The Aura of the Moon

Think of the difference between being in person, witnessing and experiencing the one and only mona lisa, and merely seeing a picture of it. Benhemin would say that what we're noticing is missing is what he calls the aura of a moment or a piece of art work. While it rests on a summer's noon, to trace a range of mountains on the horizon, or a branch that throws its shadow on the observer until the moment or the hour, become part of their appearance. This is what it means to breathe the aura of those mountains or that branch.