ABSTRACT
The phenomenology of experiences of the sublime is the focus for this chapter, set within a theoretical context which suggests that both Jungian and Lacanian ways of approaching inexplicable or profound encounters with otherness in the natural and built environment offer valuable counterbalancing lenses through which to explore these. Archetypal and numinous influences (Jung) and the operation of the Real (Lacan) are among the concepts deployed in support of this discussion. Wordsworth’s poetic reflections as well as a portrayal of encounter with otherness in the urban environment provide a focus for the chapter’s observations.
The author advocates for the value of subjectivity in approaching the Sublime and for valuing individual frames of reference emerging from this. He uses his own concept of “the diamond sublime” to illustrate how sublime experience can be located within personal and cultural experience. In this regard, the chapter validates the notion of sublime experience as a pertinent vehicle for meaning-making in the contemporary world.
