---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: With the transcendent or supernatural…"
description: "\"With the transcendent or supernatural, they help us contextualize our own lives while we are here on this earth. On a narrative level, as a storyteller..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/339/david-lowery-5497_existential_with-the-transcendent-or-supernatural-th_2586206.jpg"
---

#  With the transcendent or supernatural, they help us…

![“With the transcendent or supernatural, they help us contextualize our own lives while we are here on this earth. On a narrative level, as a storyteller, they are a wonderful tool and technique by which to explore those hopes, those fears, those existential dilemmas that we all face from time to…” quote by David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/339/david-lowery-5497_existential_with-the-transcendent-or-supernatural-th_2586206.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/339/david-lowery-5497_existential_with-the-transcendent-or-supernatural-th_2586206.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/339/david-lowery-5497_existential_with-the-transcendent-or-supernatural-th_2586206.jpg)

> “With the transcendent or supernatural, they help us contextualize our own lives while we are here on this earth. On a narrative level, as a storyteller, they are a wonderful tool and technique by which to explore those hopes, those fears, those existential dilemmas that we all face from time to time.”

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Supernatural elements help us make sense of life and, as storytelling tools, let us explore hopes, fears, and existential questions.

**In simple terms:** Mystical themes aid personal meaning and narrative depth.

Key Takeaway

Use mythic motifs to probe deep issues.

Themes

storytelling existential mythology meaning

Mood

inquisitive inspirational

Type

philosophical educational

When to use this quote

- novel writing
- personal journaling
- public speaking

Key Concepts

narrative therapy creative writing film making

Questions to Reflect On

- How can you balance mythic storytelling with realism?
- What personal dilemmas benefit from symbolic exploration?

A Different Perspective

Overreliance on the supernatural can obscure practical solutions.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Existential](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existential/) [Face](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/face/) [Help](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/help/) [Hope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hope/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Story](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/story/) [Storyteller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/storyteller/) [Supernatural](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/supernatural/) [Supernatural Help](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/supernatural-help-1819665/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Transcendent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transcendent/) [Transcendent Supernatural](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transcendent-supernatural-1819664/) [Us](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/us/)

## Related quotes

> [“The Transcendent was my morning meal, we had the Eternal at lunch, and I ate a slice of the Infinite at dinner.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/huston-smith/the-transcendent-was-my-morning-meal-we-had-the-eternal-at-lunch-and/)

[Huston Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/huston-smith/)

> [Beauty is transcendent. It is our most immediate experience of the eternal. Think of what it's like to behold a gorgeous sunset or the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stasi-eldredge/beauty-is-transcendent-it-is-our-most-immediate-experience-of-the/)

[Stasi Eldredge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stasi-eldredge/)

> [It is the transcendent (or 'abstract' or 'self-contained') nature of music that the new so called concretism--Pop Art, eighteen-hour slices-of-reality films, musique concrete--opposes. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/igor-stravinsky/it-is-the-transcendent-or-abstract-or-self-contained-nature-of-music/)

[Igor Stravinsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/igor-stravinsky/)

> [Janet Mock's honest and sometimes searing journey is a rare and important look into la vida liminal, one that she manages to negotiate remarkably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raquel-cepeda/janet-mock-s-honest-and-sometimes-searing-journey-is-a-rare-and/)

[Raquel Cepeda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raquel-cepeda/)

> [“Go deeper after your feelings created by your awareness and go into your heart beyond this simple word.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raz-mihal/go-deeper-after-your-feelings-created-by-your-awareness-and-go-into/)

[Raz Mihal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raz-mihal/)

> [After the dead are buried, after the physical pain of grief has become a permanent wound in the soul, then comes the transcendent and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-dubus/after-the-dead-are-buried-after-the-physical-pain-of-grief-has-become/)

[Andre Dubus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-dubus/)

> [Enough, if something from our hands have power To live, and act, and serve the future hour; And if, as toward the silent tomb…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-wordsworth/enough-if-something-from-our-hands-have-power-to-live-and-act-and/)

[William Wordsworth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-wordsworth/)

> [An encounter with god or with the transcendent, per se, can only occur when we experience the violent side of god.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/an-encounter-with-god-or-with-the-transcendent-per-se-can-only-occur/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [People who reject transcendent authority can no longer persuade one another through rational arguments; everything is reduced to personal opinion. Debates about ideas thus…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-colson/people-who-reject-transcendent-authority-can-no-longer-persuade-one/)

[Charles Colson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-colson/)

> [The thing we long for, that we are For one transcendent moment.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-russell-lowell/the-thing-we-long-for-that-we-are-for-one-transcendent-moment/)

