This experience is also accompanied by a heightened sense of metaphysical awareness and of a sense of transcending a certain threshold вЂ“ despite the fact that limitations of reason and perception forbid direct knowledge of what might exist beyond this border. The sublime, then, refers to an indefinable present moment, at which the ability to express and formulate an adequate depiction collapses. This definition of the sublime contains three important elements: firstly, a transcendental, spiritual essence secondly, a connection with dialectical collapse occurring at the level of the sublime, as traditional separations begin to break down, thus placing limits on reason, expression, and direct perception thirdly, the importance of the eternal now, or the indefinably small вЂњpointвЂќ where sublimity occurs. The moment is religious because it also marks the limits of human conception, the point at which reason gives way to madness, certainty to uncertainty, and security to destruction. True sublimity occurs at вЂњthe pointвЂќ where the distinctions between categories, such as cause and effect, word and thing, object and idea, begin to break down. Shaw, referring to Frances ReynoldsвЂ™s 1785 Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Taste, argues that When it comes to definitions of the sublime, my personal favorite is Philip ShawвЂ™s вЂ“ you might remember it from my post on the eternal now in Gothic fiction. In the Romantic period, a usual expression of the sublime was mountain peaks the realization of something far bigger and older than oneвЂ™s self The Sublime in Literature as a вЂњPointвЂќ Whenever we (vicariously, through the protagonist) experience the fuzzy passage between reason and emotion, between fear and awe, or between puzzlement and understanding, the sublime is there. In simple terms, the sublime in literature is every instance where we reach a threshold of ambiguity. Yet in another way, the sublime is no more than a ghostly reflection вЂ“ and so, itвЂ™s not really prescribing but rather describing. In a way, the sublime in literature is a way of experiencing. Just as the Gothic itself вЂ“ with which the sublime is heavily associated вЂ“ that eludes clear-cut definitions, the sublime is not all that clear to put in a box. The difficulty in comprehending its ins and outs lies squarely in the fluidity of its definition. The sublime in literature (and art in general) is a fascinating but complex concept.