A young man sees a sunset and, unable to understand or
to express the emotion that it raises in hint, he concludes that it 【M1】______
must be the gateway to a world that lies beyond. It is difficult
for any of us in moments of tense aesthetic experience to resist 【M2】______
the suggestion that we are catching a glimpse of a light that
shines down to us from a different realm of existence. And, though
the gleams blind and dazzle, but do they convey a hint of beauty 【M3】______
and serenity greater than we have known or imagined？ Greater too
than we can describe; for language, which was discovered to 【M4】______
convey the meanings of this world, cannot readily be fitted to the uses of another.
That all great art has this strength of suggesting a world 【M5】______
beyond is undeniable. In some moods Nature shares with it. There 【M6】______
is no sky in June so blue that it does not point forward a bluer sky, 【M7】______
no sunset so beautiful that it does not waken the vision of a
greater beauty. Is this world merely a bad joke, like a vulgar flare
among the cool radiance of the stars, and existence an empty 【M8】______
laugh braying across the mysteries？ Are these intimations of a
something behind and beyond evil humor born of indigestion, or
whimsies sent by the devil to mock and madden us？ If, in a word,
beauty means something, we must not seek to interpret the
meaning. If we glimpse the unutterable, it is unwise to try to utter
it, or should we seek to invest with significance that which we 【M9】______
cannot grasp. Beauty in term of our human meanings is 【M10】______
meaningless.
【M1】