I perceive a necessary gap between seeing and being. I would not be able to have said certain things if I had been under the obligation to unify the word and the deed. As it is I can let my words reach out and net impossible things - things that are impossible for me to do. And this is a way to pay the price for saying or seeing things.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the distinction between thought and action, suggesting that one can envision possibilities beyond their current capabilities.
Norman O. Brown discusses the inherent separation between what we perceive and what we are able to accomplish in life. He argues that the ability to express ideas freely, even those beyond our grasp, allows for a richer imagination and a broader understanding of potential realities. This 'gap' permits us to explore thoughts and concepts that may never translate into action, thus enabling a creative freedom in our expressions that can inspire change or provoke thought.
In practice
In a speech about creativity, one might quote this to emphasize the importance of envisioning new ideas.
Mankind today is still making history without having any conscious idea of what it really wants or under what conditions it would stop being unhappy; in fact what it is doing seems to be making itself more unhappy and calling that unhappiness progress.
Resisting madness is the maddest way of being mad.
The human body is not a thing or substance, given, but a continuous creation. The human body is an energy system which is never a complete structure; never static; is in perpetual inner self-construction and self-destruction; we destroy in order to make it new.
Our true reality is in our identity and unity with all life.
It may be shocking to some people in this country to realize that, without meaning to do so, they hold views in common with Hitler when they preach discrimination against other religious, racial or economic groups.
It is not our sexual preferences, the color of our skin, the language we speak, nor the religion we practice that creates friction, hatred and wars amongst in society. It is our words and the words of our leaders that can create that disparity.
Must not all things at the last be swallowed up in death?
The network told me to get rid of Number One, the woman first lieutenant, and also get rid of 'that Martian fellow'... meaning, of course, Spock. I knew I couldn't keep both, so I gave the stoicism of the female officer to Spock, and married the actress who played Number One. Thank God it wasn't the other way around. I mean Leonard's cute, but...
No one would think he'd make such a beautiful corpse.
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