I made this into a page instead of a post.  Oopp Here it is anyway.

In the second half of the eighteenth century city dwellers began to travel to the country to restore health to their bodies and souls (130 de Botton). Wordsworth believed that regular travel through nature was a necessary antidote to the evils of the city (136 de Botton). Wordsworth thought that one should be able to render their feelings more sane, pure and permanent, or more consonant to Nature (145 de Botton).

de Botton explains that animals are our humans’ contemporaries in that both eat, sleep and breathe and that we are on this planet that is chiefly made of rocks and vapours and silence (147 de Botton). I agree with him but had never considered the importance of a more equal life with animals since we are both a small percentage of the world.

Wordsworth said that we may see in nature certain scenes that will stay with us throughout our lives and offer us, every time they enter our consciousness, both a contrast to and relief from present difficulties. He termed such experiences in nature ‘spots of time’. (151 de Botton) de Botton experiences that ‘spot of time’ when sitting near and field and a stream with trees nearby. His time was interrupted by thoughts of work (152 de Botton). I guess I should be expecting some times throughout my days in Paris where I will live inside myself for long enough to worry about how my brother is doing without me. I’ll try to just accept this behavior of my and not be disappointed in losing a few moments in Paris.

Sublime has been used since the eighteenth century to describe the way one feels while in the presence of something of nature that is awe-inspiring, indescribable. Compared to the sublime, ‘man seems merely dust postponed: the sublime as an encounter-pleasurable; intoxicating, even-with human weakness in the face of the strength, age and size of the universe’ (159, 164 de Botton). de Botton asked ‘Why seek out this feeling of smallness-delight in it even?’ (165 de Botton).

I think this is because we so that we don’t feel so much responsibility in life. When one can see that they are not so large compared too much of the world then one can accept the fact that they are not capable of saving everyone and everything from harm. In fact when met with the sublime there is a reminder that humans are supposed to make mistakes. de Botton states it more clearly than I when he speaks of sublime landscapes;

to touch on the crux of their appeal, they allow us to conceive of a familiar inadequacy
in a new and more helpful way. Sublime places repeat in grand terms a lesson that
ordinary life typically introduces viciously: that the universe is mightier than we are,
that we are frail and temporary and have no alternative but to accept limitations on our
will; that we must bow to necessities greater than ourselves (167 de Botton).

de Botton says that there isn’t a need to feel anxiety toward facing something that is so much powerful than us. ‘What defines our will can provoke anger and resentment, but it may also arouse awe and respect’ (165 de Botton).

Richard Sennett spoke of Baudelaire’s opinion that the solitude of city dwellers is not sublime: ‘it seems to enhance the ordinary business of life’ (127 Sennett). Baudelaire didn’t always have this opinion but he learned from, Constantin Guys, friend and painter, that there is no need for any aspect of life to become dull. Life in Paris had become dull for Baudelaire. The Parisians of his day seemed bored by themselves as much as by one another (121 Sennett).

I think, even in an exciting city, we can find ourselves feeling bored with the many tourist sites especially if there have been numerous stops at any one type of site. For instance visits to many Gothic style churches could leave us without a way to distinguish one from another. This, in turn, could cause us to not care about seeing other sites. This may not be so bad though. It would give us a chance to see the regular aspects of life in the city of our inquiries and this would be a more realistic study of our cities.

Whether I am in a museum or visiting a school, I will be mindful of the pitfall of not noticing regular life. I will be sure to look for ordinary people performing everyday tasks. This is what I want to remember when I am back home in Washington.

Rai