ABSTRACT
If the pain of deliberately inflicted torture epitomises negative absorption, then the expansion of
self that occurs in aesthetic experiences of art typifies its anti-thesis, positive absorption. Agony
and art share the similarity that both can entail absorbing experiences. The radical difference
between the two is vectoral. The coming back into being of the ‘I’ after an aesthetic experience
of art has qualities of expansiveness, of incorporating something good that was until recently
other than oneself. It has a quality of self-transcendence.
