HOW SYMBOLIC IMAGINATION TRANSFORMS A HILL INTO A SACRED MOUNTAIN. A SHORT INTRODUCTION IN THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF HEIGHTS
HOW SYMBOLIC IMAGINATION TRANSFORMS A HILL INTO A SACRED MOUNTAIN. A SHORT INTRODUCTION IN THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF HEIGHTS

Summary/Abstract: The heights of the mountains have always fascinated the human mind. Associated with wilderness, purity, seclusion and inaccessibility, peaks have always been a powerful symbol of human creative imagination, being invoked in the sacred myths and sacred songs of all peoples. Residence of gods, refuge of ascetics or final destination for pilgrims, covered by forests or only by rocks, the mountain is a concrete example of how people's natural inclination towards mystery and symbolism works. The symbolic associations and the mythical scenarios that have been woven around the mountain heights have started from certain natural qualities. We propose to present the mechanisms by which the physical perception of these qualities is symbolically transfigured and thus acquires the characteristics of the sublime and of the sacred.

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