Sorry to be a pedant but numinous is an adjective. The numinous what?
Steve, obvious is also an adjective. But it is often used as a noun, as in, "He stated the obvious."
Oh my, Steve. No one can be more of a pedant than I. I am a technical writer by trade and a perfect ass about correctness, when necessary. If I were wrong, I would willingly admit it, which is also a trait of a true pedant.
The term originated as the numinous experience, but evolved into being its own fully formed thing.
If you would look at this website:
http://www2.kenyon.edu/depts/religion/fac/Adler/reln101/Otto.htm
You will see that it is one (of many) which uses "the numinous" as a noun not once but several times.
______________
So, have you felt it, or not?
OK Piffka, no problem, Herr Otto was after all German. :wink: Just that I had never heard the word before so looked it up to find it was an adjective. Like obvious (noun obviousness). And unlike quality (noun) which is used incorrectly as an adjective these days. (As in "....suppliers of quality service", makes me want to add the word 'poor')
So many things are done incorrectly or with poor quality, for us to remain sane there is much to overlook.
How's London today?
An epiphany, yes, a numinous experience, no.
hi Piffka
I live in Harlow which is not really London, but within the London area. But its easier to say London. (Another deliberate mistake!)
Things are a bit difficult at the moment. Firstly we have a firefighters strike - completely unjustifiable in my view. Then tube drivers closed down part of the underground because they thought it too dangerous to work without fire cover. (for them that is not necessarily their passengers). So there are more cars on already overcrowded roads. This morning there was fog so lots of accidents and....no fire fighters to pull the injured out.
Still the Army are putting out fires, but they are needed elsewhere at the moment... something to do with an oil producing country in the mid East. Watching debate on Iraq in Parliament as I write. So chaos at home war coming abroad al Qaida attacks forcast.... so thanks for asking and I hope things are a bit quieter in Bombay!
Suppose I could do with a few numinous experiences
Fascinating topic Piffka. I immediately thought of
an experience that I had one night. There was a
thunderstorm, which had awakened me...but I can
not really say awake, or was I asleep, but I had
a something. I hesitate to call it a dream because
I was awakened by a very loud clap of thunder,
and I heard a voice, quite a booming loud voice,
speaking out saying: LIFE is not to be "practiced,
Barbara, it is to be "lived"! Given the type of
person I was at the time, and the circumstances
of my earlier life, and the manner in which I had
been living,(practicing -really, as if waiting for the
curtain to go up, and the REAL thing to begin)
it was the perfect message for me. I can never
forget about these experiences, they leave me in
wonder. Then cynicism creeps in and tries to
deny what I KNOW I heard. So I must fight off
the desire to throw the experience away, even
though I know I can't possibly.
I also remember reading about the life of Carl
Jung, his experiences with the Divine, or the
collective unconscious-the little happenings in
life that we KNOW, as sure as our own names,
were meant for us only. They assist or aid or
offer some insight we lacked and sorely needed.
Another one was a dream that I had, where I
was standing at the drop off window in the pharmacy
and a person came up to me and gave me a small
black book. The title of this book was written in gold
on the front of the small book, it was The Dead Poets
Society. Only I had this dream a few years before
the movie came out, and once again - if ever a movie
was "speaking" TO ME - this is it! Carpe Diem
LIVE your life to its fullest woman! And so I try to do.
I try very, very hard never to ignore what I KNOW in
my gut is meant for me. It has taken me many years
to understand to listen to my gut instincts. I was sort
of trained not to, as a younger person. So, it is a
human gift of sorts, that I continue to work on, a little
every day.
Babs - that is wonderful. I think you've got it... by George you've got it!
Unlike your mental image of practicing, I have this mental image of being in Rome (where I've never been) and knowing I shouldn't just stay in bed, but get out and see all there is to see.
There is some magic you can wrest out of it if you seize the day; grab it and make it your own.
Steve -- That is horrible news about what's happening. I hope the firefighters recognize they've got a duty. Oh dear. Stupid war, stupid talk of war.
Here in Bombay for the moment, all is well though we have a fog, it isn't so dense. I've always liked a bit of fog, especially as it lifts over the water.
Light-Wizard -- Will you tell us about your eppiphany? I always like to hear insights.
I had an epiphany that there is no such thing as an epiphany.
Well, that's too bad. It must make you wonder what you are missing.
Pif
I ALWAYS love to hear people talk about
the great unknown, who have experiences
that are quite extraordinary.
The idea of Rome, is very interesting
You will have to play word associations here
Pif, Like what does BED bring to mind,
all your possible word associations
Then seeing all this stuff, and the feeling
that you are sleeping through your life
sort of......does that make any sense to
you at all?
Well, Bed, of course, brings to mind many associations!! I think, it is more like I'm sick or tired though, and that's why I'm abed.
Rome, of course, was the epitome of glamour and sophistication, of things to do and places to be.
It is exactly true, that the point is of sleeping one's life away. We can be sleep-walking through our lives with unpleasant work and company, or we can grasp life... the Carpe Diem.
Have you, by the way, seen my favored website as listed on my profile page? I wondered. Finding that was an act of serendipity... Jjorge had said something on abuzz about Carpe Diem and I was researching it a little. That website was one of the first links for me, and right up my alley.
Piffka & Steve, seeing that you both are pretty fastidious about just what gets printed on the page, I thought you might like a short essay by Anne Fadiman. She recently published a book "Ex Libris--Confessions of a Common Reader." one of the essays, "Inse^t a Carrot" has the following paragraph:
"We stared at one another. You'd think that after all these decades, we Fadimans would have mapped every corner of our deviant tribal identity, but apparently there was one pan-familial gene we had never before diagnosed: we were all compulsive proofreaders."
She goes on to entertain with the many errors she and her family members have mined from restaurant menus, theater programs, books and a world of other good sources. This is the kind of reading you can do at Barns and Noble over a cup of coffee and not have to buy the book. In my case, though, I couldn't help myself. I bought the book.
Hazlitt,
Great quote thanks. Guess I am quite fastidious (just had to check with your spelling). Thats it fastidious. Intolerant of mistakes? Pedantic? Anal retentive? Probably a bit of each, except.... well you know.
I have been to an interesting meeting tonight. Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. Not numinous in itself but designed to encourage the same.
No Pif, I had not seen it - but I HAVE NOW!
and tagged as a favorite for further review.
And the word, serendipity - oh yes! What
a remarkable experience to spot it, be aware
of it, and give it the worthy esteem it is due.
Not a coincidence, but a shared confidence
from where, how or who we may never know
or maybe we will.
Setanta, you rascal, you!
Thanks, Babs. Glad you liked that website. We may breeding our mare to one of their horses. Exactly what I've been looking for.
Setanta is sooo numinous!
Hazlitt, is your avatar lonesome Bob?
