I think of sacredness and exaltation as overlapping circles in a ven diagram. The parts of HP:MoR that I assume you’re talking to are both exalting and sacred to me. They’re specifically about humanity rising up and conquering a powerful challenge.
Wandering out into the night and looking at the stars gives me a sense of sacredness that is not inherently about exaltation—My connotation of exaltation is a sort of power, and the stars make me feel simultaneously big and small, but in such a way that power is almost irrelevant. I’m just experiencing being this small but meaningful part of the universe. I’m not sure if my use of the words here is common though.
Mmm… I sort of see what you mean. What I meant was that “sacredness” does not feel grammatically appropriate to be naming an emotion. Also, “sacredness” in the moral-philosophy sense in which I’ve seen it used refers to an infinite value, something which may not be traded off. I wouldn’t apply the term to stars (don’t get me wrong, contemplating the cosmos does trigger in me that-emotion-to-which-I-think-we’re-both-referring, I just don’t think they have infinite value; to the extent that I think anything could sensibly be construed to have infinite value, stars just don’t qualify).
I think of sacredness and exaltation as overlapping circles in a ven diagram. The parts of HP:MoR that I assume you’re talking to are both exalting and sacred to me. They’re specifically about humanity rising up and conquering a powerful challenge.
Wandering out into the night and looking at the stars gives me a sense of sacredness that is not inherently about exaltation—My connotation of exaltation is a sort of power, and the stars make me feel simultaneously big and small, but in such a way that power is almost irrelevant. I’m just experiencing being this small but meaningful part of the universe. I’m not sure if my use of the words here is common though.
Mmm… I sort of see what you mean. What I meant was that “sacredness” does not feel grammatically appropriate to be naming an emotion. Also, “sacredness” in the moral-philosophy sense in which I’ve seen it used refers to an infinite value, something which may not be traded off. I wouldn’t apply the term to stars (don’t get me wrong, contemplating the cosmos does trigger in me that-emotion-to-which-I-think-we’re-both-referring, I just don’t think they have infinite value; to the extent that I think anything could sensibly be construed to have infinite value, stars just don’t qualify).