Augustine called human beings “a great deep” (grande profundum), and if we mean anything at all by the word “Being,” it is that Being is a great deep:

"If by ‘abyss’ we understand a great depth, is not man’s heart an abyss? For what is there more profound than that abyss? Man may speak, may be seen by the operations of their members, may be heard speaking: but whose thought is penetrated, whose heart is seen into? Do you not believe that there is in man a deep so profound as to be hidden even to him in whom it is?"

from On Presence, Variations and Reflections, Ralph Harper, Trinity Press

Note: For many years, I kept a collection of quotations from things I was reading that I wanted to remember and think about. Like the journals I kept for years and years, the quotation collection has languished since I started this blog. But the other day I went back to it and looked through and decided there were a lot worth re-reading and maybe sharing (with a very humble nod to whiskey river, whose collection and sensibility regarding quotations exceeds anyone's) so from time to time I'll post one here, under the category of "They Said".

Comments

[whiskey]

I have the feeling that my sensibilities could not have been challenged by a more worthy opponent!
:)
I am looking forward to seeing more of your private collection!

[beth]

Oh, my, please don't think of me as an opponent! I'm kind of amused to read through my collection, actually, because it represents an earlier version of me. MY challenge is to start adding to it again.

[whiskey]

A worthy opponent! In the highest sense - the very zen sense of the word!
I know what you mean - many things that caught my attention in the past could never catch it now - and sometimes vice versa.

[beth]

OK, I will accept that compliment with grace! A bow to you.

[Natalie]

For a minute there I thought you were quoting me but then realised there's the Big Augustine out there. Funny how taking on an alias gives a feeling of ownership. But like you and whiskey river, I'm not competing!

[Abdul-Walid]

Well, I'm relieved I'm not the only one who had my Augustines mixed up. It took me a moment to realise Beth's post was referring to the less godly of the two.

[Natalie]

Heh heh heh heh.