"The sublime is not opposed to the beautiful, and must not, furthermore, be considered an esthetic category. The sublime may be sensed in things of beauty as well as in acts of goodness and the search for truth. The perception of beauty may be the beginning of the experience of the sublime. The sublime is that which we see and are unable to convey. It is the silent allusion of things to meaning greater than themselves "(p. 39)
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1955) provides a beautiful reflection on the sublime, which he declares is "...the root of man's creative activities in art, thought, and noble living," and that which cannot be circumscribed to these alone. No philosophical system, no science, no art....not even nature herself can capture all of the qualities of sublimity. Consider his reflection:
"The sublime is not opposed to the beautiful, and must not, furthermore, be considered an esthetic category. The sublime may be sensed in things of beauty as well as in acts of goodness and the search for truth. The perception of beauty may be the beginning of the experience of the sublime. The sublime is that which we see and are unable to convey. It is the silent allusion of things to meaning greater than themselves "(p. 39)
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AuthorNadia Brewart, Ph.D., is a student of life with an insatiable curiosity about what it means to be human, amidst encounters with the human condition. Archives
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