| Search For Place is an imperative for the discovery of value. The dissertation aims to show that relations are the source of valuation. With this, the Ten Oxherding Pictures, which outline Pictorially the progressive stages of enlightenment, are juxtaposed with the historical development of the ideas of person and place. I argue person and place are integrally related, whereby they mutually condition and co-create value for each other.; Characteristic of relationship itself is concurrence, a process by which meaning and identity are constructed. Concurrence takes both the perceiver and perceived into account and as a process that creates value, is a demeanor that acknowledges the mystery of others. It occurs in the absolute limit between now and next and has therefore notions of stillness, emptiness, receptivity, creativity, and is entirely within the uniqueness of interaction between entities, so it cannot be reproduced. That is, concurrence shows that the creation of any meaning has aesthetic qualities, and is shared experience that is a discrete whole, which both shapes and is shaped. It entails appreciation of others who are different, and for this one must recognize the beauty and mystery of others. This means that aesthetic judgments are necessary to good action and self-realization. The value of maintaining harmonious relations is the art of realizing one's own potential without destroying that, which is other to oneself. In this view, the cultivation of beauty has important religious, moral and political implication, for freedom is a consequence of attaining appreciation in relationships. |
