The Mass as Metaphor: A Study of the Aesthetic Nature of the Eucharistic Liturgy examines the theory that our culture has experienced a shift in the way we percieve works of art. The movement from a predonimantly rational and analytical mode of awareness to perceptions that are intuitive, felt and supra-rational invokes acts of personal engagement and expressiveness. The psychic experiences that influence human consciousness are particularly evident in rituals where the objective is to step into a syndetic encounter with personal presence. The metaphoric power of art results from our ability to identify an inherent similarity of being-in-the-world between the work and ourselves. This creates a diachronic movement that creates a living, active presence born out of the work and received by the perceiver.