There are many things I encounter in my daily life that give me the experience of the “sublime.” One of these things is New York City itself. Walking past skyscrapers and other structures everyday on my way to class makes me feel incredibly miniscule and unimportant. I think it is human nature to fear that which is bigger than you, and although I cannot say that I have an outright fear of skyscrapers like the Empire State Building, I can say that I do experience awe when I look at it.
Another thing that makes me experience the sublime is my Iphone. When I think about it in depth, it kind of freaks me out just how “intelligent” our phones are– just the other day, my friend recited back to me a list of all the places I’ve visited within the last month from a hidden feature of my location settings. It’s quite unsettling just how much these little things come to know about you.
I have also experienced the sublime in the mountains of Pakistan. When visiting the city of Murree in 2010 with family, we stayed the night in a hotel at the top of a mountain. At an altitude of approximately 20,000 feet, my breath was quite literally taken away. Because of the lack of light pollution, the stars were visible from my balcony and they sparkled like diamonds. Being from New York, this was something I’d never experienced before; it felt completely surreal. The ethereal beauty of the night sky left me and everyone else at a loss for words, feeling pure astonishment.
One thought on “The Sublime and Daily Life”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
There are many instances where a person has been so astonished by something, they couldn’t even speak. According to the reading, the feeling caused by the sublime is astonishment; “and astonishment is that state of the soul in which all its motions are suspended, with some degree of horror”. Ever hear the phrase “frozen with fear?” It is that same feeling a person gets when something is caused by sublime; something far too great for a person to process to be true.
In my life, the most sublime is God. Just the thought of something much greater than me, how is that even possible? There are many reasons that help me interpret the greatness. The first thing that comes to mind is the book of Revelations in the Bible. Not to get all religious or anything, but the book of Revelations contains a series of predictions that should come forth in the future before the end of the world. The reason why I believe this is sublime is because, as a Christian, while I want these predictions to come to pass, it also terrifies me that these things will take place. Here are a few examples;
One of the seven prophecies to be fulfilled is found in Revelations 13:8, which tells that the world will embrace a single religion. As we know now, Islam is a fast-growing religion that is trying to take dominion of the world by force. Seeing this prediction come to pass is something I desire simply because I believe in heaven after the end of the world. But this also terrifies me because I don’t want to see the world go up in turmoil.