Aesthetic Exercises

Anaheim, Ignatius Loyola’s doppelganger, like Woolf’s Orlando, shifted many aspects of his identity over the centuries of her long and variegated life.  Not really a mystic, she was one.  Pretending to be a courtier, he wasn’t.  Being oriented to becoming something he wasn’t, she was.  In the process, it wrote a manual based on her experiences to help others who might incidentally find themselves leading a similar life, though they doubted, frankly, based on her experience, that experience was transferable.  While fleeing to Egypt, due to a price on his head she couldn’t shake, she hastily hid his manuscript in an anteater, who shat it out after a world war or two, fortuitously in the presence of Herb, a troglodyte and rare appreciator of both obscurity and process.  Herb, as a devoted follower of The Secular Sadoo, after working many long years with the anteater to translate Anaheim’s work from its diverse and sometimes esoteric languages, submitted The Aesthetic Exercises to us in the hope that we would publish it in English.  Which we shall.

Here are the Annotations and Terms.  Soon shall appear the remainder.  Many thanks to Anaheim, Ignatius, Orlando, Herb, Virginia and the anteater for their kind and historic services to humanity.

Annotations

The purpose of these annotations is to provide some understanding of the aesthetic exercises which follow, and to enable those who observe them to apply them more effectively to their tasks.

First Annotation.  These Aesthetic Exercises are written to train and nurture the artist.  What was once called God, when he was called God, was seen to live, and so did live, away from the earth, in a place men named Heaven.  But this calling and seeing and naming, while a necessary historical development, misplaced God’s habitat, for God indwells the human soul and is the human soul.  So as God created the heavens and the earth and was seen to be the Creator, these creative functions now reside in us and the one who exercises these functions is the artist.

Second Annotation.  While all are made of God, by virtue of having a soul, and all have the creative functions within, and many, if not all, are called to exercise these on occasion and in degree, only a few are called to exercise them fully.  These Exercises, while portions may be of merit to all, or all may be of some merit to some, are primarily designed for those few.

Third Annotation.  These few are called to exercise the creative functions of the human soul fully--thus neither in part nor on occasion.  The latter refers to time, such that the artist of which we speak relates her life in its entirety to her creative task.  We call such subservience a vocation.  Yet some can have art as their vocation and not be those of whom we speak, for, while their lives are fully creative, the creative functions they are called to exercise are only in degree.  These are not the artists to whom we speak.

(Note to Third Annotation.  Some argue that if art is truly one’s vocation--that is, if all of one’s life is constantly and fully subsumed into one’s art--then the other aspect--that the creative functions are exercised in full degree--must equally be true (or vice versa), for, as the argument goes, one could never truly do the former unless the latter were present, and those who seem to do the former or the latter, but lack the other, seem only, but in reality do not.  The merits or demerits of this argument seem to lead us no further toward our task of perfecting our aesthetics, and thus we leave its debate to those for whom it is worthwhile.)

Fourth Annotation.  Those who are called in such a way--incessantly and fully--are not better than those who are not called.  The human soul is God and God is in all equally.  These few are simply those who are called to articulate God in a way we call art.  If this be perceived as a tautology, is not the world a tautology? Is not God? Are not you?

Fifth Annotation.  The word “God” is not necessary and may mislead or alienate some.  God is used as a historical analogy--for what other analogy exists for creation?--and not as a substantive reality separate from human existence.

Sixth Annotation.  Furthermore, even when God is used in the sense just described, the term should not be taken to mean that the artist of whom we speak is God--that is, is the human soul in its entirety, its breadth and depth.  Even when we take God to be fully incarnated, the one who assumes the creative functions fully is never God.  “God” is used analogously, not identically.  While God is fully in us, we--either individually or collectively--are not fully God.  Our flesh necessarily restrains us.

Seventh Annotation.  One is never fully God (that is, one is never fully One) because each one remains distinct and partial, and thus reveals the human soul through her peculiarity.  No single artist can ever capture the totality of human existence.  Art in its particularity is always lesser than life in its totality, although art in its particularity can be greater--and must be greater for the kind of art of which we speak--than life in its particularity.  However, art in its particularity strives--and must strive--to be life in its totality, though this striving is--and must be--futile.  Whether art in its totality is or can be equal to or greater than life in its totality, now or in the future, is a question we leave with those who specialize in abstract arguments, of whom we spoke above.

