View source for Aesthetics of liturgy

==Introduction==
Liturgical celebration which is the key aspect in religious life of a person is by and large an aesthetical activity from the phenomenological point of view. The word ‘Aesthetics’ derives from a Greek root meaning, ‘of or pertaining to things perceptible by senses, things material (as opposed to things thinkable or immaterial). This article includes the concept of beauty in relation to prayer and ritual as well as its reflection in the sensible signs and various languages of worship such as time, space, sound, silence, movement, gesture, sacramental sign acts and the artistic environment as a whole or in other words liturgy. Liturgy is more than texts and rubrics governing the correct performance of ritual acts instead the poetics of liturgical celebration is of primary importance. Relation between beauty, human senses and worship of God are both obvious and difficult to trace in their complexity 
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The religions of humanity and the art of humanity have always been intertwined; neither can be understood without attending to the other. Most religions have music in their rituals and liturgies and develop architecture to have the performance of their liturgies. Most use poeticized language in their address to God. Most use visual arts to represent or symbolize the holy and the divine. These aesthetical aspects of religions shape the affections, emotions, beliefs and memories of the religious participant. (But things were not always going smoothly between religion and art however. Religion had often reprimanded artists and had demolished artistic works; for eg. Iconoclastic controversy in the Catholic Church, Taliban’s destroyal of religious monuments etc.).
The reason why I selected this topic from the article based on the phenomenology of liturgy by Lacoste because I think in a world dominated by science and technology, liturgy’s quest for the beautiful would particularly be a necessary contribution to a full and balanced human life. This article focuses on the aesthetical dimension in religious life and religious practices. Any aesthetical instance would conquer our undivided attention and when it is related to some transcendental realities the attention would be diverted to the Absolute. And this theme is being elaborated in this paper. First an d foremost the idea the object of worship, and as absolute beauty is being dealt with. Then the phenomenology of liturgy from the French theologian Lacoste’s point of view which is based on Heideggerian notion of ‘being- in the world’ is studied. And finally the relevance and need for further study of this topic is mentioned. This paper is a study of religious practices from a Christian, to be more specific, catholic point of view. 

God as Beauty

From Plato onwards God was called as eternal beauty. God is not beautiful in only any one aspect but is eternally beautiful and is superabundant source of beauty. According to St. Thomas Aquinas God have all perfections because of His very nature as self- subsistent being. He must have them because He is the cause of perfections in creatures. God is the most beautiful and the super beautiful being, both because of His exceeding greatness (like sun in relation to other hot things) and also because of His causality as source of all beauty. Then in every thing which gives us the pure authentic feeling of beauty there really is the presence of God. And that is why the liturgical celebrations which commemorate the divine elements are also aesthetical.

The Phenomenology of Liturgy in the Context of Aesthetics

Jean Yves Lacoste, the Parisian theologian, in his study as the phenomenology of liturgy explores into the experiential aspect of the religious practices from a phenomenological perspective. In this attempt he brings forth the Heideggarian concept of ‘being –in the- world’ and the religious ‘being –there’. According to him there exists a huge gap between them. This gap is bridged by the liturgical activity which is backed by the work of art or the aesthetical dimension in the liturgical act. So liturgy for Lacoste is not a sole event of grace but also a genuine human possibility by means of his ability to transcend his ‘being in the world’. 

Man is a being in the world. This points to the situatedness or placedness of man. So also our relation to our beingness is dependent on our corporeality. Liturgy is a violent transgression of and rupture with the Heideggerian ‘being in the world’. Liturgy brings upon a different relation to world around, since it is in non-time and non-place. In other words the chronos (chronological time) of a person is governed by ‘Kairos’ (eternal time). The non-time and non-place of the liturgical experience therefore suggest that one sojourns in eschatological peace and unity. Thus the proximity of God in liturgy gives the religious a present that knows not of any shortcomings that is an experience of the eternal present. Believers do not have that ability to rise up to the level of the transcendental realities directly. So the material things have to be made use of so that he may be able to reach the transcendental level with its assistance as starting points.

