What is Sublime?

 The Kantian way: sublime is the starry night above us, the unending ocean, whatever overcomes our sense of individuation.

 Beyond that: “Sublime” is a very complex emotion. It is the experience of dissolution into something greater, ampler, wider, newer, everlasting.

 In the Bhagavad-Ghita, the sublime as Brahman, with and without attributes produces the reaction of the deepest fear, the fear of dissolving. But there is also awe and wonder

 The experience of the sublime is overwhelming and dissolves the ego, which surrenders before the beauty of the fleeting spring of the rose, the slow streaming strings of Mahler at the end of the summer, the flocks of birds at sunset.

 The concept of the “sublime “ is related to traditional religious experiences. Can we free our experience of the sublime from the images of the past?

Falling star

The frog from the lotus

Into the bottomless instant