Eighth Annotation.  Because of the peculiar possession that artists feel--that God is in them, or, in modern terms, of the breadth and depth of the human soul--pride is typically a dominant trait of theirs.  Yet, for reasons outlined in the Fourth, Sixth and Seventh Annotations above, humility is equal to their pride.  Humility is not a disbelief in the merit of one’s art vis-à-vis other artistic creations--which is merely self-doubt and may indicate a truth to be grasped:  that one is not of the kind of whom we speak (and in such cases it is best to acknowledge one’s limitations and give thanks for what one has and proceed accordingly)--but a recognition of one’s fundamental insignificance--and the fundamental insignificance of one’s art--in relation to life in its totality and the human soul in its breadth and depth.

(Note to Eighth Annotation.  The warning against pride in the past kingdom of God and its scriptures can be seen as the resistance of humanity to bearing the responsibility of the pride of creation, a responsibility that includes pride’s corollary:  humility.  Pride is not false pride--that is, feeling without substance.  Nor is it hubris--the belief that one can be and the striving to be greater than any other living thing.  Rather, the pride of which we speak is an unflinching belief--in which a flinching doubt is wholly included--in and correlative commitment to externalizing the vision which has been placed and born in a specific human soul of the human soul (that is, God).  If the vision is of a specific human soul, “vision” is used falsely, and any pride is unjustified, for this is mere egotism and fades away like cheap fame.)

Ninth Annotation.  The Aesthetic Exercises are rigorous; this does not mean, however, that they can only be entered seriously and with weight.  While some may enter seriously, others may enter lightly.  But by the end, regardless of the manner of entry, all should have developed weight and light, for these two, as all true opposites, balance one another, not in terms of dissolution into a common average, but in terms of equal weights on either side of a scale, and to truly have developed one means to have truly developed the other to the same degree.

Tenth Annotation.  The Aesthetic Exercises are both precise and ambiguous.  They are precise, for such is the nature of words and the intent of these Exercises is to be a clear guide for those seeking direction; they are ambiguous, for such also is the nature of words and it is not the intent of these Exercises to make rigid what should remain flexible.

Eleventh Annotation.  The Aesthetic Exercises are divided into five parts or aspects:  body, will, mind, soul, judgement.  Each part contains a meditation on its subject, followed by exercises to develop that particular faculty.

(Note to Eleventh Annotation.  The emotions we do not consider on their own; we anticipate their perpetual and palpable presence in all aspects.  Should one complete the Exercises, the emotions will have been honed as fully as the aspects we specifically name and explore.)

Twelfth Annotation.  While the Aesthetic Exercises are rigorous, they are also meant to be approached flexibly, in terms of interpretation, sequence and nature, according to the artist’s temperament.  The Exercises follow a schedule which would take 15 years, assuming a sequential and literal following.  For those who have the calling to go on such a journey, may they; however, others, for various reasons, can and should not so literally and sequentially follow the schedule.  In such cases, let the artist adapt the Exercises to her life without sacrificing the spirit of them.  There is no jury directing and judging the artist other than the world.  But the world, let it be known, is no easy judge.

(Note to Twelfth Annotation.  These Exercises refer to the artist in the feminine because of the artist’s creative functions.  The artist as artist is spiritually feminine.  The biological sex of the artist is irrelevant for our purposes.)

Thirteenth Annotation.  The Aesthetic Exercises do not function either as authoritative in themselves or as being subject wholly to individual interpretation.  They are guides insofar as they mirror the world and the individual is subject to the world; they are subject to individual interpretation insofar as the creative functions of the human soul always express themselves through an individual in a particular way.  Thus the Exercises are guides, and they are subject to individual interpretation and they result from the dialogue between.  In this sense, the Exercises are simultaneously fixed and ever being created anew.

