Category: Aphorisms and Observations
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The Write-Off
I wrote him off at an early age but then never wrote him back on again. Unjust! But then it is hard to be just even to oneself. And sometimes justice to self requires injustice towards others. Such is our predicament in this dimly-lit slot canyon with unscalable walls and a flash flood coming, but…
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How Strange!
How strange it would be if death were to leave us all in the dark as to the ultimate why and wherefore! How strange if no one knows, no one ever knew, and no one will ever know what it's all about. And not because the Answer is hidden, but because there is none. If…
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“My Conscience is Clear”
You deceive yourself : you cleared it when you should have borne its burden and bite, the just tax for your wrongdoing.
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An Advantage of Childlessness
Our parents and relatives cared about us enough to judge us, sometimes justly, sometimes unjustly. They understood us and they didn't. Their intentions were mainly good, but their misunderstanding was a burden. They were wrapped up in their own lives and troubles; ours were relatively unreal to them. "What do you have to worry about?"…
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Enemies Have Their Uses
You may do your level best to hide your faults and defects, but others will expose them. Even if they do so maliciously they perform a service to those who are open to correction. An enemy is sometimes to be preferred to a friend in tacit collusion with one's moral complacency.
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Claustration
Claustration may be likened to social castration. If voluntary, it often follows upon the insight that social intercourse is idle and unproductive.
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Speaking Truth to Power
When a leftist speaks truth to power, it is not out of respect for truth, but out of respect for the power that he hopes to achieve by using truth-telling as a means to his end.
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It Can’t be Legislated
A law can be legislated, but respect for the rule of law cannot be legislated. In the absence of the latter, positive laws are but tools of the powerful.
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All is Fleeting
The 'is' gladdens; the 'fleeting' saddens. The 'All' reminds us that man is a metaphysical animal.
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Dura lex, sed lex
"The law is hard, but the law is the law." Not to a leftist, however, for whom the law is but an expression of power. Power knows no moral constraint.
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Practical Types
Practical types look down on speculation, but we are not just animals with stomachs. We have eyes and not just in the head. Mundane grubbing and hassling for property and pelf are necessary but if not kept within limits will dim spiritual sight. We are not here to pile up loot and land.
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Why Live a Long Time?
Soul-making in this vale takes a long time.
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Soul Food
People are generally aware of the importance of good nutrition, physical exercise and all things health-related. They understand that what they put into their bodies affects their physical health. Underappreciated is a truth just as if not more important: that what one puts into one's mind affects one's mental and spiritual health. The soul has…
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Good Relations and Deep Relations
Given the limitations of our postlapsarian predicament, good relations with others must needs be limited relations. Familiarity breeds contempt. Propinquity militates against politeness. Conservatives understand that a certain formality in our relations with others, both within and without the family, helps maintain respect. Formality helps keep in check the incivility bred of familiarity. Reserve has…