Agnostic on Poetic Sentiment

Edited response to conversation elsewhere--

I don't regard sentiment, including religious sentiment, as unreal.

Beliefs, habits of mind, poems, symbols, stories have their definite effects on how people put themselves together by way of their pursuits, their identities, their chosen lifestyles, their encounters with exigencies, opportunities, and vicissitudes.

Were we more sufficiently cyber, our arts and languages may not have acquired their creative-expressive energy and their ability to powerfully direct or influence behavior.

# # #

---

Correspondence and Permissions: James S. Oppenheim

---