Magic and the Sublime
"The fascination of danger is at the bottom of all great passions. There is no fullnmess of pleasure unless the precipice is near. It is the mingling of terror with delight that intoxicates. And what more terrifying than play? It gives and takes away; its logic is not our logic. It is dumb and blind and deaf. It is almighty. it is a God.
Yes, a God; it has its votaries and its saints, who love it for itself, not for what it promises, and who (14) fall down in adoration when its blow strikes them. It strips them ruthlessly, and they lay the blame on themselves, not on their deity.
'I played a bad game,' they say.
They find fault with themselves; they do not blaspheme their God." (Anatole France, The Garden of Epicurus, pp. 14-15)
See imagination. Magic as novelty. Sublime a la Burke--always connected to novelty, and thus to children...see Benjamin's chi
Yes, a God; it has its votaries and its saints, who love it for itself, not for what it promises, and who (14) fall down in adoration when its blow strikes them. It strips them ruthlessly, and they lay the blame on themselves, not on their deity.
'I played a bad game,' they say.
They find fault with themselves; they do not blaspheme their God." (Anatole France, The Garden of Epicurus, pp. 14-15)
See imagination. Magic as novelty. Sublime a la Burke--always connected to novelty, and thus to children...see Benjamin's chi
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