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The week’s question
What truth have you kept that others call a parrot-like way of learning?
I ask this because we must listen to evidence before dismissing the young Negro’s mind. “most Americans answer all queries regarding the Negro a priori”
“To be ignored is the greatest favor shown to it.”
I learned this hard lesson when I lectured at the same hour as another philosopher, only to find my room empty and his crowded. The crowd there did not hate my words; they simply preferred the noise of a man who speaks without knowing what he says. When a man displays true intellect, he strikes a blow against the vanity of those around him, and they retaliate with sullen resentment…
“Whatever pretext we give to our afflictions it is always interest or vanity that causes them.”
I learned this when I watched a rival feign sorrow for my misfortune, only to gain the court’s favor while he secretly rejoiced in my fall. Do not mistake your tears for love, lest you find later that they were bought with nothing but self-love.
“Has vobis epulas habete, lauti Nos offendimur ambulante caena.”
“The whole account appears to me a curious instance of the pliability of the affections in the dog.”
I watched this shift from fear to loyalty when a stray joined a flock. One guard dog made wild beasts retreat, not by force but by changing their view of the sheep. I ask you to watch such moments where kindness alters nature’s hard rules, and see how connection builds power against fear.
“Nothing delighted me so much as this game.
My teacher and I played it for hours at a time. Often everything in the room was arranged in object sentences.”
When I pinned the word girl to my dress, I did not just learn spelling; I saw that names belong to things like water or wood. Let your hands trace every word you speak until the sound fits the shape of the object it names, and you will find…
“If you shun sickness, or death, or poverty, you will run the risk of wretchedness.”
I once saw a man weeping because his leg had swollen from a fever. He called me to ask why I did not comfort him with words. “Comfort him,” he said, “for he is in pain.” I told him that if he wished to be free of pain, he must first learn that the swelling is not his fault. When we run after things outside our control, like health or…
“Cast away from thee opinion, and thou art safe.”
“In desire and in aversion, that you may not be disappointed in your desire, and that you may not fall into that which you would avoid.”
I saw a man weeping because he lost his reputation, thinking this was his failure. He did not see that the only thing within his power is to desire good things and hate bad ones without attachment. Before nightfall, stop looking at what others say of you and check your own desires to see if they are fixed on things you cannot control.
In answer to Pepys’s question
All the time, every time I write something and it’s available to the public.
I love writing and getting that little or big work out to the world. But I also know that every piece of writing, whatever it is, will soon or later find a critic. And sometimes, that’s no pleasure to read.
“I am glad of an opportunity to express, as far as words can, the love and gratitude I bear him.”
“The scabbard is content to be dull when it protects the keenness of the sword.”
“For my part I should like to stay here all winter or all my life or even all eternity.”
The cold does not frighten me, for I see the frost as a jeweler’s touch that sets the world in crystal light. Yesterday the air turned sharp and sweet, pulling me from my wool blanket toward the open slope where the sun still warmed the stones. I watched a butterfly freeze its wings on a gentian flower, then watch it thaw and take flight again when the shadow passed. This…
“If, for example, any one possessing the power of changing a stone into gold, or a stick into a serpent, should seek to shake the bases of this certitude, it would remain firm and immovable.”
I sat upon the cool floor of my cell in Damascus while the rain tapped against the mud-brick walls. A student brought me news that the sun had turned black above Baghdad, yet my heart…
“An historic sense means a sense so cultured that, in valuing the deserts and merits of its own time, it takes account also of the past.”
Do not judge your present life by the narrow light of today alone; look back to see how much has already been lost or gained. Ask yourself what you would say to a stranger from a century ago, for only then will you know if your actions hold true weight.
“Better to understand your own mind than to understand the corn-market.”
“I argue, that they should be led, by having their understandings cultivated on a large scale, to acquire a rational affection for their country, founded on knowledge.”
I saw girls taught only to charm men while their minds rotted in the dark. They must learn the truth of the world so their love is built on respect rather than mere desire. Go now and study until your heart beats with genuine understanding, not just empty imitation.
“Gentleness is sure to be victorious even in battle, and firmly to maintain its ground.”
“I had just then begun to stammer out my sentiments on paper, and was in a kind of honeymoon of authorship.”
To write with pleasure is to walk into one’s own light without fear of judgment from lords or fools. When the ink flows freely and the mind is unburdened by courtly patronage, we find a liberty that no other art can match. Do not let the world’s clamor steal this morning’s joy before you have finished your thought.
“It is only when the avidyā is removed that this very self comes to us with a wealth which is priceless.”