1

Between the seen and unseen, the seeming and the being, lies the gulf of ignorance - Bruscius Longus

I saw it on message boards on IMDb as a signature of a user. I don't understand what this quote means or is implying.

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
2

Ignorance is not knowing, or even worse not knowing that we do not know.

Gulf has two dictionary meanings:

  1. the geographic meaning of an expanse of sea partially surrounded by land, for example the Persian Gulf or the Gulf of Mexico
  2. More informally a very large deep hole in the ground.

The writer is drawing attention to the difference between what we see (and think we understand) and the real situation, which we do not see, that is the unseen. The gap between the seeing and the being, the gulf between what we perceive and what really is.

So the implication is that the naive or ill-informed person sees something, and does not question it. Not only have they missed some important information, they do not realise that they have missed that information; they are truly ignorant.

Improve this answer
1

This quote is using a metaphor with the word gulf.

A portion of the sea partially enclosed by a more or less extensive sweep of the coast; often taking its name from the adjoining land.

Basically this quote is doing nothing more than describing what ignorance is with a few literary tricks.

Think of what a gulf actually looks like. For instance, the Gulf of Mexico. enter image description here

If the gulf is the ignorance, then the land is the "seen" and "being". It is to say that there is more ignorance than there is seen/being.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.