A line runs from the meditations of the heart to the words of the mouth. The meditations are not clear to us until the mouth utters its words. If what the mouth utters is unclear or foolish or mendacious, it must be that the meditations are the same. But the line runs both ways. The words of the mouth will become the meditations of the heart, and the habit of loose talk loosens the fastenings of our understanding.
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It is not love of self but hatred of self which is at the root of the troubles that afflict read more
It is not love of self but hatred of self which is at the root of the troubles that afflict our world.
Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor.
Being intelligent is not a felony. But most societies evaluate it as at least a misdemeanor.
The unphilosophical majority among men are the ones most helplessly dependent on their era's dominant ideas. In times of crises read more
The unphilosophical majority among men are the ones most helplessly dependent on their era's dominant ideas. In times of crises these men need the guidance of some kind of theory; but, being unfamiliar with the field of ideas, they do not know that alternatives to the popular theories are possible. They know only what they have always been taught.
Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of read more
Our species is the only creative species, and it has only one creative instrument, the individual mind and spirit of a man. Nothing was ever created by two men. There are no good collaborations, whether in music, in art, in poetry, in mathematics, in philosophy. Once the miracle of creation has taken place, the group can build and extend it, but the group never invents anything. The preciousness lies in the lonely mind of a man.
Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.
Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
Courage is not a virtue or value among other personal values like love or fidelity. It is the foundation that read more
Courage is not a virtue or value among other personal values like love or fidelity. It is the foundation that underlies and gives reality to all other virtues and personal values. Without courage our love pales into mere dependency. Without courage our fidelity becomes conformism.
Because we do not understand the brain very well we are constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a read more
Because we do not understand the brain very well we are constantly tempted to use the latest technology as a model for trying to understand it. In my childhood we were always assured that the brain was a telephone switchboard. ('What else could it be?') I was amused to see that Sherrington, the great British neuroscientist, thought that the brain worked like a telegraph system. Freud often compared the brain to hydraulic and electro-magnetic systems. Leibniz compared it to a mill, and I am told some of the ancient Greeks thought the brain functions like a catapult. At present, obviously, the metaphor is the digital computer.
To the creative individual all experience is seminal- all events are equidistant from new ideas and insights...
To the creative individual all experience is seminal- all events are equidistant from new ideas and insights...
