Myth, Metaphor, and the Limits of Language
Posted on: Jan 14, 2016
Tuesday, February 23 – 4 p.m. – Location TBD
“It is impossible to say just what I mean”
The above quote from T. S. Eliot expresses something we all have experienced—an intuition that we can’t put into words. Some of our deepest feelings and thoughts seem inexpressible: thoughts about God or feelings of love. This problem is intrinsic to the human condition. Through the ages, philosophers, mystics, poets and literati have struggled to express the inexpressible. This impulse has given birth to myth, metaphor and other forms of symbolic representation. From Plato through Christian mysticism to Robert Frost, myth and metaphor have imaged forth some of humanity’s deepest intuitions, when discursive language fails. Join us as we sample various attempts to put intuitive knowing into language through philosophy, theology, poetry, and literature through the ages.