I would like to take you in a short walk through a small, wild garden.
What are we looking for?
Just let eyes freely lead you, without thinking. Maybe beauty will visit us.
Why “maybe”? Wasn’t beauty already there (in a flower, a leaf, a tree) before we came?
Yes, in a way… But the aesthetic experience can only happen through an encounter: between a flower (a leaf, a tree) and someone who looks at it. The aesthetic experience is a special kind of relationship.
Let’s look it closer.
While walking, some leaves attracted me. It was not a generic or naturalistic interest, but a specific imagine that has appeared and caught my eyes because of a certain color, or a shadow, or a texture of ribs. That shade, that texture. It is not “any” leaf but “that” leaf, in that moment and place, seen from a precise point of view. Light contributes to create that unique picture, affecting colors and shadows. Thus, through the light, a special connection has established between me and the leaf.
Have I found it or was it waiting for me?
Maybe both, in a kind of synchrony. There is a potential beauty that needs both waiting and intentionality for revealing itself. An empty and receptive space is necessary to make something new come in.
Can we preserve it? Do we allow ourselves enough “emptiness” ?
You have probably experienced the sensation of being intensely connected to something while looking at it. A flower, for example. This is an aesthetic experience. It happens “hic et nunc”, here and now. A small oasis where time stands still.
Why just don’t pick that flower to bring it home and put it in a vase?
Because it is an experience of connection, not of possession.
Where does it happen?
Almost everywhere. This is why I took you in a small garden, a few steps from home, and not in a National Museum.
Can we take a picture of it?
This is a central point: photography can be just a tool, not the goal. If our objective is catching a beautiful picture to hang on, the camera will be an obstacle for living this kind of experience.
No products, no thinking process… So what’s the point?
A short, intense meeting with beauty: the leaf, the light and I.
Enjoy your walk.