Aesthetics--I need some help here!

The last paragraph highlights my need for illumination.

Social unity is a useful goal; there are, however, good and bad ways of achieving such a goal. Social harmony leads to fewer uncritical pursuits of social meaning, i.e. class struggles, economic competition, hatred, and war.

It is said that when Jesus struck down the money lenders in the temple, he was striking at the "root of the uncritical social game that was keeping men apart, keeping their gaze bent on narrow things".

Communal societies have been a consistent goal throughout history; a communal society would "seek to assure shared meanings, communal good, and the highest possible social morality".

How can a society achieve maximum unity, force, and conviction?

Becker says "organisms achieve satisfaction in one basic way, and that is by "merging" with nature. In this merger, the organism temporarily stills its appetites and striving, and so finds a momentary peace…Hegel gave it a large place in his work, by showing how life tries to keep its own distinctive, restless quality, and yet seeks to be stilled at the same time. Dewey developed this ontology, as did Heidegger and Sartre."

Our naturalistic ontology of life is a desire to maintain identity while being a moving and feeling force, which simultaneously seeks to lose this identity in a peace-giving merger with nature. Herein lies the secret of aesthetics; this paradox of movement and merger answers the question of "why man's play-forms are so satisfying."



Have you had aesthetic experiences that will give us clarity regarding Becker's meaning here?

The quotes and ideas are from "Beyond Alienation"--Ernest Becker