"The human mind is often, and I think it is for the most part, in a state of neither pain nor pleasure, which I call a state of indifference."
Aptly describing the baseline of human consciousness, Burke unwittingly admits his own commitment to health. He possesses a largely "normal" experience of his mind, which is reflected in a consistent return to a state of disregard, which he calls "indifference." This is not to be confused with apathy but rather an equal pull of positive and negative emotions.
"For there is in mankind an unfortunate propensity to make themselves, their views and their works, the measure of excellence in every thing whatsoever."
As part of an inquiry into human pleasure, Burke casually observes how people tend to prefer their own pretense to others. Whatever the idea or opinion in question, a person will assume the conclusion they have reached on their own is superior to all others. This sort of solipsism is reflected in humanity's history of falsely assuming its own significance. One example is the geocentric conception of the solar system. While people innately place themselves at the center of things, they often fail to miss the relatively of their perspectives.
“Whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain, and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime; that is, it is productive of the strongest emotion which the mind is capable of feeling. . ."
In simple terms, Burke believes "sublime" effectively covers the description of any fear response. These feelings of negative emotion are so profound, despite their various forms, that they overwhelm the mind. They are the most extreme emotions possible.
“The mind of man possesses a sort of creative power on its own; either in representing at pleasure the images of things in the order and manner in which they were received by the senses, or in combining those images in a new manner, and according to a different order. This power is called imagination.”
No discussion of beauty and the sublime would be complete without a chapter upon the human capacity to reproduce and invent beauty. Burke attributes this phenomenon to the unique experience of having lived. Every person possesses the power of imagination because each has been witness to beauty, emotion, and horror in their lives already. The special part, however, is a person's ability to reimagine these images and experiences into entirely new creations, modeled after reality but divergent.
