"Nor is the lively impression, even in this case, the cause of belief, but only the occasion of it, by diverting the attention of the mind, from itself and its situation."

— Home, Henry, Lord Kames (1696-1782)


Place of Publication
Edinburgh
Publisher
Printed by R. Fleming
Date
1751
Metaphor
"Nor is the lively impression, even in this case, the cause of belief, but only the occasion of it, by diverting the attention of the mind, from itself and its situation."
Metaphor in Context
SOMETIMES, indeed, belief is the result of a lively impression. A dramatic representation is one instance, when it affects us so much, as to draw off the attention from every other object, and even from ourselves. In this situation, we don't consider the actor, but conceive him to be the very man whose character he assumes. We have that very man before our eyes. We perceive him as existing and acting, and believe him to be existing and acting. This belief, however, is but momentary. It vanishes, like a dream, so soon as we are rouzed by any trivial circumstance, to a consciousness of ourselves, and of the place we are in. Nor is the lively impression, even in this case, the cause of belief, but only the occasion of it, by diverting the attention of the mind, from itself and its situation. It is in some such manner, that the idea of a spectre in the dark, which fills the mind, and diverts it from itself, is, by the force of imagination, converted into a reality. We think we see and hear it. We are convinced of it, and believe the matter to be so.
(pp. 226-227)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in ECCO-TCP
Citation
At least 3 entries in ESTC (1751, 1758, 1779).

Lord Kames, Essays on the Principles of Morality and Natural Religion: in Two Parts. (Edinburgh: Printed by R. Fleming, for A. Kincaid and A. Donaldson, 1751). <Link to ECCO-TCP>
Date of Entry
09/16/2013

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.