Thought

The Eight Qualities Of The Man Of Understanding

Quintus Curtius Literature, Thought , , ,

One of the first and greatest classics of Arabic prose is the Book of Kalila and Dimna.  It is a collection of fables told with an allegorical purpose, but it is presented with such wisdom, poetic eloquence, and engaging humor as to make it one of the treasures of world literature.  Its pedigree verifies its merit.  The stories it contains were originally derived from a Sanskrit classic called the Panchatantra, but a Persian scholar and translator named Ibn Muqaffa’ (ابن المقفع‎‎), writing around 740 A.D., reworked the stories into something that was entirely original.

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Whether It Is Advisable To Change Religions, Or Remain With An Inherited Faith

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It is well-known that there is great variability in religious practices across the world.  Climate, geography, and historical memory shape the outlook of man; and what may be routine and normal for one, may be seen as anathema to another.  Yet this variability in practices does not mean that morals, or beliefs, are irrelevant; it only means that man has proven himself infinitely creative in adapting customs to environment.

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Avoiding Irritating And Boorish Habits In Conversation

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We are all acquainted with those people who have not sense enough to keep a conversation flowing smoothly.  They have never been taught the conversational arts; they have nothing of consequence to talk about; and they try to compensate for these deficiencies by taxing the patience of their interlocutors.  I have noticed a sharp rise in such boorish behavior in recent years; and it shows every indication of continuing its upward trend.  I felt motivated to write a few lines on this subject, if for no other reason than to record my own displeasure.

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The Sirens Seduced Not With Song Or Pleasure, But With The Prospect Of Knowledge

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Many readers, no doubt, have heard the Homeric fable about the Sirens.  These were the alluring mythical creatures who, by using their advanced powers of song, were able to divert mariners who happened to sail by the rocks they inhabited in the Mediterranean Sea.  Their voices were supposed to be so seductive that sailors could not resist them.  And when they approached the Sirens’ rocks to get a better look, they ran aground and were destroyed.  This, at least, is what the Greek mythologists have told us.

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One Should Avoid Dangerous Places: The Rescue Of Euthymios And His Brethren

Quintus Curtius Literature, Thought , , ,

When considering tales from the lives of the great saints, we should be more mindful of the moral imparted by the story than strictly attentive to the accuracy of its details.  We must take into account the perspective of the writer, his proximity to the events he describes, and his moral purposes.  To do anything less would defeat the purpose of the anecdote.  Yet I am confident that many of the stories related by the biographer of Euthymios the Younger (823 A.D.?–898 A.D.) are based on actual events, and are not the idle speculations of the cloister.  One of these stories we will now relate.

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Euthymios Declares His Life’s Road

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At some point in every man’s life, he must declare the road he wishes to follow.  This statement may be openly verbal, or it may be spoken indirectly, through actions and deeds.  It does not matter how the statement is made:  the point is that it is made, whether the man is aware of it or not.  There exists a need in every human heart to declare itself to the outside world, and this need cannot indefinitely be suppressed.  It must find a voice.

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The Right To Evolve

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Anyone who has ever cleaned out his basement or attic has certainly come across writings or photos from earlier years.  We are likely to wince upon reading things we wrote ten, fifteen, or twenty years ago, to the same degree that we shake our heads in bewilderment at seeing old photos of ourselves.  This is because our minds, and our consciousness, does not remain fixed and unmoved as we age; they are not like the Rock of Gibraltar.  The things we believe when we were younger are not going to be the same things we believe as we get older.  This is natural and predictable; only a fool would refuse to change his views as he aggregates years and worldly experience.

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Ictus Animi: The Smiting Of The Mind

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We are unlikely to arrive at any awareness of things while sitting within the confines of our domestic barricades.  Enlightenment requires perception; perception, sensory input; and sensory input, direct experience with the world of the living outside our familiar habitations.  The leisure of contemplation, and the enticements of philosophical reflection, allow for the refinement and processing of these experiences, but cannot serve as a direct substitute for them; and unlucky is he who deludes himself into believing he has arrived at weighty insights from the contemplation of the four walls around him.

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The Liberation Of The Mind

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From birth we are surrounded by the inherited and imposed belief systems of our environment.  Such systems exert a silent force on our thinking; they channel our behaviors within defined limits, and demarcate the boundaries of conventional thought.  They can become so pervasive that they escape even our own notice.  We should not necessarily see this as an evil, for custom and tradition provide, on balance, a certain predictability and stability that makes for civilized leisure and artistic creation; and society must have some immovable foundation upon which to direct its spires skyward.

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On Idle Or Trifling Speech

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There are some who say that idle talk has no purpose, and should be avoided.  Yet in many cases it serves valuable purposes:  it enables us to test ideas or plans on our friends, and solicit their opinions; it enables us to relieve stress; and it enables us to pass the time in conversational pleasantry.  Not every dialogue needs to have a definite purpose; sometimes the exchange of words themselves becomes a form of relaxation.  The exchange below is taken verbatim from James Boswell’s famous Life of Samuel Johnson.  In the short dialogue between himself and his biographer, Johnson, that great man of English letters, makes the point that it may be well to make idle speech, as long as one does not unduly subscribe to its banalities.

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