The sublime is something that catches us off guard and "transports" us "beyond" ourselves, removing us--our senses or perceptions, even momentarily, from what Blake termed "the same dull round" [There Is NO Natural Religion (b) "Conclusion. If it were not for the Poetic or Prophetic character, the Philosophic & Experimental would soon be at the ratio of all things & stand still, unable to do other than repeat the same dull round over again
Application. He who sees the Infinite in all things sees God. He who sees the Ratio only sees himself only. Therefore God becomes as we are, that we may be as he is"].
That we may "step outside" ourselves [Gk.: ekstasin]; make contact--direct contact--with that which is not ourselves. That we may escape the narrow confines of the self and, thereby, experience freedom.
Talking of constitutional melancholy, [Dr. Samuel Johnson] observed, "A man so afflicted, Sir, must divert distressing thoughts, and not combat with them." Boswell: "May not he think them down, Sir?" Johnson: "No, Sir. To attempt to think them down is madness. He should have a lamp constantly burning in his bed chamber during the night, and if wakefully disturbed, take a book, and read, and compose himself to rest. To have the management of the mind is a great art, and it may be attained in a considerable degree by experience and habitual exercise..." Boswell: "Should not he provide amusements for himself? Would it not, for instance, be right for him to take a course of chymistry?" Johnson: "Let him take a course of chymistry, or a course of rope-dancing, or a course of any thing to which he is inclined at the time. Let him contrive to have as many retreats for his mind as he can, as many things to which it can fly from itself."
Boswell's Life of Johnson.
No comments:
Post a Comment