July 28, 2003
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The Transcendent
Signified, Part II -
A sequel to my recent entries
The Transcendent Signified and
Catholic Tastes
From a July 28 New York Times story on a controversy over the Latin Mass:
“Granted, most of the people don’t understand Latin,” he said, “yet they understand its evocation of the transcendent.”
– Father John A. Perricone
From the excellent site
Quotations on Sound,
the Name, and the Word:
Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
Part 2: Interviews with Bill Moyers –
Campbell: “We want to think about God. God is a thought. God is a name. God is an idea, but its reference is to something that transcends all thinking. The ultimate mystery of being is beyond all categories of thought. My friend Heinrich Zimmer of years ago used to say, ‘The best things can’t be told,’ because they transcend thought. ‘The second best are misunderstood,’ because those are the thoughts that are supposed to refer to that which can’t be thought about, and one gets stuck in the thoughts. ‘The third best are what we talk about.’ And myth is that field of reference, metaphors referring to what is absolutely transcendent.”
Moyers: “What can’t be known or can’t be named except in our own feeble attempt to clothe it in language.”
Campbell: “And the ultimate word in our language for that which is transcendent is God.”
