--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We keep thinking of deity as a kind of…" description: "\"We keep thinking of deity as a kind of fact, somewhere; God as a fact. God is simply our own notion of something that is symbolic of transcendence and ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0db/joseph-campbell-300_deities_we-keep-thinking-of-deity-as-a-kind-of-f_2786569.jpg" --- # We keep thinking of deity as a kind of fact, somewhere… ![“We keep thinking of deity as a kind of fact, somewhere; God as a fact. God is simply our own notion of something that is symbolic of transcendence and mystery. The mystery is what’s important.” quote by Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0db/joseph-campbell-300_deities_we-keep-thinking-of-deity-as-a-kind-of-f_2786569.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0db/joseph-campbell-300_deities_we-keep-thinking-of-deity-as-a-kind-of-f_2786569.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0db/joseph-campbell-300_deities_we-keep-thinking-of-deity-as-a-kind-of-f_2786569.jpg) > “We keep thinking of deity as a kind of fact, somewhere; God as a fact. God is simply our own notion of something that is symbolic of transcendence and mystery. The mystery is what’s important.” [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Deity is a symbolic notion of transcendence; the mystery behind it holds significance, not the literal fact. **In simple terms:** God is a symbolic idea of mystery. Key Takeaway Embrace mystery over literalism. Themes spirituality symbolism mystery Mood inquisitive reflective Type philosophical spiritual When to use this quote - faith exploration - creative writing - personal reflection - counseling Key Concepts mythology philosophy religion studies Questions to Reflect On - How does mystery shape your spirituality? - What value does symbolism hold for you? A Different Perspective It may dismiss literal religious belief. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Deities](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deities/) [Deity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deity/) [Deity Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deity-kind-2217296/) [Fact God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fact-god-382356/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [God Fact](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/god-fact-1010758/) [Important](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/important/) [Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kind/) [Mystery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mystery/) [Notion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/notion/) [Symbolic](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/symbolic/) [Thinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking/) [Thinking Deity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/thinking-deity-3348755/) [Transcendence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/transcendence/) [What 's important](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/what-s-important/) ## Related quotes > [“If there is a deity of the kind imagined by votaries of the big mail-order religions such as Christianity and Islam, and if this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-c-grayling/if-there-is-a-deity-of-the-kind-imagined-by-votaries-of-the-big-mail/) [A.C. Grayling](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-c-grayling/) > [What the mysterious is I do not know. I do not call it God because God has come to mean much that I do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jawaharlal-nehru/what-the-mysterious-is-i-do-not-know-i-do-not-call-it-god-because-god/) [Jawaharlal Nehru](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jawaharlal-nehru/) > [“God is a fact to them. God is defined as the basic laws of the universe or cosmos. God is everything that existed the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/e-r-mason/god-is-a-fact-to-them-god-is-defined-as-the-basic-laws-of-the/) [E.R. Mason](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/e-r-mason/) > [Your God is the best God. In fact, he's the only God. All other Gods are ridiculous, made up rubbish. Not yours though. Yours…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ricky-gervais/your-god-is-the-best-god-in-fact-he-s-the-only-god-all-other-gods-are/) [Ricky Gervais](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ricky-gervais/) > [“The whole world does not know God. The energy that runs the world is what people believe to be God. In fact that energy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dada-bhagwan/the-whole-world-does-not-know-god-the-energy-that-runs-the-world-is/) [Dada Bhagwan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dada-bhagwan/) > [What preoccupies us, then, is not God as a fact of nature, but as a fabrication useful for a God-fearing society. God himself becomes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-j-boorstin/what-preoccupies-us-then-is-not-god-as-a-fact-of-nature-but-as-a/) [Daniel J. Boorstin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-j-boorstin/) > [We/I am a son/daughter of God. In fact, we are all expressions/projections of the Infinite Conciousness, which is love, that is what I mean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-icke/we-i-am-a-son-daughter-of-god-in-fact-we-are-all-expressions/) [David Icke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-icke/) > [Geometry, which before the origin of things was coeternal with the divine mind and is God himself (for what could there be in God…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/geometry-which-before-the-origin-of-things-was-coeternal-with-the/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [It's stupid to claim that one human being is special, or picked out by God, when in fact there are hundreds of millions of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-de-bernieres/it-s-stupid-to-claim-that-one-human-being-is-special-or-picked-out-by/) [Louis de Bernieres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-de-bernieres/) > [We don't ask God for too much; in fact, we ask for too little. Turn to Him for everything. Give everything to God.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-williamson/we-don-t-ask-god-for-too-much-in-fact-we-ask-for-too-little-turn-to/) [Marianne Williamson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-williamson/) > [No authority can save us, no beliefs. If there is a God, all can find Him. No one needs to be told it is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/swami-vivekananda/no-authority-can-save-us-no-beliefs-if-there-is-a-god-all-can-find/) [Swami Vivekananda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/swami-vivekananda/) > [I conceive of God, in fact, as a means of liberation and not a means to control others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-baldwin/i-conceive-of-god-in-fact-as-a-means-of-liberation-and-not-a-means-to/) [James A. Baldwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-baldwin/) > [We must love all facts, not for their consequences, but because in each fact God is there present.