"The sublime is that which by its mightiness shocks us and fills us with pain at our own smallness, but then fills us with a feeling of the exaltation of the greatness of our own nature."
Immanuel Kant
If our nose is pressed flat against a mirror, we see nothing. However, if we push it away from us, we are then able to enjoy the reflection. Similarly, beauty is an explosion that at first pushes us away, like a firework that stuns us with its centrifugal glory. But this very action empowers our amazement to act as a mirror in which the beautiful object can admire its own greatness. And in serving this noble function, we in turn recognize the reality of our own greatness.
Photo: Alpenglow, Canyonlands National Park, UT, November 26, 2011
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