Locate explains the liturgical experience in three structural movements. First of all it is an exodus out of the ‘being-in the world’. Then it is the conversion to the image of Christ and finally it is the ethical mission towards the other. The aesthetical dimension plays the prominent role in this first phase. Any aesthetical aspect used in liturgy is to raise human mind to the divine realities since every aesthetical element demands our undivided attention. In doing so one will be free from his ‘being-in the world’ or the existential situation for at least that moment of glancing. And this undivided attention can elevate him to the level of the transcendental, even though it would not answer the meaning of his being in a definite way. The work of art liberates human beings from their involvement with world and earth because it puts the appearance of every phenomenon other than itself between brackets. Over and against the care for our future, it offers a joyful constitution of the present. Undivided attention needed to see the work of art installs the primacy of the present. Hence Lacoste’s thesis is that work of art distracts one from being-in-the world unworried of future or death and forgetting the wounded past. The work of art shows a certain freedom over the 
transcendental expression of being human. Thus when aesthetical dimension is incorporated in liturgy it leads to the legitimate rupture with being in the world. Indeed the liturgical experience itself is emerged out of human aptitude of experience. In the second phase of liturgy the religious experiences the divine in the enacted divine mysteries. And this in fact is an effect of the earlier phase.    

The third dimension or the ethical dimension of liturgy which Lacoste explains is the ethical dimension. From the point of view of aesthetics, the man who actively and fruitfully participates in the divine mysteries which is enacted in an aesthetical context feels the beauty of the Absolute. He would then want to share in the beauty of God and want his life also to be aesthetical or in Lacoste’s terminology in him arises the restlessness for perfection. 

Liturgy when enacted in its glory evokes a sense of powerlessness in human beings (for eg. huge gothic cathedral’s marvel make a person think of his humble existence). The paradigm for his powerlessness is in Lacoste’s opinion death. The death of Christ enacted in liturgy and the Crucifix in the Church serves as a guide to understand one’s fundamental powerlessness. Heidegger interpreted death as that which enables ‘dasein’ to take up its existence in an authentic manner. Death characterizes human incompleteness but the resurrection commemorated in Liturgy enhances hope in him. The well-lighted church, decorated altar, glorious vestments, and icons of saints - all gives assurance of a glorious life after death. And here lies the significance of the aesthetical dimension of liturgy.

The relation between liturgy and human emotion deriving from aesthetical appraisal is complex but it is evident that Christian worship forms express particular patterns of emotional dispositions in human beings. Music, poetry, dance and symbolic action all these have to do with the affective capacities in human life. Liturgy maybe regarded as a time and space where the language, sign, action and symbols concerning the divine hope and express human persons in such deep emotions as gratitude to God as hope, repentance, grief, compassion, aversion to injustice and delight in the created order. The Christian life itself is characterized by the having of such emotions and their having become well-springs of attitude and action in life. The language of scripture, prayer and sacraments has to do with elemental features of human existence: emotions linked to birth and death, suffering, sin and oppression as well as with desire, joy, hope and happiness. These deep emotions are not simply named or described in the language of liturgy; they are evoked, pertained, sustained and refined in the rites. The language of liturgy in descriptive, inscriptive, and performative forms shape us in particular affectional ways of being by addressing God and being open to God. It would be a wrong conception if we think that the affection towards God is entirely aesthetically held states of feeling. Yet without the aesthetic dimension of participation in and through these forms, no self-understanding in life can emerge. 

A Vatican document named Environment and Art in Catholic Worship observes: “In view of our culture’s emphasis on reason, it is critically important for the church to reemphasize a more total approach to the human person by opening up and developing the non rational elements of liturgical celebration: the concerns for feeling of conversion, support, joy, repentance, trust, love, memory, movement, gesture and wonder. Earthly liturgy symbolizes heavenly liturgy according to catholic theology so they make it a solemn activity.

