“Aside from a Pushing World”: Making Space for Beauty in the Classroom

“Good causes are regularly damaged by exorbitant claims for them, and by excesses in their practice.… The good cause, in this case, is the beautiful, which can be apprehended only by standing aside from a pushing world.”1 What does Denis Donoghue mean by this? How might the cause of beauty be furthered by “standing aside” from the world? Why does he think that beauty can indeed be apprehended only by standing aside?