During the first century after Christ and his disciples had initiated Christian ministries, 2000 years ago, Longinus penned his book, On the Sublime. His interest was to raise the consciousness and experiences of his readers to higher perceptions and responses than were common among the masses. He wanted sublimity for all. He proposed its achievement through excellence of language, especially spoken language that touched the minds of listeners, lifting them above the standard and ordinary elevations of their lives. He believed the human race could experience the sublime which moved toward rapture. For earthbound lives there is something above ordinary.
There is a high level of consciousness that many persons seldom experience, if at all. Or they may not recognize that it is available in normal life context. Jacob acknowledged, in the above text, that although God was present, he had missed the presence. Today, in the reviews of cultural critics, we learn that the level of gratification for most persons is ordinary. Wanting more, the masses may seek it in drug abuse, or other habit (smoking, alcohol) relief. They lose search for the genuine. Ideas, relationships, music, literature, drama, art are not made the route to beauty in life, even when acknowledged as great. Even elevated moments of worship in the church may have been reduced by popular culture. Attractive to some, the approach is unsatisfactory.
I have a grandson who shouts, Awesome! when he sees a firm tackle in football, or a circus-like catch, or an elusive run by a player. I can’t deny that the events he identifies with such language can be admired by those who enjoy physical prowess, but larger awesomeness embraces much more. Sublimity is for the mind, the soul, the emotion of the person who experiences the sublime. Most persons when asked about the matter have to think about it, and scan memory for the moment – perhaps his/her wedding day, or the birth of a baby. The sublime seems to carry us outside our bodies to a level of joy, peace, insight, a feeling of the forever. Some persons find it only in sexual orgasm. My beloved mother, twice married, once told me she never had an ecstatic intimate experience. Not to experience sublimity by individuals in a field of human experience does not mean it does not exist. We are poor creatures rather slow to find legitimacy and the highest.
Inner inclination, that there is some ecstasy for us, is illustrated in The Lost Chord. The musician strikes a chord that creates a sense of sublimity for him. He is carried away. So great is the ecstasy that he does not remember what keys he touched to gain the chord. He searches, but in vain. He hopes that again, on a future day, to strike it again. When he does he will remember it to reproduce it – if not on earth, in heaven. For many persons, life is largely taken in looking downward. They miss the upward life, of thinking higher thoughts, or seeking excellence in what they do and what they are becoming. Legitimate sublimity grows out of discipline of life, of worship, of idealism, of expectations, of culture, and of prayer. Not to find some sublimity in life is, by the omission, to accept diluted life experience, even if it is felt satisfactory, related to the specialness of man. True sublimity touches heavenlies. It may not be sought, but occurs as though by accident when one has followed a pattern that offers it. It may come from the wrong source, and become a factor of destruction – as in narcotics. It may come from God, for a sense of assurance, for the feeding of memory, as Jacob discovered after the event. There are events in our lives which suggest the possibilities, if our faith is well directed. To the humanist they may be accidental, but to the person of faith, there is a caring and lifting Presence. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020