Evelyn Underhill Quotes

I have multiplied visions, and used simultudes.

Neither God nor Being nor any other word can define or explain the ineffable reality behind the word, so the only important question is whether the word is a help or a hindrance in enabling you to experience That toward which it points.

The mediator of the inexpressible is the work of art.

Man's ultimate concern must be expressed symbolically, because symbolic language alone is able to express the ultimate.

My 'work' is about seeing not about ideas.

There are unknown forces in nature; when we give ourselves wholly to her, without reserve, she lends them to us; she shows us these forms, which our watching eyes do not see, which our intelligence does not understand or suspect.

I paint to evoke a changing language of symbols, a language with which to remark upon the qualities of our mysterious capacities which direct us toward ultimate reality.

Mysticism, in the narrow sense, implies a specific experience which is foreign to most poets and most men, but on the other hand, it represents an instinct which is a human sine qua non.

My suggestion is that at each state the proper order of operation of the mind requires an overall grasp of what is generally known, not only in formal logical, mathematical terms, but also intuitively, in images, feelings, poetic usage of language, etc.

To see things in the seed, that is genius.

The best leaders... almost without exception and at every level, are master users of stories and symbols.

In my own research when I'm working with equations, I never feel like I really understand what I'm doing if I'm solely relying on the mathematics for my understanding. I need to have a visual picture in my mind. I'm constantly translating from the math to some intuitive mind's-eye picture.

One of the things you do as a writer and as a filmmaker is grasp for resonant symbols and imagery without necessarily fully understanding it yourself.

Every gesture is a gesture from the blood, every expression a symbolic utterance... Everything is of the blood, of the senses.

I think that's what poets try to do: They try to sidestep neurology and go straight to meaning.

We use the vocabulary of light to describe a spiritual experience.

we must not blame our poor symbols if they take forms that seem trivial to us, or absurd, ... however paltry they may be; the nature of our life alone has determined their forms.

It is through symbols that man consciously or unconsciously lives, works and has his being.

I don't like symbolism that hits you over the head. A symbol should not be a cymbal.

Symbolism is no mere idle fancy or corrupt degeneration: it is inherent in the very texture of human life.

We do not know and cannot tell when the spirit is with us. Great talent or small, it makes no difference. We are caught within our own skins, our own sensibilities; we never know if our technique has been adequate to the vision.

The feel of the experience is the important thing, not the ability to verbalize or analyze it.

The greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor. This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances.

It has always been the prime function of mythology and rite to supply the symbols that carry the human spirit forward.

Symbols are specific acts or figures, while myths develop and elaborate these symbols into a story which contains characters and several episodes. The myth is thus more inclusive. But both symbol and myth have the same function psychologically; they are man's way of expressing the quintessence of his experience - his way of seeing his life, his self-image and his relations to the world of his fellow men and of nature - in a total figure which at the same moment carries the vital meaning of this experience.