In making contact with a work of art, nothing serves so ill as words of criticism: the invariable result is more or less happy misunderstandings. Things are not all so comprehensible and utterable as people would mostly have us believe. Most events are unutterable, consummating themselves in a sphere where word has never trod, and more unutterable than them all are works of art whose life endures by the side of our own that passes away.
Rilke, Rainer Maria. Letters to a Young Poet (p. 11)
It is the individual who is not interested in his fellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest injury to others. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring.
Alfred Adler | What Life Should Mean To You
Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it
Hermann Hesse | Siddhartha
To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate the beauty;
to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded!”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The difference between real material poison and intellectual poison is that most material poison is disgusting to the taste, but intellectual poison, which takes the form of cheap newspapers or bad books, can unfortunately sometimes be attractive.”
Leo Tolstoy, The Calendar of Wisdom
Continue reading “Do You Have To Say Something New?”“People with new ideas, people with the faintest capacity for saying something new, are extremely few in number, extraordinarily so in fact. One thing only is clear, that the appearance of all these grades and sub-divisions of men must follow with unfailing regularity some law of nature. That law, of course, is unknown at present, but I am convinced that it exists, and one day may become known. The vast mass of mankind is mere material and only exists in order by some great effort, by some mysterious process, by means of some crossing of races and stocks, to bring into the world at last perhaps one man out of a thousand with a spark of independence. One in ten thousand perhaps—I speak roughly, approximately—is born with some independence, and with still greater independence one in a hundred thousand. The man of genius is one of the millions, and the great geniuses, the crown of humanity, appear on earth perhaps one in many thousand million. In fact, I have not peeped into the retort in which all this takes place. But there certainly is and must be a definite law, it cannot be a matter of chance. ”
I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone – if possible – Jew, Gentile – black man – white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness – not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
Continue reading “More than machinery we need humanity.”We all want a good life – good health, good food, adequate shelter, a harmonious family, a rewarding career. In short, a life we can enjoy.
For many, this happens to be possible, but for many, it does not. Why is that? What is that makes a difference in lives?
When I came upon Stoicism, I immediately become a fancier. I felt an exalting delight of relief, comfort and joy, for, in many of its concepts, I recognized my own insights. I spent a lot of time reading, thinking and introducing others to the ideas of Stoicism. In many aspects, it is similar to Buddhism, to which I also relate. So, I absorbed all wise words of all these wise men and tried to apply them to soothe my worries, anxieties and fears. Yet, slowly one question started corroding my philosophical delight:
Does Stoicism actually apply to a mother?
Does any philosophy at all apply to a mother?
There are truths so unpleasant that we chose to ignore them. There are truths so apparent that we simply overlook them.
Continue reading “Everything Passes. This Too, Will Pass.”
Marginalia List 