view from above, n.All

View from above (n.) pictures ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠your life as the gods on Olympus might see it — and the wider the frame, the quieter the passions.

View from above (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠the soul's flight over the whole cosmos, from which human affairs look tiny and death looks like nothing to fear.

The View from above (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not eros and memory carrying the soul to another world, but a gaze so high it takes in the world's order, the tiny space we fill and the short time we stay.

The View from above (n.) does ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not lift us out of this world into another: it steps back to the point from which God sees the world, and from there we keep the world, and ourselves in it, in sight.

The View from above (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠one of the most fundamental spiritual experiences in Western culture — and a lasting subject of its painting.