing of novelty. But it’s also clearly not randomness; it’s deliberate, regular, and conveys to me that without a doubt that another mind existed which brought the pattern into being. That mind wanted me to have this very experience.

I spend quite a lot of time in art museums. There are a number of reasons why, but a major one is because I love experiencing aesthetics; that is, I love being reminded, all the way down, of things that are meaningful to me.