(Exchange)
As I drove around during my lunch break today, stopping for a quick lunch at the Indian vegetarian restaurant near work, stepping into the drugstore to pick up some cat food, and dropping by my place to deliver it to my hungry cats, I couldn't help wondering about some things.
Massive Attack played on the car CD player, getting to the one song which always skips ("I need to pick up some of that scratch repair stuff" for the fifteenth time going through my head), and I watched the traffic backed up behind the construction on McKinney.
Why is it that the people most actively bent on religion are so often the ones who deal in sadness, jealousy, competition, and ultimately moral bankruptcy? I guess it's a little strong, but it's something that's bugged me for years.
There's an old Taoist saying about only being truly wise when you've discovered that you know nothing. It was echoed at other times, in other places, by Plato and so on, but it seems like it applies to most human virtues.
When I discount my judgment completely, I'm most wise.
When I regret my own lack of compassion, I'm most loving.
When I worry that I talk too much, I'm the best listener.
When I feel the most fear, I'm most courageous.
Ironically, as soon as I realize any of those things, it's a realization of wisdom, which is not wisdom at all, and them I'm starting over back at the beginning, trying not to think about any of it.
Massive Attack played on the car CD player, getting to the one song which always skips ("I need to pick up some of that scratch repair stuff" for the fifteenth time going through my head), and I watched the traffic backed up behind the construction on McKinney.
Why is it that the people most actively bent on religion are so often the ones who deal in sadness, jealousy, competition, and ultimately moral bankruptcy? I guess it's a little strong, but it's something that's bugged me for years.
There's an old Taoist saying about only being truly wise when you've discovered that you know nothing. It was echoed at other times, in other places, by Plato and so on, but it seems like it applies to most human virtues.
When I discount my judgment completely, I'm most wise.
When I regret my own lack of compassion, I'm most loving.
When I worry that I talk too much, I'm the best listener.
When I feel the most fear, I'm most courageous.
Ironically, as soon as I realize any of those things, it's a realization of wisdom, which is not wisdom at all, and them I'm starting over back at the beginning, trying not to think about any of it.