tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3261667525329617372.post2189057685718019960..comments2023-04-16T13:46:36.282-05:00Comments on Minnesota Humanities Center Blog: Joyce Sutphen - Is there hope for the Humanities?Minnesota Humanities Centerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03093685268468714458noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3261667525329617372.post-68408045210981890302015-02-05T13:32:17.726-06:002015-02-05T13:32:17.726-06:00"The humanities are an answer to trouble.&quo..."The humanities are an answer to trouble."<br /><br />This put me in mind of John Stuart Mill, who in his autobiography reports a period of psychological gloom that we would call clinical depression: “At first I hoped that the cloud would pass away of itself; but it did not. … I carried it with me into all companies, into all occupations. Hardly anything had power to cause me even a few minutes oblivion of it. For some months the cloud seemed to grow thicker and thicker.” He saw no way out: “There seemed no power in nature sufficient to begin the formation of my character anew."<br /><br />But then Mill encountered the poetry of William Wordsworth. What Wordsworth did for Mill was open up “the common feelings and common destiny of human beings.” Mill began to feel himself part of the human community again.<br />Patrick Henryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16538941231261989574noreply@blogger.com