Ineffability

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Quotations

"Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent." — Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Wittgenstein

Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian-United Kingdom philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language....

"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; the name that can be named is not the eternal name." — the Tao Te Ching

Tao Te Ching

The Tao Te Ching or Dao De Jing , originally known as Laozi or Lao tzu , is a Chinese classic text. Its name comes from the opening words of its two sections: ? d?o "way," Chapter 1, and ? d? "virtue," Chapter 38, plus ? jing "classic." According to tradition, it was written around the 6th century...

"What cannot be spoken in words, but that whereby words are spoken." — Keno Upanishad

"We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all." — Douglas Adams

Douglas Adams

Douglas Noel Adams was an England author, dramatist and musician. He is best known as the author of the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series....
 in Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is a humorous fantasy detective novel by Douglas Adams, first published in 1987. It is described on its cover as a "thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic"....

"I'm in the business of effing the ineffable." — Alan Watts

Alan Watts

Alan Wilson Watts was a United Kingdom philosopher, writer, speaker, and student of comparative religion. He was best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Asian philosophies for a Western culture audience....

"You can't second guess ineffability, I always say." — Aziraphale in Good Omens

Good Omens

Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch is a fantasy novel written in collaboration between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman....

Things said to be ineffable

Things said to be essentially incommunicable

• The nature of qualia
  Qualia
  
  The plural word 'Qualia' , singular 'quale' , from the Latin for ?what sort? or ?what kind?, is a term of art used in philosophy for sensory occurrences of all kinds....
   (sensory experiences), such as colors or flavors
• The nature of dreams
• The nature of emotions (with love
  Love
  
  Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection and attachment . The word wikt:en:love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states, and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure to intense interpersonal attraction....
   being a prominent example)
• The nature of religious experience
  Religious experience
  
  Religious experience is a subjective experience where an individual reports contact with a transcendence , an encounter or union with the Divinity....
  s, e.g. Søren Kierkegaard
  Søren Kierkegaard
  
  S?ren Aabye Kierkegaard was a prolific 19th century Denmark philosopher and theologian. Kierkegaard strongly criticised both the Hegelianism of his time, and what he saw as the empty ceremony of the Church of Denmark....
  's analysis of Abraham
  Abraham
  
  Abraham is a man featured in the Book of Genesis and an important figure in several monotheistic religions. Judaism, Christianity and Islam traditions regard him as the founding Patriarchs of the Israelites, Ishmaelites and Edomite peoples....
   in Fear and Trembling
  Fear and Trembling
  
  Fear and Trembling is an influential philosophical work by S?ren Kierkegaard, published in 1843 under the pseudonym Johannes de Silentio ....
  , Problemata III, and in particular the mystic
  Mysticism
  
  Mysticism is the pursuit of communion with, Unio Mystica with, or conscious awareness of an ultimate reality, divinity, Spirituality, or God through direct experience, intuition, or insight....
  's realization
  Realization
  
  Realization is generally understood in financial circles as the point at which revenue is recognized, typically through a transaction which involves the exchange of an asset, product, or service for cash or its equivalents....
   of nonduality
• The near-death experience
• The experience of birth
  Birth
  
  Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring . The offspring is brought forth from the mother. Different forms of birth are oviparity, vivipary or Ovoviviparity....
  
• The psychedelic experience
  Psychedelic experience
  
  A 'psychedelic experience' is characterized by the perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ordinary restraints....
   is largely considered ineffable to psychologists, philosophers and psychonauts
  Psychonaut
  
  A psychonaut is a person who experiences intentionally induced altered states of consciousness in an attempt to investigate his or her mind, and possibly address spiritual questions, through direct experience....
   alike
• The musical experience, following Theodor Adorno, Vladimir Jankélévitch
  Vladimir Jankélévitch
  
  Vladimir Jank?l?vitch was a French philosophy and musicologist.Association Vladimir Jank?l?vitch, 48 rue de Fresnes L'Hay-les-Roses France....
  , among others
• The human
  Human
  
  A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
   soul
  Soul
  
  In many religions and parts of philosophy, the soul is the immaterial part of a person. It is usually thought to consist of one's thoughts and Personality psychology, and can be synonymous with the spirit, mind or self....
   (see also sentience
  Sentience
  
  Sentience is the ability to feel or perceive subjectivity. It is an important concept in philosophy, particularly in the philosophy of animal rights and in eastern philosophy, as well as in science fiction and the study of artificial intelligence, although in each of these fields the term is used slightly differently....
   and the hard problem of consciousness
  Hard problem of consciousness
  
  The term hard problem of consciousness, coined by David Chalmers, refers to the difficult problem of explaining why we have qualitative Consciousness#Phenomenal and access consciousness....
  )
• The name of a god or gods, in some religions
• The Dao
  Tao
  
  Tao is a concept found in Taoism, Confucianism, and more generally in ancient Chinese philosophy. While the character itself translates as 'way', 'path', or 'route', or sometimes more loosely as 'doctrine' or 'principle', it is used philosophically to signify the fundamental or true nature of the world....
  

Things said to be incommunicable due to incomprehensibility

• The pre-big bang
  Big Bang
  
  The Big Bang is the physical cosmology model of the initial conditions and subsequent development of the universe supported by the most comprehensive and accurate explanations from current scientific method and observation....
   universe
• The size of the universe
• Pre-birth
• Post-death
  Death
  
  Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
  
• The concept of Infinity
  Infinity
  
  Infinity comes from the Latin infinitas or "unboundedness." It refers to several distinct concepts – usually linked to the idea of "without end" – which arise in philosophy, mathematics, and theology....
  
• A square
  Square (geometry)
  
  In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular polygon with four equal sides and four equal angles . A square with vertices ABCD would be denoted ....
   with 3 sides or any other illogical proposition

Phrases considered too great to be spoken

• The Tetragrammaton
  Tetragrammaton
  
  Tetragrammaton The letters, properly read from right to left , are:|-! Hebrew !! Letter name !! Pronunciation|-valign=top| ?'...
   (YHWH, by orthodox Jewish
  Judaism
  
  Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
   tradition)
• The "Will of Bob" in Mostly Harmless
  Mostly Harmless
  
  For the catch phrase, see Notable phrases from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyMostly Harmless is a novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series....
  , part of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
  
  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a Comic science fiction series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon....