On The Aesthetic Metaphor Of Sense Of Direction

In physical space,sense of direction which stems from the ancients' worship of sun,presenting the concept of universal orientation harmony between man and nature.Notions of orientation evolved from the east and west to the south and north and developed from two dimensions to three dimensions,constituted a three-dimensional system with four seasons and dawn-dusk.Directions are attached to religious colors because of deities "Si Fang Feng Shen" in sacrifice which was described in the oracle,Book of Rites,Shang Shu and so on.Zhou Yi forged a complicated symbol system about directions through Eight Trigrams,matching five elements,five colors,five cardinal tastes and five emotions on the left with five directions on the right.Left and right,up and down,front and back,using the body as the original position of coordinate system.The original location together with four directions maintains the political rights and orders of ancient emperors.Human's emotional experience and thoughts are guided by a sense of direction in the aesthetic space.Based on the cognition of infinite universe,ancient dwellers developed their imagination based on the meanings of four directions.Therefore,four directions have been associated with unique life experience.Human beings' existence is deeply adhering to the occupation or exile of the space.As a result,home turns to be the shelter of one's emotions.Martin Heidegger started the diversion of the spatial ontology while Sisyphus had been asking for the meaning of being through the 'up and down' movement.Chinese landscape painters experienced and observed the world in a movable perspective,which permeates the spatial awareness such as 'the union of heaven and human' and 'treat others with sincerity'.Under the moral idealism with the doctrine of the mean,ancient Chinese rites and music culture also contains the order of directions.Traditional Chinese anesthetics values the integrated harmony a lot;this also represents the eternal wisdom of circulation which also contains the sense of directions.Meanwhile,the loose and tight trend in the space represents the strength of the direction-sense.On the one hand,the Confucian thoughts represent the great sympathy which embraced the whole world.On the other hand,the Taoism symbolizes the spirit of calmness and self-consciousness.Since the entry of twentieth century,the post-modern time has witnessed the rapid change in space,and the cognition of directions have been transforming all the time.Driven by desire and pleasure,the nerve of consumers are stimulated by kitsch of arts.Under this circumstances,people are confused and lonely.Alienated human beings are no longer the centre of the world,both arts and cultures show a trend of decentralization.The satisfaction of material needs is actually a void showing people's emptiness.The aim of anesthetics is to free people from the restriction of'possession',so as to guide the direction of lives.In a transcendent space,the sense of directions indicates the sanctity of aesthetics.It is an infinite power which can surpass the finitude.