Intuition and the Creation of a Better World
Harpur, Patrick
If we wish to reinstate the Soul of the World in her original glory, we will have to do more than introduce environmental remedies, which, however well-meaning, tend to stand at an equal and opposite pole - that is, to be as literalistic as the damage we do. We have to cultivate a new perspective, or seeing through; and a sense of metaphor, a seeing double. We may even, if we are to shift our obdurate literalism, have to let in a bit of madness, give ourselves up to a spot of ecstasy. We can always make a start by trying to develop a better aesthetic sense, an appreciation of beauty, which is the first attribute of soul. For the way we see the world can restore its soul, and the way the world is ensouled can restore our vision.
Patrick Harpur, The Philosophers' Secret Fire: A History of the Imagination. Chicago, Ivan R. Dee, 2003, p. 285
