the sublime

the sublime somehow defines what it means to be human. human beings can recognize something that transcends God or nature. while transcendence is the key to sublimity, we seem to comprehend the sublime when it is adjacent to death.
the dude abides…
the Big Lebowski

In a recent address to the United Nations, NY Mayor Rudolph Guiliani, began a statement decrying terrorism with the phrase "The era of moral relativsim ..."
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, stated, "This is the moment to seize. The kaleidoscope has been shaken. The pieces are in flux. Soon they will settle again. Before they do, let us re-order this world around us.”
I certainly do not wish compare the recent tragic events in any way to our own ambiguous conflict. I simply say, we are in a shaken and destabilized condition - but we were before any of this took place.
The cataclysmic events of September 11th have changed our world forever. The way we know life and mortality have been changed forever. Will art change after these enormous events ? Will the ego that makes up an artist change? Will our belief in a future be shaken?