of all the music in the world, i only experience a tiny sliver of a fraction of it. of all the good art (and i do mean good, because bad art is worse than a waste of time), i only experience a speck of it. just think of all the beauty! i need to see more and do more. so knowing this, what a terrible waste of time to argue and fight. i think it's a sin, even. where are you experiencing beauty? how are you feeling love?

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Observations on the feeling of the beautiful and the sublime. Despite Kant's title, I never put it together until just now when you said, "where are you experiencing beauty? how are you feeling love?"

It's only because and through love that we experience either feeling.

Thanks Jen.
John Keats, "Endymion"

Endymion – Book 1
`
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits
. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
'Gainst the hot season; the mid forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
All lovely tales that we have heard or read:
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heave's brink.
Nor do we merely feel these essences
For one short hour; no, even as the trees
That whisper round a temple become soon
Dear as the temple's self, so does the moon,
The passion poesy, glories infinite,
Haunt us till they become a cheering light
Unto our souls
, and bound to us so fast,
That, whether there be shine, or gloom o'ercast,
They always must be with us, or we die.
Therefore, 'tis with full happiness that I
Will trace the story of Endymion.
Endymion
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - 1807-1882

The rising moon has hid the stars;
Her level rays, like golden bars,
Lie on the landscape green,
With shadows brown between.

And silver white the river gleams,
As if Diana, in her dreams,
Had dropt her silver bow
Upon the meadows low.

On such a tranquil night as this,
She woke Endymion with a kiss,
When, sleeping in the grove,
He dreamed not of her love.

Like Dian’s kiss, unasked, unsought,
Love gives itself, but is not bought
;
Her voice, nor sound betrays
Its deep, impassioned gaze.

It comes,—the beautiful, the free,
The crown of all humanity,—
In silence and alone
To seek the elected one
.

It lifts the boughs, whose shadows deep,
Are Life’s oblivion, the soul’s sleep,
And kisses the closed eyes
Of him, who slumbering lies.

O, weary hearts! O, slumbering eyes!
O, drooping souls, whose destinies
Are fraught with fear and pain,
Ye shall be loved again
!

No one is so accursed by fate,
No one so utterly desolate,
But some heart, though unknown,
Responds unto his own.

Responds,—as if with unseen wings,
A breath from heaven had touched its strings
And whispers, in its song,
“Where hast thou stayed so long!”
Emerson, "On Beauty"

The poets are quite right in decking their mistresses with the spoils of the landscape, flower-gardens, gems, rainbows, flushes of morning, and stars of night, since all beauty points at identity, and whatsoever thing does not express to me the sea and sky, day and night, is somewhat forbidden and wrong. Into every beautiful object, there enters somewhat immeasurable and divine, and just as much into form bounded by outlines, like mountains on the horizon, as into tones of music, or depths of space. Polarized light showed the secret architecture of bodies; and when the second-sight of the mind is opened, now one color or form or gesture, and now another, has a pungency, as if a more interior ray had been emitted, disclosing its deep holdings in the frame of things.

The laws of this translation we do not know, or why one feature or gesture enchants, why one word or syllable intoxicates, but the fact is familiar that the fine touch of the eye, or a grace of manners, or a phrase of poetry, plants wings at our shoulders; as if the Divinity, in his approaches, lifts away mountains of obstruction, and deigns to draw a truer line, which the mind knows and owns. This is that haughty force of beauty, "vis superba formae," which the poets praise, — under calm and precise outline, the immeasurable and divine: Beauty hiding all wisdom and power in its calm sky.
nicrap said…
where are you experiencing beauty?

...currently in other men's wives. ;)
Jen said…
You know, you can only go so long without slowing down and really taking in the beauty around you. Sometimes it begins to feel self-indulgent, but I think that is just old critical thinking bubbling up.

I've been working full time since last February, and I've become so dull! I bought this new camera to keep in the car with me, as I drive through the most beautiful rural areas of east Texas. This camera has helped me slow down and experience beauty. The photo I included in this post was taken off the side of a busy intersection near Dallas. There are little gems all around us. Xoxo
Jen said…
And you're welcome, FJ. ;-)
nicrap said…
How rude! And all because I chose to tell the truth! :p
...it all comes down to a definition of "experiencing", Nikhil.
Jen said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jen said…
Or WERE you referring to me??
🙄
Go ahead and tell us the real truth! 🤪
nicrap said…
Are you tall and slender? ;)
Jen said…
That would be a hard no.
Jen said…
Are you subtle? :P
Jen said…
...it all comes down to a definition of "experiencing", Nikhil.
..........

Clearly! Lol

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