Imagination could be defined as the work of the mind that helps us
create an artistic product, for instance. We can examine the different
psychological reasons and resorts on which human imagination depends.
Non-musicians, for instance, who are usually less capable of perceiving a
musical piece through the same critical and analytical perspective of
musical experts, are merely capable of transposing the audio excitation
that usually translates into their minds into powerful emotions, into
visual images. Thus, we could say that non-musicians "read" music
through images, with the help of their imagination.
The ambiguous affective excitation can be manifested as personal
reverie, incapable of adhering to the musical object. If it does adhere,
it can only turn musical fragments into images. Even while the subject
is in the process of creating his very own musically emotional sphere,
it may happen for this sphere to go beyond the audio limits. Like a
powerful excitation, it can make the individual's entire sensitivity
system vibrate. This can be called sensorial transposition, transfer,
correspondence, etc.
There is only one type of sensitivity at work in the aesthetic emotion.
The entire human spirit takes part in the creation of this kind of
emotion. There are a priori forms of the sensitive intelligence, so to
say and these are in fact the great general laws of aesthetic
sensitivity. There is also intelligence in action, the need to know
things, to understand, together with the skills of intellectually
representing and stylizing things. Imagination has the tendency to
complete and go beyond the defined aesthetic feeling. In a way, imagination
proclaims the unity of arts, beyond the peculiarities of any of these
arts. Baudelaire was perhaps right when saying that in every work of art
there is a missing part which is completed by the aesthetic subject's
imagination. Each art actually represents only one aspect and artistic
moment. At their very origin, arts get mixed in a sort of synthetic
confusion, out of which they get differentiated in order to express
themselves in their individuality and specificity.
Nonetheless, the deepest musical contemplation can quite often result in
images and also a sort of mind poetry, images that are filled with
musicality. Henri Delacroix compares the way of perceiving music and art
in general, to the religious contemplation. He thus explains how
certain mystics "find shelter" in the Divine shadow and reject
everything that is labeled as distinct and ascertained. But there are
other mystics also to which ecstasy is translated into visions. The void
of the imagination often comes from a critical attitude, from choosing
indifference and repression. Other mystics get rid of their visions by
plunging into action.
On the other hand, there are mystics who accept and embrace their
visions. They find them useful, something that they can learn from in
order to develop spiritually. Visions can thus serve to explain the
ambiguous, confused states of mind. Thus, they are the expression of
ecstasy's utilitarian sense. At any rate, the analogy of the work of the
imagination with the process of a vision-creating into the mind of a
mystical person is quite interesting. Delacroix says that the state of
ecstasy is first and foremost a state of mind that wants to impose
itself onto the human spirit. Regardless of any elements that are
stranger to the nature of contemplation itself, visions can be regarded
as the expression of ecstasy's lyrical element. Because visions can
satisfy a mystic's deepest tendencies and spiritual desires, they are
cultivated and searched for.
Many people have the tendency to associate music with a certain
interpretation, a science, an object. We are meant to search for
meanings and intelligibility. In a chaos of impressions, we are looking
for a certain map to get oriented. And because it does not pertain to
chaos, music can direct us towards certain clear schemes. And instead of
remaining immanent to the music, it can rise in front of the human
spirit like a sort of symbol. Whether we associated music with visuals
or not, one thing is for sure: all arts are interrelated and
interconnected. And through the work of the imagination, they can be
used together to enhance our aesthetic perception.
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