What are the contents of the aesthetic discovery? Formal properties of beauty may be pointed to in what I saw: the verticals as distinctively shaped and gathering space about them, and the interplay between the two kinds of vertical shapes over the enormous intervening space. The pleasure of perspective entered, for though the chimney is miniscule compared to Half Dome, my approaching it from the trail made it assume visual and spatial dignity equal to the mountain. Complexity of human meaning is encountered with poignant irony. The chimney is an enduring marker of the human value placed on the mountain visible from this point. Here human hands raised stones to shelter an experience of pure stone. So I have come to the right place; I am at home. But the human occupation has been lifted; our presence has turned to stone. Nature has reclaimed its elements. Half Dome presides over the petrifaction of the world. Chimney and mountain are in dialogue as I sense the switching between their perspectives. I am present in ruin and in unity.

　　这次审美体验的发现是什么?我所目睹的景致或许可以说明美的外在特征：悬崖峭壁，造型奇特，给人以强烈的空间感，两道石壁形状迥异，广袤交错，凌空矗立。此外，还有透视效果带来的愉悦：虽然与半穹顶相比石烟囱显得非常渺小，但我从山道这边靠近，看上去无论在视觉上还是空间上其气势都一点儿不亚于半穹顶。人类的复杂意图受到了辛辣的讽刺。从这一视点看过去，那烟囱是人的价值置于大山上的一道永久性标记。人类在那里垒石筑屋，以观苍石。这样看来，我来对了地方，我找到了归宿。不过人类对自然的占据被消除掉了，我们的存在与石头融为一体。大自然索回了自己的要素，半穹顶主宰着石头的世界。我感受到两种不同景致的交替，仿佛听见烟囱在和大山对话。我站在小屋废墟上，也置身于和谐统一中。