I had looked up the definition of sublime, and the definition that was given was, “of such excellence, grandeur, or beauty as to inspire great admiration or awe.” But, according to Edmund Burke, the affects of such defined by the Google, are only the inferior effects of the sublime; the most prominent effect of the sublime is really astonishment. I think the sublime according the Edmund Burke, is something that consumes you so entirely, that anything else that would normally and naturally occupy apart of your mind, body, and soul, does not.

If my understanding of the sublime is correct, I would have to say that I discovered the sublime while traveling. I had attended college for two years right after I had finished high school, and realized that in that moment, it was not the time for me to be in school. My head wasn’t there so I set out traveling for about a year and half. When I was traveling, it was as nothing else existed except the place in which I was visiting; there was always so much to take in.. a new culture, new language, traditions, norms. It felt like a sensory overload every time I entered a new place, the object of the cultures filled me so entirely it was blissful. There was no room in my mind for anything other than the “now” at the time. And as Burke described, with the sublime comes astonishment, and with astonishment, a degree of fear, yet arrises great power.. and when I was traveling, that was exactly it.

There is a reason traveling is my passion. There is a risk that comes along with it, which is the risk of your life. Traveling alone you constantly have to be aware of everything around you and to do so there has to be a degree of fear in you to really be alert. But when I mention fear, I don’t mean it negatively, I mean it in a way that strikes adrenaline; it’s the kind of fear that gives you a sense of power when I have experienced a country and its culture on my own successfully and unharmed, receiving only enlightening experiences. It brings up a power within you that has always been there but you never knew you had.

Irene