“When the starry sky, a vista of open seas, or a stained-glass window shedding purple beams fascinate me, there is a cluster of meaning, of colors, of words, of caresses, there are light touches, scents, sighs, cadences that arise, shroud me, carry me away, and sweep me beyond the things I see, hear, or think, The "sublime" object dissolves in the raptures of a bottomless memory. It is such a memory, which, from stopping point to stopping point, remembrance to remembrance, love to love, transfers that object to the refulgent point of the dazzlement in which I stray in order to be.”
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outlier:
@ARTFULODIN: (Oh, thank God somebody posted!) Yes, funny to hear about the strata. In its most basic form my comment was about the tension between synthesis & analysis, between breaking something large down into its tiny, fascinating details + exceptions to the rules, versus taking little seemingly-disparate things and putting them together into a larger pattern or structure. That tension (or 2 ways of looking at something) seems to be the way our brains are built, because sometimes we need to quickly abbreviate a mass of detail down into a basic pattern (example: saber-tooth tiger leaping at my head) while at other times we need to focus in on the details (hey, Bob, isn't this the pawprint of a saber-tooth tiger?). I catch myself going one way or the other a lot, especially whenever there's a preponderance or common way of thinking; I immediately want to go the other way. AnnaLee's quote was just so far towards one side I admired it just for that, admired the way it was said, in addition of course to the nice thought itself. I very much admire good writing -- of either type -- and wish I could do it too.
artfulodin:
@outlier - you write with great thought and clarity, so I'd say you write rather well (but I know what you meant). Pity I'm leaving, as I'd be interested in following you. Cheers though and wish you well.