Abstract

In this study I investigate self-realization through aesthetic experience for art education. I review self-realization as a theme in Western theory and as a core consideration of aesthetic experience in the rasa theory of India. I question an under-representation of aesthetics in preservice programs and in grade school art curriculums, and argue that the rasa model of self-discovery can augment the teaching of aesthetics. ;Rasa theory offers a comprehensive explanation of the aesthetic experience as an emotionally-grounded process that corresponds to mundane occurrence. Nine ubiquitous emotions are rooted in the collective unconscious, each of which can lead to self-realization and self-transcendence through aesthetic experience. I specifically investigate the written commentaries of Abhinavagupta, a tenth century Kashmiri teacher of aesthetics and spiritual philosophy, who described the evolution of individual consciousness. Abhinavagupta was the first commentator in India to identify the most profound level of aesthetic experience as identical in essence with the spiritual experience of the mystic. I argue that the individual is the key to the evolution of humanity, and that rasa can provide additional skills to learn about ourselves through art