No, not the band. But rather, a philosophical enquiry for the day.

I've been doing some reading of various writers from the romantic period (not lovey dovey foo foo girly stuff, it's just the name of the period in literature). One of the key concepts of the romantic period is that of the sublime. It's most easily described as that which would cause you a sort of terror were you truly in danger of being affected by it but you are able to experience it because of some kind of distance between you and the terrible "it." That distance can be either actual physical distance, or like a safety net. For example if you jump out of a plane that would suck because you know you're gonna splat on the ground. But if you jump out of a plane with a parachute, it's fun because you're in relatively little danger of splatting. The net effect is a very intense not quite definable emotion; and that's sublime. It has also been said that anything truly sublime can cause that emotion to be experienced again when the moment is recalled with the proper amount of detail.

Now I got to thinking about which of my own experiences I would say is the most appropriate example of the sublime. It would have to be rappelling off the top of a cliff even though I have an almost-phobia of edges. The sublime moment wasn't itself the act rappelling, but rather the act of standing over the edge with slack still in the harness. Essentially standing over the edge of a cliff with the only thing keeping me in contact with solid ground being my toes. When I let go and leaned back into the harness to go over the edge I was no longer in any danger--but that particular moment standing on the edge both scared the shit out of me and was also kind of thrilling.

So, what would you say is your most sublime experience?