by Aldo Grassini.
A fascinating sunset, a radiant smile, the masterpiece of a great artist: does the splendor of beauty always pass through the eyes? And will the life of a blind person never be cheered by the joy of beauty?
A lot of people think with terror of a world devoid of light and devoid of the pleasure of living, a world perpetually shrouded in the heaviness of darkness.
But blindness produces above all practical problems with strongly negative social implications. About the vision of the world… don’t forget that for a congenitally blind person darkness does not exist he has never experienced it, just as he has never experienced light.
For him, darkness is a word devoid of concrete meaning. So, let’s put aside the romantic sadness of a life shrouded in darkness and ask ourselves about the problem in real terms.
First, obvious beauty does not only inhabit the realm of sight.
Beautiful can be a set of sounds (music) or a set of words (poetry); beautiful is an outpouring of perfumes, a human relationship, a social situation. Sight has nothing to do with all this.
But I do not want to escape from the initial question: does the beauty of nature, of a human person, of a artwork belong only to the realm of vision?
Let us first try to clarify the borders of the feeling of beauty.
Everything that produces in us a sense of well-being, a satisfying harmony of relationships between things and with things, a fruitful relationship with the object that stimulates a beneficial impulse of vitality is beautiful.
Yes, beauty is a feeling, not the quality of an object, but of the emotion aroused. And this sense of intimate cohesion of the manifold can be stimulated even by contradiction and disharmony when art manages to sublimate them in the unity of a brilliant synthesis.
In all of this, the senses play an important role, but what matters is the ability to translate those sensations into engaging meanings, emotions and feelings.
An exciting sunset is beautiful to see if it realizes, through the gaze, the indescribable wonder of the fortunate relationship with nature in the “hic et nunc” instant of a happy situation.
But this relationship with nature does not arise only from seeing it is much stronger and more significant if it involves us in the totality of our being.
A virtual relationship is never comparable to the reality of an emotion experienced lively. Admiring that sunset while being there, on a hill in front of the sea, is not like seeing it on the TV screen or in a photograph.
The difference is in what is added to the visual sensation: the warmth of the air that brushes against us, the scents carried by the wind, the chirping of birds at sunset and, perhaps, the pleasure of pleasant company.
That visual image becomes much more fascinating if it is integrated into an experience that is rich because it is actual.
The senses, the mind, the heart: this is the journey of beauty.
A blind person lacks visual image and for sighted people it represents the first stage, but he can experience a relationship with nature based on the synchrony of the other senses starting that wonderful journey.
About the enjoyment of a masterpiece of art, we can indicate the same journey: the tactile or even multi-sensory approach allows us to penetrate the secret recesses of beauty just like the visual approach. Tactile sensitivity, so little known, offers a rich range of specific qualities, essential for an in-depth knowledge of things and materials, but also for the pure pleasure of touching as a first step towards a rich and refined aesthetic experience (Aldo Grassini: “Per un’estetica della tattilità. Ma esistono davvero arti visive?”, Armando, 2019).
Before ending, briefly I want to think about the beauty of a person, a smile, a shape. The journey is always the same: the senses, the mind, the heart.
In this case, for social reasons touch is rarely useful because our culture does not allow to touch a person unless there is a particular emotional relationship. But contrary to what you might think, we must be aware that the beauty of a person is never exclusively linked to physical forms.
What we like or even fascinate us is personality. A person is beautiful for what their figure can inspire in us. A well-made face is never beautiful if it is inexpressive. A human image must communicate something, must arouse some interest and this never depends only on physical shapes.
A body is attractive for the attitude it assumes, the mouth is transfigured by a smile, the eyes enchant for the light that animates them, a face for the thought it reveals.
All this is learned with the eyes, but there are other sensations capable of revealing the characteristics of a personality.
A “remade face” can deceive the eye, but it cannot hide the fading of youth at the touch of the hand.
And then there is the voice. Those who see do not always notice it, but the voice is an element of physicality, like the body, which is perceived with the sense of hearing and reveals all the most subtle nuances of emotion. It is said that eyes are the mirror of the soul, but this definition can rightfully be applied to the voice as well. The senses, the mind, the heart: the journey of beauty is valid for a blind person even in reference to people.
Someone may say that his judgment may not coincide with the judgment of someone who can see but I can object that in this observation there is a presumption of objectivity as an exclusive monopoly of seeing!