- The “dancing universe”: the quantum ceaseless flow of energy going through an infinite variety of patterns
- Dionysian ecstasy is found in the sensuous world of poets, artists, dreamers, who show us the life of the spirit as seen through the senses
- The sensuous world is filled with the profusion of nature’s fruits; it is the divine realm, the garden of the gods
- Original meaning of irrational thought: knowledge gained through our senses rather than rational thought processes. Dionysian way is to see the world instinctively, on a sensual, intuitive level rather than an abstract, logical, once-removed way
- Ecstasy: filled with an emotion too powerful for my body to contain or my rational mind to understand. I am transported to another realm in which I am able to experience ecstasy
- There is a rise and fall of Dionysus, meaning sometimes it’s necessary for one quality to be set aside so that another may be rooted.
- ex. The irrational needed to be set aside so that the rational could be nurtured
- Surrender to the divine is uncomfortable for the culture because it means crossing over from well-defined roles and worlds into the realm of the gods, where everything is possible and nothing is explained
- The best way to worship god is to be happy
- We do not need to feel suffering or guilty for not doing so
- If the irrational, sensual, spiritual side is repressed, it will come back stronger
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