Metaphysical Approach

A contemplative aesthetic elevates sense of being.

This is an objective like every other aesthetic purpose, and will not be denied those who seek it, whether artist or audience, unless and until a culture has totally lost the wherewithal to accept and embrace it.

Presence

Expression conveys the observer within reach of experience.

Culture may or may not make that expression accessible; the observer may or may not extend grasp. Nonetheless, it is impossible to reduce all aesthetic possibilities to a point at which the ignorant and illiterate can comprehend them. There are ideas and experiences that can never be transmitted in their entirety through choreographed dance moves.

Art of Flux

In dysfunctional cultural conditions, the artist is an island of energy.

Bounded by absurdity and failure, that is to say, failure of the culture to thrive without direction, the artist, like the military strategist, brings reason, experience, and foresight to the creative act.

This is the essential nature of expression both critical and independent, without which cultures are entirely lost.  Many will recognize this loss of once-thriving cultural settings within living memory, with the understanding that the surrender of personal freedoms brought about these extinctions.

As far as cultures of free individuals are concerned, the artist is the last line of defense, the last stand against encroaching darkness.

Enough

The antithesis of the creative act is the dismissal of the reality of Time Past.

Beyond the benighted repudiation of cultural fundamentals, of much more profound moment is the elimination of cultural momentum, the negation of future possibility.

Observe contemporary cultural and social conditions.

The Great Work

No present-day artist and composer can ignore cultural decline.

At issue is not commercialism, but essential human knowledge.  This is an era burdened by mediocrity and superficiality in every area of endeavor.  As an artist, explorer, innovator, or independent thinker, one must rise to enormous challenges, if for no other reason than one's obligation to oneself.

Dharma for One

Boethius (A.D. 480-525) suggests the arts, particularly music, are revealing as means to transcendental contemplation and perspective.

But certainly the failed Nineteenth Century ideologies of scientific materialism and collectivism will not allow for such considerations.  The individual, however, retains personal freedom and choice.

Impulse, Elevation, and Decline

Every artistic gesture represents choice and purpose.

Simply put, expression in all the arts may enhance or diminish a sense of shared culture.