tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3263397606915581868.post137742902872142169..comments2023-12-30T02:11:10.100-08:00Comments on Self-University: Facing the Reality of Death: Angst, Exhilaration, and SolaceCharles D. Hayeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17496818135931379312noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3263397606915581868.post-43841251618344416902022-12-10T22:18:01.290-08:002022-12-10T22:18:01.290-08:00Re:
"memories of events that didn’t seem so s...Re:<br />"memories of events that didn’t seem so special to me when they occurred but that now give rise to a sense of regret that I may not experience them again. ...not fully appreciated until the chance of their being repeated is threatened by want of time."<br /><br />I recently chanced upon a reflection of Paul Goodman's, rather overwrought but also describing accurately something that has happened to me several times, beginning already around age 18:<br /><br /><i>"First, he weeps when he attends to something of pure and simple beauty that suddenly surprises him. ... Such things, when they occur surprisingly, bring tears to his eyes, and he may even softly weep. The sequence is as follows: because the object is beautiful, promissory of pleasure and giving pleasure, he allows it to come close to himself and then, at the surprising turn to something still simpler and more resolving, he has had neither the time nor the inclination to guard against it; he is surprised and touched. Feeling rises, and the feeling that rises is—unexpectedly—weeping. Why is this?<br /><br />Such beauties are the signs of paradise; experiencing them is an activity of paradise. But paradise is lost. So the tears are, after all, tears not of joy but of loss. It is his own hurt self that he is weeping for, because now, in these special circumstances, his persistent misery is confronted with an actual loss that he believes in. On reflection, we can understand why it is precisely an object of beauty that can get behind, or under, the habitual defenses of intelligence. The experience of beauty is preconceptual; it moves between sensory presentness and a meaning coming into being, not yet ridigly defined. Experience of beauty is prior to the separation that a man makes between his present pleasure—which is meaningless, because he does not fully give himself to it—and his general conception of what would "really" satisfy him, which he does not believe, because it is merely a thought. But the tangible present object stands, as part for whole, for a tangible lost object, and he weeps. But it is only an object of beauty, whose meaning he again gathers and inteprets, and his soft weeping dries before it deepens to orgastic sobbing."</i><br /><br /><b>("On the intellectual inhibition of explosive grief and anger", in <i>Utopian Essays and Practical Proposals</i>)</b><br /><br />I find these moments have their own unique quality, very different from death-anxiety, distraction, or flow. They are indeed <i>"tears not of joy but of loss."</i> It makes sense, actually, that the first few of these were the most intense: <i>"loss"</i> is a new concept to a young person. I suppose acclimation to loss could lead to an evener keel, or it could leave us jaded and numb.Stefan Kachttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03103517356905739209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3263397606915581868.post-27358370254972609942021-02-26T00:17:43.611-08:002021-02-26T00:17:43.611-08:00Wow! I'm basically impressed by the way you de...Wow! I'm basically impressed by the way you detailed out just about almost everything. It's definitely going to assist me a fantastic deal. Thanks for sharing your thoughts so clearly.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.himtelearning.com/online-coaching-for-meo-class-4-and-2nd-mate-for-mmd-exams/" rel="nofollow">MEO class IV preparatory course – Coaching</a>Hindustan Institute of Maritime Traininghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11469984603757288958noreply@blogger.com