A Single Man, 2009 - India (The very smell of buttered toast)

AESTHETICS
In the name of aesthetics, there is much garbage. But when I use the word "aesthetics" I don't mean the garbage collected in the museums and art galleries. When I use the word "aesthetics" I mean a quality in you. It has nothing to do with objects—paintings, music, poetry—it has something to do with a quality in your being, a sensitivity, a love for beauty, a sensitivity for the texture and taste of things, for the eternal dance that goes on all around, an awareness of it, a silence to hear this cuckoo calling from the distance . .
Aesthetics is just an artistic approach towards life, a poetic vision. Seeing colors so totally that each tree becomes a painting, that each cloud brings the presence of God, that colors are more colorful, that you don't go on ignoring the radiance of things, that you remain alert, aware, loving, that you remain receptive, welcoming, open. That's what I mean by the aesthetic attitude, the aesthetic approach ...
I say Buddha is a poet, although he never composed a single poem. Still I insist that he is one of the greatest poets who has ever lived. He was not a Shakespeare, a Milton, a Kalidasa, a Rabindranath—no, not at all. But still I say: Shakespeare. Milton. Kalidasa. Rahindranath. are nothing compared to his poetry. His life was his poetry—the way he walked. the way he looked at things . . .
It is not a question of objects of art: it is a question of an inner approach, a vision—of seeing things artistically ... Bypass the art galleries and you will not be losing anything. But you cannot bypass the aesthetic layer of your being: you have to go through it. Otherwise you will always remain impoverished, something will be missing, something of immense value. Your enlightenment will never be total; a part of your being will remain unenlightened: a corner of your soul will remain dark—and that corner will remain heavy on you. One has to become totally enlightened. Nothing should he bypassed—no shortcuts are to he invented. One has to move very naturally through all the layers, because all those layers are opportunities to grow ...
Nothing has to be bypassed. Everything has to he lived, loved, experienced. Everything has to be absorbed, so that you become as rich as it is possible to become.
osho
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