[James Russell Lowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-russell-lowell/)

> [Marx did not recognize that our desire to connect with a transcendent power runs even deeper than our drive for economic satisfaction. Each of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-klein/marx-did-not-recognize-that-our-desire-to-connect-with-a-transcendent/)

[Jeffrey Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-klein/)

> [I cannot escape from the conclusion that the great ages of progress have depended upon a small number of individuals of transcendent ability.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/i-cannot-escape-from-the-conclusion-that-the-great-ages-of-progress/)

[Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/)

> [Plato, the first true pope of philosophy (sorry, Socrates), argued for a World of Forms above the reality-a transcendent plane of perfect essences, pure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/n-d-wilson/plato-the-first-true-pope-of-philosophy-sorry-socrates-argued-for-a/)

[N.D. Wilson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/n-d-wilson/)

> [In the particular dwells the tawdry. In the conceptual dwells the grand, the transcendent, the everlasting. Earthly countries and single malignant boys can go…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lionel-shriver/in-the-particular-dwells-the-tawdry-in-the-conceptual-dwells-the/)

[Lionel Shriver](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lionel-shriver/)

> [But you know the difference between sex and love. And sex can be part of love, but what moves your heart, what's really intimate,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/surya-das/but-you-know-the-difference-between-sex-and-love-and-sex-can-be-part/)

[Surya Das](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/surya-das/)

## More by David Lowery

> [I certainly did not envisage making a Disney movie. The most I hoped for was to be able to pay my bills. I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/i-certainly-did-not-envisage-making-a-disney-movie-the-most-i-hoped/)

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

> [Virginia Woolf's literature really transformed my own ideas about how to formally represent the passage of time and how time affects us. Specifically, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/virginia-woolf-s-literature-really-transformed-my-own-ideas-about-how/)

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

> [There is a palpable sense of history in the homes that I choose to occupy. I think that's one of the reasons I gravitate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/there-is-a-palpable-sense-of-history-in-the-homes-that-i-choose-to/)

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

> [It's something that you pick up at a history class in college, the idea that history and time is something to which we can't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/it-s-something-that-you-pick-up-at-a-history-class-in-college-the/)

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

> [The relationships I've had with animals are often some of the most profound. That's why you cry when a dog dies in a movie.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/the-relationships-i-ve-had-with-animals-are-often-some-of-the-most/)

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

> [I find myself very attached to the places I live, and moving is never easy for me.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/i-find-myself-very-attached-to-the-places-i-live-and-moving-is-never/)

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

> [I have a repository of titles I like in my head, and I am always looking for a movie that I can put one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/i-have-a-repository-of-titles-i-like-in-my-head-and-i-am-always/)

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

> [No two people who make a movie on a certain budget scale are going to achieve the same thing because it just depends on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/no-two-people-who-make-a-movie-on-a-certain-budget-scale-are-going-to/)

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

> ['Ain't Them Bodies Saints' wound up becoming a love story even though it was not initially meant to be one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/ain-t-them-bodies-saints-wound-up-becoming-a-love-story-even-though/)

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

> [I love film criticism as an art. I think it's a very important thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/i-love-film-criticism-as-an-art-i-think-it-s-a-very-important-thing/)

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

> [I love horror films. I love ghost movies and haunted-house movies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/i-love-horror-films-i-love-ghost-movies-and-haunted-house-movies/)

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

> [I think, with 'St. Nick,' when you're working with a smaller budget, you have fewer risks involved. You're able to take chances with style…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/i-think-with-st-nick-when-you-re-working-with-a-smaller-budget-you/)

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

> [I find everything in life a little bit sad, but I also find a great deal of hope everywhere I look.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/i-find-everything-in-life-a-little-bit-sad-but-i-also-find-a-great/)

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

> [I'm sentimental to a fault.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/i-m-sentimental-to-a-fault/)

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

> [I guess you can't really turn a camera on outside in Texas without getting Terrence Malick comparisons.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/i-guess-you-can-t-really-turn-a-camera-on-outside-in-texas-without/)

[David Lowery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

[Explore all 100 David Lowery quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/)

## More Existential quotes

> [When we watch a play under the standard circumstances, we've lost volition and time is passing. A still play feels like an existential threat.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-greenberg/when-we-watch-a-play-under-the-standard-circumstances-we-ve-lost/)

[Richard Greenberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-greenberg/)

> [Sometimes it has to do with other longings that are much more existential. Sometimes you go elsewhere not because you are not liking the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-perel/sometimes-it-has-to-do-with-other-longings-that-are-much-more/)

