Why did the old Persians hold the sea holy? Why did the Greeks give it a separate deity, and own brother Jove? Surely all this is not without meaning. And still deeper the meaning of that story of Narcissus, who because he could not grasp the tormenting mild image he saw in the fountain, plunged into it and was drowned. But that same image, we ourselves see in all rivers and oceans. It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life; and this is the key to it all.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on humanity's relationship with the sea and existence, emphasizing the unattainable nature of life.
In this quote, Herman Melville explores the profound significance of the sea and its representation of life's elusive nature. He connects the reverence ancient cultures had for the sea with the story of Narcissus, illustrating that just as Narcissus was captivated yet ultimately lost by the reflection in the water, individuals are often drawn to the beauty and mystery of life, which ultimately remains just out of reach. This underscores a deeper philosophical understanding of existence and the eternal quest for meaning that often leads to both fascination and despair.
In practice
In a speech about the mysteries of life and human ambition.
A good laugh is a mighty good thing, and rather too scarce a good thing; the more's the pity. So, if any one man, in his own proper person, afford stuff for a good joke to anybody, let him not be backward, but let him cheerfully allow himself to spend and be spent in that way. And the man that has anything bountifully laughable about him, be sure there is more in that man than you perhaps think for.
The Marquesan girls dance all over; not only do their feet dance, but their arms, hands, fingers, ay, their very eyes seem to dance in their heads.
Dream tonight of peacock tails, Diamond fields and spouter whales. Ills are many, blessing few, But dreams tonight will shelter you.
If some books are deemed most baneful and their sale forbid, how then with deadlier facts, not dreams of doting men? Those whom books will hurt will not be proof against events. Events, not books should be forbid.
You cannot spill a drop of American blood without spilling the blood of the whole world.... We are not a nation, so much as a world.
Dollars damn me; and the malicious Devil is forever grinning in upon me, holding the door ajar. ... What I feel most moved to write, that is banned - it will not pay. Yet, altogether, write the other way I cannot. So the product is a final hash, and all my books are botches.
All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.
Your idol is shattered in the dust to prove that God's dust is greater than your idol.
I'm certainly well taken care of in terms of food and clothes ... Money has no utility to me beyond a certain point. Its utility is entirely in building an organization and getting the resources out to the poorest in the world.
In discussing Barbarism and Christianity I have actually been discussing the Fall of Rome.
If we have been pleased with life, we should not be displeased with death, since it comes from the hand of the same master.
Nothing weighs on us so heavily as a secret.
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