Christian liturgy which seeks emotional and symbolic authenticity and depth always pay attention to the material and forms employed. The quality of texts, gestures, movements and the form of the symbols is critical to levels of participation. Attention to each element and their interrelation in the whole pattern of the liturgy is necessary to power liturgy to draw the mysteries enacted. 
The whole liturgical environment is served by arts. According to Catholic theology the aesthetical elements in liturgy such as signs and symbols witness the reign of God. Since the congregation seeks to remember the redemptive power of God, the liturgical ceremonies nurture a climate of wonder, awe, reverence, thanksgiving and praise. So liturgy seeks what is beautiful in its total ethos as well as in the specific objects, gestures, sign-action, music and related art forms employed. The idea of beautiful is related to the sense of holy.
Like music, furniture and vestments, flowers, paintings, icons and textile art all offer opportunity to and celebrate creativity and beauty, both of which are signs of God's hand in creation. The way a liturgy looks can enhance its symbolic impact and clarify its sacramental purpose, or it can be distracting
Relevance of the study 
Christian theology which has adopted the rationalistic stance of Plato, throughout has affirmed the aesthetic as a central medium of both revelation and truth, particularly Neoplatonic theologians such as Bonaventure. This emphasis on the aesthetics has received renewed interest in contemporary theology due to the work of Hans urs von Balthasar, Jean-Luc Marion, and Jeremy Begbie. At the core of these theological aesthetics (or aesthetic theologies) is a rejection of the rationalistic axiom, which assumes that truth is communicated only in cognitive propositions. Rather, there is a mode of truth telling that is unique to the aesthetic or ‘affective,’ that cannot be reduced to cognitive propositions. Appeal is often made to the liturgy itself as an example of this, particularly the rich eucharistic liturgies of Orthodox and Catholic traditions, where all of the senses are engaged in order to communicate the truth of grace. Theological aesthetics has entailed a double development: both a renewed interest in arts and a retooling of theology in response to aesthetic reality.

The study on the aesthetical dimension of liturgy is relevant in the present day context. The world has become more technology oriented than ever before and thus led itself to a mechanical life style. In such a mode of living transcendental values like love, beauty etc does not have place. Only what is important is whether the functional role of a person or a thing is fulfilled. And thus there is a shrinking of human capacities to the level of a mechanical mode of living. The post modern denial of metaphysical entities and the promotion of relativism had made the situation worst. 
In a world where human efficiency alone is the criteria for worth wile existence man is no doubt degraded to the level of a machine. And in such a situation there arises the existential crisis regarding the meaning of life. Man cannot quench his ‘restlessness’ with what is available to him in the market. He will no doubt be dissatisfied even after consuming whatever is before him. Man is a being with this restlessness in build in him. The capacity to transcend the material level of realities could only help him in such a situation. 
If and only if the mechanical life style of the modern world changes and it goes back to a value oriented life style the human race has a bright future on this planet. It is our experience that listening to music, enjoying a piece of art, or being in a place of scenic beauty tranquil our mind. In such a situation the miseries of life, hardships that we suffer etc would be forgotten. This is an elevation form ‘being in the world’. When the divine element too is there with these aesthetical elements man will sense a super human reality that cares for him, as the source of all these beautiful objects. That is, the being with eternal beauty, and all other beauties point to His Absolute beauty. This reality is most explicit in sacred liturgy, where the aesthetic sensibility of man leads him to the Absolute. So studies on the aesthetics of liturgy must be encouraged and I hope theologians and philosophers take up this aspect of life for their thorough study so that the men of modern times have self-realization through a meaningful life enhanced by the aesthetical aspect of life and liturgy. 

Conclusion

Man responds to and has emotions for art works is a familiar enough occurrence. Liturgical activities have an aesthetic dimension and this dimension helps man to transcend the world of material realities. Music, art, etc are those aesthetic elements which help man to feel and to be in the presence of the divine. In fact the divine is eternal beauty and the liturgical activity is the bridge between the eternal beauty and those manifestations of the eternal beauty (worldly realities). So liturgy too emphasizes greatly in its aesthetical dimension. The ‘being in the world’ evokes greater restlessness in the contemporary times than ever before because of its mechanical way of life. So in order to bring back man to a life of values and make him aware of the meaning of life which he is searching for, the sense of transcendental must be brought back. The first and foremost transcendental value that attracts man is beauty. And when meaning is added to this abstract, beauty in relation to the Absolute being, meaning for life too can be found in relation to that Absolute existence. And this aesthetical approach to the divine is the sacred liturgy. The phenomenology of liturgy is the exodus from one’s being in the world; then the confrontation with the divine in sacred mysteries and finally taking up the mission of living for others rooted in the divine. The individual is made aware of the transcendental being by means of the aesthetics of liturgy and in that sense it is the starting point of a life worth living.

[[Category:Aesthetics]]
[[Category:Theology]]