死亡經驗與美感經驗之會通

Connection between Death and Aesthetic Experience

何佳瑞(Katia Lenehan)

《新世紀宗教研究》 3卷3期 (2005/03) Pp. 111-134

摘要

死亡與美感在生活中往往給人完全不同的兩種印象。然而作為生命的兩種情狀，這兩種經驗事實上是以不同的方式向我們揭露了生命的真相。一個令人喜悅的美感經驗和一個令人恐懼的死亡經驗，儘管外表如此不同，卻在生命的底層彼此相接，兩者同樣可以達到人們生命中的「高峰經驗」，這兩種截然不同的經驗所顯示出的相通處，正是本文想要探討的重點。
本文點出死亡經驗與美感經驗的三個重要的相同處：
1. 我們察覺到，死亡與美感經驗皆出現在世界「剝落」的時候。在面臨死亡時，我們得與世界脫離，面對真實的生命。而在美感經驗中，美感也出現在「無關心」的剎那，也就是世界「剝落」的剎那，人得以超越直接功利的目的而感受到美。
2. 死亡與美感經驗皆成就了深刻的自我認識。在死亡面前，在世界中鍛鍊的精壯自我破碎了，使我們得以超越自我而接近真正自我的存有。在美感經驗中，我放下了「自我」，讓對象佔領我。所以，審美經驗中，也同樣讓我們有機會瞭解更深刻的自我。
3. 死亡與美感經驗皆是靈性出現的契機。當死亡與美感經驗真正成為我們生命中的高峰經驗時，我們得以接觸到在人性當中隱蔽的靈性，展開靈性的探索旅程，看見生命更整全的部份。

關鍵字

死亡 ； 美感 ； 自我 ； 靈性 ； 高峰經驗

並列摘要

Although death and aesthetic experiences usually result in different responses, they both as life situations expose the truth of our existence in different ways. Despite the different outlooks representing these two experiences-joy associated with aesthetic feeling and fear with death experience-they are connected with each other in the most fundamental part of life. They both lead to ”peak experiences” in our life. The common points of these two different experiences are what this essay tries to probe into.
We will point out three main common points:
1. Death and aesthetic experiences both appear when a human's world is breaking down. When we face death, we are finally apart from the world. In this special situation, we can get in touch with the higher truth in our life that has always been concealed by the world. In the aesthetic experience, the moment of disinterest in profit, or we can say, the moment when we become distant from worldly concerns, can make people overcome utilitarian thinking and reach a sense of beauty.
2. Death and aesthetic experiences both help to achieve the deep knowing of our inner self. In the face of death, our strong well-trained ego is broken, and we surpass this ego and get closer to the real being of our self. In the aesthetic experience, I open up to the object, and let it take me over. Therefore, in the aesthetic experience, there is an opportunity to understand our deeper self.
3. Death and aesthetic experiences both create opportunities for the emergence of human being's spirituality. When both death and aesthetic experiences become the real ”peak experiences” in our life, we are then able to embark on a spiritual journey in humanity, which reveals the holistic nature of our life.

並列關鍵字

death ； aesthetic experience ； selfhood ； spirituality ； peak experience

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