The Spell of the Sensuous - class reading

    As I come to the end of this book, I have begun to regain the wonder of my childhood. I am overcome with the beauty of the earth, thanks in part to the beautiful words of Abram. In the final chapter of The Spell of the Sensuous, Abram does incredibly well to illuminate and reinvigorate the spell that the sensuous world has the ability to cast upon us - that very spell that has been deconstructed by our modern sciences and over-rationalization of our world. He writes about air - the most important part of the world. The thing that is responsible for the sustenance of all life on earth. Yet, this critical component of our world is entirely invisible to us. We sense its presence; we can cognitively understand its importance, but we cannot see it. It is in many senses beyond us. Why have I never considered this simple, yet wondrous fact? What is so wrong with me that I would likely never come to realize that the most important thing in our world for life is invisible. Oral cultures like the Australian Aboriginal peoples have no problem noticing this. They regard the air and its character of being beyond sight yet undeniably real and important as sacred. They are not like me - so bogged down by facts and visuals that I have nearly lost all wonder. They live in the same world that I do, yet the world is wondrous to them in a way that I feel like I cannot understand. 


March 19, 2022

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