CHAPTER 45
AESTHETICS

Aesthetics could be described as that which differentiates art from more mundane creations.

Hubbard’s working definition was “Art is the quality of communication”.

If we are indeed balancing nothingness with a richness of creation, then making the creations more interesting and desirable is of great importance.

We might even define art as something which can sustain interest after repeated examination. As such, these would be things that one would continue to mockup by choice even after one had mastered the asisness of things and could vanish them at will.

This is really a lifetime study and the boundaries seem to be unlimited. People just seem to keep going further in this area.

45.1 Spotting Aesthetics

Aesthetics are everywhere.

Let’s put aside the critic’s judgment and the official labels.

Go around and spot aesthetics, things which you find beautiful or fascinating, things which you would like to have around.

There is aesthetics in music, there is aesthetics in objects, there is aesthetics in lifeforms, there is aesthetics in stories, it is all around us.

It is not just the tear jerkers or the beautifully sad things, its also courage and triumph and the clean lines of a well designed car.

Do this for at least a few days as you carry on in life and continue working through this book. Just notice aesthetics, at home, at work, on the street, on TV, or whatever.

45.2 Aesthetic Recall

Here we are interested in things which you feel are aesthetic without regard to any external criteria.

a) recall something aesthetic

b) spot something about it that contributes to the aesthetic

45.3 Enforce and Inhibit

Aesthetics have considerable power at a spiritual level. It is a major element in getting one’s creations accepted or creating effects on people. And so people often become jealous, manipulative, or evaluative in this area.

So let’s confront some of the charge in this area.

45.3.1

a) recall enforcing an aesthetic on another

b) recall another enforcing an aesthetic on you

c) recall another enforcing an aesthetic on others

d) recall enforcing an aesthetic on yourself

45.3.2

a) recall inhibiting an aesthetic for another

b) recall another inhibiting an aesthetic for you

c) recall another inhibiting an aesthetic for others

d) recall inhibiting an aesthetic for yourself

45.3.3

Now let’s balance this with some positive action

a) recall another enjoying an aesthetic that you shared with them

b) recall enjoying an aesthetic that another shared with you

c) recall others enjoying an aesthetic that another shared with them

d) recall enjoying an aesthetic that you discovered for yourself

45.4 Evaluation and Invalidation

This is similar to enforce and inhibit, but instead of dealing with the aesthetic itself, it refers to the consideration of what is an aesthetic.

45.4.1

a) recall enforcing an evaluation of an aesthetic on another

b) recall another enforcing an evaluation of an aesthetic on you

c) recall another enforcing an evaluation of an aesthetic on others

d) recall enforcing an evaluation of an aesthetic on yourself

45.4.2

a) recall invalidating an aesthetic for another

b) recall another invalidating an aesthetic for you

c) recall another invalidating an aesthetic for others

d) recall invalidating an aesthetic for yourself

45.5 Encouragement

Now lets work the positive side of this.

a) recall encouraging another’s creation of aesthetics

b) recall another encouraging your creation of aesthetics

c) recall another encouraging others creation of aesthetics

d) recall encouraging yourself to create aesthetics

45.6 Overts

Spot any time that you can where you might have created an aesthetic with intent to harm or which resulted in harm.

Run out the victim’s viewpoint as given in the chapter on overts, motivators, and withholds.

45.7 Sales

Aesthetics are so desirable that they can be used as carrier waves, so to speak, for less desirable things.

This is very common in sales. TV commercials often use an aesthetic to present an otherwise inferior or undesirable product.

a) Spot a time when a desirable aesthetic was used to present something that was not desirable.

b) Mock up the aesthetic part and the undesirable parts separately, one to the right and one to the left.

c) Copy each one individually a number of times until you can have it or discard it. Do this until they seem really separate. Then do what you want with each part.

Repeat until you find it easy to separate the aesthetic envelope from an unwanted product.

45.8 Mocking Up Aesthetics

Pick an object in the room.

Mockup a copy of it.

Make the copy more and less aesthetic, alternately.

45.9 For the Future

At your convenience, study and work at aesthetics in whatever areas seem interesting to you.

It is its own subject. You need to do more than just run processes. But processing can help in raising your confront and awareness and freeing up enough of your attention to allow you to create things easily.

In general, your first step in any area of creation is simply to create things without worrying about the aesthetics or quality until the barriers to creating fall away.

In other words, if you want to write, then start writing things without worry about the content, value, or quality, until you find it easy to sit down and write.

After that is when you begin to work on trying to write something that somebody else would want to read.

In other words, you start mocking up first, and then you add the aesthetics, rather than trying to do both on the first try.