Another day, another word. Today’s is:
Anoesis
In case, like me, you’re wondering how to pronounce that before you can even think about what it might mean, the answer is, roughly, anno-eesis. And it’s a smart word for a situation most people have been in at one time or another: “n (pl anoeses) sensation or emotion not accompanied by understanding of it. [Gr. anoia lack of understanding] •anoetic adj“. That’s from Chambers (2008).
Pictures on Google Images (which I can’t show you because they’re copyright, but just type “anoesis” into the Google Images search bar and they’ll come up) give the definition as “A state of mind consisting of pure sensation or emotion without cognitive content”, and apparently you can get T-shirts with the word and definition emblazoned on them.
www.merriam-webster.com/medical defines anoesis as “consciousness that is pure passive receptiveness without understanding or intellectual organization of the materials presented”. “Pure passive receptiveness” sounds like nirvana to me.
Anoesis is what happens when you fall in love at first sight (I imagine – I never have); when something suddenly makes you smile or cut a couple of dance steps for no reason; when you suddenly want to shout and sing for pure joy. Equally, it’s the “black dog” of depression* landing and the child’s wail of “nothing nice will ever happen again!”
It’s what happens to most people at most musical events, or when visiting a spectacular building or seeing a great picture for the first time: you feel something, often quite strongly, but you can’t put what you feel into words. Maybe later, when you’ve had time to make sense of it – but by then you’re out of anoesis and into understanding.
So by definition anoesis is a fleeting sensation that can’t be recaptured.
The stuff of poetry.
Back tomorrow with another word. Meanwhile do please comment below.
*It was Winston Churchill who called depression the “black dog”; he suffered regular bouts. This piece was written on the 50th anniversary of the great man’s funeral.