An Introductory Exploration of Depth as a Basic, Spiritual Quality
Abstract
INTRODUCTION What is our aim here? Our aim is to catch an experience intellectually; to relive in a more full way, something which we generally grasp only vaguely. We are trying to get to a fundamental reality, one which may be expressed or formulated by the words "depth," "deep," etc. But of course these words may point to other things as well; hence we ask the reader to keep an open mind. We do not refer, for instance, to the meaning of depth as it is used in the term, "Depth Psychology." There is an interesting and important relation between these two connotations, discernible once we understand each in its own right and as fully distinct from the other. Moreover, our contact with this reality is far from restricted to our use of these words. Depth is a basic quality which is always, in some way, directly related to the content of our experience - our total experience, of course, not merely what is called "sense experience." In fact, our experience as persons rests as the foundation of this inquiry. We shall try to focus on it philosophically, in wonder. We shall try to gather together what is scattered in our experience through time, through space, through differences of objects, etc. "We shall . . ." , I say, because this analysis, though it aims exclusively at what is universally true, for all men, cannot but start from the experience of the single person. Hence the reader must go into his own experience, find there the things the author can only point to. He must make these things his own - experience them in his own way and complement them. He is urged to go further, to fill in some of the many, many gaps. In short, the contact with this reality is a common undertaking of author and reader.
Subject Area
Philosophy
Recommended Citation
Schwarz, Stephen D, "An Introductory Exploration of Depth as a Basic, Spiritual Quality" (1958). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI28673379.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI28673379