[Esther Perel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-perel/)

> [No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/no-shepherd-and-one-herd-everybody-wants-the-same-everybody-is-the/)

[Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/)

> [I think we should be very careful about artificial intelligence. If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elon-musk/i-think-we-should-be-very-careful-about-artificial-intelligence-if-i/)

[Elon Musk](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elon-musk/)

> [The argument that won the Brexit campaign is the one that said take back control... which is another way of saying we want to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frans-timmermans/the-argument-that-won-the-brexit-campaign-is-the-one-that-said-take/)

[Frans Timmermans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frans-timmermans/)

> [“When it has finished saying it, it no longer is. The longer it is in saying it, the more it can say it at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-ponge/when-it-has-finished-saying-it-it-no-longer-is-the-longer-it-is-in/)

[Francis Ponge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-ponge/)

> [We have an existential crisis, which is the climate crisis. Canada is one of the laggards in the industrialized world. Our record is terrible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-may/we-have-an-existential-crisis-which-is-the-climate-crisis-canada-is/)

[Elizabeth May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-may/)

> [Did television execs have souls? Now, that was an existential question and a half.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-r-ward/did-television-execs-have-souls-now-that-was-an-existential-question/)

[J.R. Ward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-r-ward/)

> [“So am I dead? How many kinds of living and dead and living dead and dead living had I been in just these few…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joan-frances-turner/so-am-i-dead-how-many-kinds-of-living-and-dead-and-living-dead-and/)

[Joan Frances Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joan-frances-turner/)

> [I can negate everything of that part of me that lives on vague nostalgias, except this desire for unity, this longing to solve, this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-camus/i-can-negate-everything-of-that-part-of-me-that-lives-on-vague/)

[Albert Camus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-camus/)

> [I write very rarely. Only, in fact, when the sheet of paper suffers an existential crisis and threatens, if I don't surrender to it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiki-dimoula/i-write-very-rarely-only-in-fact-when-the-sheet-of-paper-suffers-an/)

[Kiki Dimoula](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiki-dimoula/)

> [Michael Jackson is an extremely productive ethnographer, a serious reader of phenomenological and existential philosophy, and a remarkable writer at a level that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-kleinman/michael-jackson-is-an-extremely-productive-ethnographer-a-serious/)

[Arthur Kleinman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-kleinman/)

> [If I had to choose between the two ways of approaching the deity, I should prefer the existential relational way, to the abstract philosophical…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-moore-cross/if-i-had-to-choose-between-the-two-ways-of-approaching-the-deity-i/)

[Frank Moore Cross](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-moore-cross/)

> [Huge public spending and borrowing in the face of an existential crisis is clearly the right thing to do, as is putting people's health…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-lucas/huge-public-spending-and-borrowing-in-the-face-of-an-existential/)

[Caroline Lucas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-lucas/)

> [The ability to forget the past enables people to free themselves gradually from the pain they once suffered; but it also often makes them…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lu-xun/the-ability-to-forget-the-past-enables-people-to-free-themselves/)

[Lu Xun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lu-xun/)

[Browse all 616 Existential quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/existential/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "With the transcendent or supernatural, they help us contextualize our own lives while we are here on this earth. On a narrative level, as a storyteller, they are a wonderful tool and technique by which to explore those hopes, those fears, those existential dilemmas that we all face from time to time.",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "David Lowery"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/with-the-transcendent-or-supernatural-they-help-us-contextualize-our/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Existential"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/with-the-transcendent-or-supernatural-they-help-us-contextualize-our/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/339/david-lowery-5497_existential_with-the-transcendent-or-supernatural-th_2586206.jpg",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/339/david-lowery-5497_existential_with-the-transcendent-or-supernatural-th_2586206.jpg",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/339/david-lowery-5497_existential_with-the-transcendent-or-supernatural-th_2586206.jpg",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“With the transcendent or supernatural, they help us contextualize our own lives while we are here on this…” — David Lowery",
                "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
                "creator": {
                    "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
                }
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "BreadcrumbList",
            "itemListElement": [
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 1,
                    "name": "Home",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 2,
                    "name": "Quotes",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 3,
                    "name": "David Lowery",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lowery/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "With the transcendent or supernatural, they...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/with-the-transcendent-or-supernatural-they-help-us-contextualize-our/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lowery/with-the-transcendent-or-supernatural-they-help-us-contextualize-our/#breadcrumb"
        },
        {
            "@type": "WebSite",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "publisher": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization"
            }
        },
        {
            "@type": "Organization",
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization",
            "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes",
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/",
            "logo": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png",
                "width": 512,
                "height": 512
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