Fourteenth Annotation.  The Aesthetic Exercises are neither exercises of self-abnegation nor motivations for the will to act for or against the world or itself.  The Exercises are fundamentally affirmative, and to the extent that they suggest restraint or abandon they are doing this because all acts are limited by nature and so are oriented toward one thing while simultaneously rejecting myriad others, and so must be seen in the broader framework of affirmation.

As an example, while we may propose for a period of time that the artist subject her sensuality to her reason, we do not propose at any time that this be a permanent subjection or objective, for the artist is whole, and no part--whether body, mind or will--obeys another part, whether that part be within the artist or within another person, but each part both obeys itself and exists in diverse community with the other parts.  These Exercises are not designed to diminish the self but to enhance and complete it, for only in such completion can the artist’s vision be fully externalized.

Fifteenth Annotation.  While attitudes during the Exercises will inevitably include feelings of despair, to a greater or lesser extent depending on temperament, it is a sign of the artist--at least the kind of artist that we are describing--that she is fundamentally and routinely grateful to the world, and so grateful and generous to others; the artist’s capacity is large.

Sixteenth Annotation.  The objective of these Aesthetic Exercises is for the artist to become a mirror to the world:  its ideas, joys, sufferings, and routines.  The artist is a mirror, but a mirror that sees.  The artist is a mirror, but a mirror that feels.  The artist’s activity, and the sole activity to which all the activities in these Exercises are devoted, is polishing the mirror--the mirror of the world, the mirror of the soul.  This mirror we could call God.

Seventeenth Annotation.  The artist has intentionality, but it is unlike intentionality as it is usually spoken of.  The artist’s intentionality is focused on being a subject of the world, not a subject to the world.  The artist’s focus is not on having the world recognize her, but her recognizing the world.

Eighteenth Annotation.  Various other exercises, pertaining to various subjects, attempt to purify the subject of the exercises by exorcising or conquering aspects of the self.  It is the bias of these Exercises that one cannot exorcise aspects of the self; what might appear to the subject as an exorcism of an aspect of the self--whether this aspect be one’s lust or will or something else--is simply a mask covering the redirection and transformation of that aspect into less fully human forms.  These Exercises attempt to exorcise nothing, but this does not mean that purification is absent as an objective; rather, it means that purification--to the extent that it is achieved, about which we will have more to say later--is pursued through another form:  specifically, through accepting every aspect of the soul.  This pursuance, as we shall see, is not equivalent to what is normally called the will.

It is best to state in this regard that the objective of these Exercises is not the artist’s internal purity, but the artist’s internal reflection of the world; the artist becomes pure to the extent that she clearly reflects the world.

It is also helpful to note that these Exercises do not view concepts such as conquering and overcoming helpful; reflection and acceptance are concepts that are more aligned with the spirit of these Exercises.

Nineteenth Annotation.  While the bias of these Exercises is toward creation, we acknowledge that inherent in all creation is destruction and the two, often at a level beyond our full understanding, balance, as birth and death balance our lives.  There is, however, a difference between acceptance of destruction as part of the natural course of events and intentionally creating destruction as a rebellion against the limitations within which we live as humans.  We accept and uphold, however painful, the former destruction; we accept but do not uphold the latter.

Twentieth Annotation.  The sole purpose of these Aesthetic Exercises is to encourage the development of God in the human soul--that is, the development of the creative functions of humanity.  Such creation is only beautiful and good if it is born from both love and knowledge--a difficult union, and one that is achieved only in God.

Terms

The initiate will encounter the following terms which form the basic structure of the Exercises.  We include the key ones here to reduce confusion and prepare both the initiate and the reader for what follows.

Term	Explanation
Aspect	The Exercises are divided into the five aspects of the person:  body, will, mind, soul, and judgement.
Phase	Corresponding to the five aspects are five phases, each of three years, during which the initiate develops a particular aspect within herself.
Manifestation	Each aspect is divided into three manifestations of that aspect, explained and explored during each phase.
Year	The Exercises are fifteen years in length, divided equally into five phases.  Further, each phase is divided into three years, each year being devoted to a particular manifestation of that aspect.