“The Numinous”
It’s from the Latin “numen” meaning a nod or beckoning, particularly the nod of the Gods of ancient myth. It was rediscovered and brought into western thinking by the German Philosopher/Theologian Rudolf Otto in his book “The Holy” (“Das Heilige”) first published in 1917. Otto began a shift away from the rationalism and speculative side of the enlightenment and more toward an “irrational” side of religious understanding; a sense of “power” and “mystery” and a …
