"My magnificent master and great friend of many years ago, Heinrich Zimmer (1890-1943), had a saying:
'The best things can’t be told: the second best are misunderstood.'
The second best are misunderstood because, as metaphors poetically of what cannot be told, they are misread prosaically as referring to tangible facts."
– Joseph Campbell
The Inner Reaches of Outer Space (p. xxiii)
Image: Pieter Lastman's Jonah and the Whale, 1621. Public domain.
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6 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.Good post, how many of us from our own personal experiences realize the best can't be told. But we seek sometimes for the one who can tell it, only to come full circle and know it is within.
silverotter11
Level 9
Nov 16, 2019
1
@silverotter11 Well said. I think part of the human condition, or, perhaps, an imperative of the human condition, is to "try" to put the indescribable into words or art... no matter how short the words fall. With practice, each individual gets better at it every time they try.
I'd pose that working toward clearer communication about the indescribable, through words, or more broadly through any human created pieces trying to display the indescribable has certainly brought us to every milestone of humanity... shakespeare to Kid A.... Cave art to the Sistine Chapel.
Great post ... there's a reward in looking for deeper, down-to-earth meanings of symbolism.
AnonySchmoose
Level 8
Nov 16, 2019
1
Did Lastman give his painting that title ?. or was it added later ?. The painting is not of a whale but a large fish as stated in the biblical story. Did they even know that whales were mamals in the early 17th century ?.
Moravian
Level 8
Nov 16, 2019
1
Great question and I don't know the answer.
No I think that they became mammals much later, probably about the time Darwin published, but there is certainly a really fun chapter about the issue, probably a spoof, in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, 1851. So the debate about whether they were fish or not, was certainly on going then.
As someone who has tried to be a writer, and who loves Joseph Campbell, I really love this.
Tomfoolery33
Level 9
Nov 16, 2019
1
I thought it was especially lovable.
Welly well!! I have a song for you that quite effectively turns this quote into lyrics...with some sick guitar tone.
APaleBlueDot
Level 7
Nov 15, 2019
3
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