Nick Spencer speaks with Professor emeritus at McGill University, Charles Taylor. 05/11/2024

For many people, many of whom would not call themselves religious or even spiritual, poetry is somehow able to enchant, to inspire, to heal– to give them a glimpse of connection, of transcendence that transforms their life.

Particularly today, in “A secular age” in the West, it is poetry and indeed the arts more widely that often boast the greatest ability convey that sense of connection and transcendence that seems so important and hard–wired in humans.

What is going on here? How does it work? And what does it say about us as human beings?

Buy a copy of Charles Taylor’s book ‘How the World Made the West’ here.

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