Because no man can ever feel his own identity aright except his eyes be closed; as if darkness were indeed the proper element of our essences, though light be more congenial to our clayey part.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that true understanding of oneself may only come through introspection, often in darkness, rather than through the external light that represents societal perception.
Herman Melville's quote reflects on the nature of self-identity and the tension between internal and external perceptions. It suggests that a person cannot fully grasp their essence or true self unless they turn inward, often symbolized by 'closing the eyes' or looking into darkness. This metaphor indicates that while external validation (the 'light') is appealing, the real understanding of one’s identity requires a deeper, often uncomfortable, journey into the self (the 'darkness').
In practice
During a personal development workshop, the facilitator quoted Melville to emphasize the importance of looking within.
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.
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.
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.
I am a Christian and a Democrat, that's all.
Perhaps looking out through big baby eyes - if we could - would not be as revelatory experience as many imagine. We might see a world inhabited by objects and people, a world infused with causation, agency, and morality - a world that would surprise us not by its freshness but by its familiarity.
God seeks comrades and claims love,_x000D_ _x000D_ The devil seeks slaves and claims obedience.
If you lack the iron and the fizz to take control of your own life, then the gods will repay your weakness by having a grin or two at your expense. Should you fail to pilot your own ship, don't be surprised at what inappropriate port you find yourself docked.
We need myths that will identify the individual not with his local group but with the planet.
Human civilization is not something achieved against nature; it is rather the outcome of the working of the innate qualities of man.
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