... It appears to follow from this that a condition must exist
midway between matter and form, between passivity and
activity, and that Beauty transports us into this intermediate
condition. This is the conception of Beauty that the majority
of people actually form for themselves, as soon as they begin
to reflect on her workings, and all experiences do point that
way. But on the other hand nothing is more inconsistent and
contradictory than such a conception, since the distance
between matter and form, between passivity and activity,
between sensation and thought, is infinite, and the two
cannot conceivably be reconciled.
Eighteenth Letter
On the Aesthetic Education of Man
Friedrich Schiller
(Translated by Reginald Snell)
Sculpture in progress