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/we-must-love-all-facts-not-for-their-consequences-but-because-in-each/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [The fact that God knows everything does not mean that He is directly causing everything. He respects our freedom at our level. He makes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-george/the-fact-that-god-knows-everything-does-not-mean-that-he-is-directly/) [Francis George](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-george/) > [“The sky is absolutely empty. Beautifully pure and empty. As if the architects and builders would live in all the houses they built! Or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fowles/the-sky-is-absolutely-empty-beautifully-pure-and-empty-as-if-the/) [John Fowles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fowles/) ## More by Joseph Campbell > [If a person does not listen to the demands of their own spiritual and heart life and insists on a certain program, you're going…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/if-a-person-does-not-listen-to-the-demands-of-their-own-spiritual-and/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [The last act in the biography of the hero is that of the death or departure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-last-act-in-the-biography-of-the-hero-is-that-of-the-death-or/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-privilege-of-a-lifetime-is-being-who-you-are/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [The eternal principle, which never was born, never will die: it is in all things: it is in you now. You are the wave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-eternal-principle-which-never-was-born-never-will-die-it-is-in/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [How do you find the divine power in yourself? The word enthusiasm means 'filled with a god,' so what makes you enthusiastic? Follow it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/how-do-you-find-the-divine-power-in-yourself-the-word-enthusiasm/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [What we're learning in our schools is not the wisdom of life. We're learning technologies, we're getting information. There's a curious reluctance on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/what-we-re-learning-in-our-schools-is-not-the-wisdom-of-life-we-re/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [ The fall \[of your soul\] from perfection into duality...was naturally followed by the discovery of the duality of good and evil...This is the Biblical… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-fall-of-your-soul-from-perfection-into-duality-was-naturally/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [So that's what destiny is: simply the fulfillment of the potentialites of the energies in your own system.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/so-that-s-what-destiny-is-simply-the-fulfillment-of-the-potentialites/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [Your ego is your embodiment and your self is your potentiality and that's what you listen to when you listen for the voice of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/your-ego-is-your-embodiment-and-your-self-is-your-potentiality-and/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [When you follow your bliss a kind of track opens up, that's always been there, waiting for you. And the life that you should…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/when-you-follow-your-bliss-a-kind-of-track-opens-up-that-s-always/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [The best we can do is lean towards the light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/the-best-we-can-do-is-lean-towards-the-light/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [I think of mythology as the homeland of the muses, the inspirers of art, the inspirers of poetry. To see life as a poem…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/i-think-of-mythology-as-the-homeland-of-the-muses-the-inspirers-of/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [When you are falling --- Dive!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/when-you-are-falling-dive/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [We're all seeking...the rapture of being alive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/we-re-all-seeking-the-rapture-of-being-alive/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [Both the artist and the lover know that perfection is not loveable. It is the clumsiness of a fault that makes a person lovable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/both-the-artist-and-the-lover-know-that-perfection-is-not-loveable-it/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) [Explore all 711 Joseph Campbell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) ## More Deities quotes > [“What does it mean to be a self-conscious animal? The idea is ludicrous, if it is not monstrous. It means to know that one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-becker/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-self-conscious-animal-the-idea-is-ludicrous/) [Ernest Becker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-becker/) > [In the interests of everyone the artist had a responsibility to use his medium well. In the Tibetan culture, most of the paintings are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/in-the-interests-of-everyone-the-artist-had-a-responsibility-to-use/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [About 120 million of us place the big bang 2,500 years after the Babylonians and Sumerians learned to brew beer. If our polls are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-harris/about-120-million-of-us-place-the-big-bang-2-500-years-after-the/) [Sam Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-harris/) > [The moral perfections of the Deity, the more attentively, we consider, the more perfectly still shall we know them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-addison/the-moral-perfections-of-the-deity-the-more-attentively-we-consider/) [Joseph Addison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-addison/) > [No parent can consistently teach faith in Christ who profanes the name of Deity. Profanity is never heard in the well-ordered home. Swearing is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-o-mckay/no-parent-can-consistently-teach-faith-in-christ-who-profanes-the/) [David O. McKay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-o-mckay/) > [It is by far the most elegant worship, hardly excepting the Greek mythology. What with incense, pictures, statues, altars, shrines, relics, and the real…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/it-is-by-far-the-most-elegant-worship-hardly-excepting-the-greek/) [Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/) > [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/) > [When you enter a grove peopled with ancient trees, higher than the ordinary, and shutting out the sky with their thickly inter-twined branches, do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/when-you-enter-a-grove-peopled-with-ancient-trees-higher-than-the/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [This is insane," I said blankly. 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Bahcall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-n-bahcall/) > [Since we have been out of balance so heavily towards the male, it is going to be the feminine energy which will now move…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neale-donald-walsch/since-we-have-been-out-of-balance-so-heavily-towards-the-male-it-is/) [Neale Donald Walsch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/neale-donald-walsch/) > [Death is the inseparable antecedent of life; the seed dies in order to produce the plant, and earth itself is rent asunder and dies…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/albert-pike/death-is-the-inseparable-antecedent-of-life-the-seed-dies-in-order-to/) [Albert Pike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/albert-pike/) > [Hubbard set up the Church of Scientology in Hollywood in 1954 for a reason. He understood that celebrity was increasingly a feature of American…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lawrence-wright/hubbard-set-up-the-church-of-scientology-in-hollywood-in-1954-for-a/) [Lawrence Wright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lawrence-wright/) > [My days were not days of the week, bearing the stamp of any heathen deity, nor were they minced into hours and fretted by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-david-thoreau/my-days-were-not-days-of-the-week-bearing-the-stamp-of-any-heathen/) [Henry David Thoreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-david-thoreau/) [Browse all 455 Deities quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/deities/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "We keep thinking of deity as a kind of fact, somewhere; God as a fact. God is simply our own notion of something that is symbolic of transcendence and mystery. 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