A man is only a man. If he tries to live like an angel, he may end up a hypocrite attempting the impossible. A man ought to live up to his highest possibilities. But what they are and where they lie is unknown until he seeks them out, risking hypocrisy as he does so. There is the hypocrisy of those who make no attempt to practice what they preach. And there is the hypocrisy of those who have the will to practice what they preach but cannot practice it because their ideals are too lofty for them.
Category: Aphorisms and Observations
Leftists as Politically Retromingent
A retromingent is an animal that urinates backwards.
Posturing as 'progressive,' the leftist pisses on the past, seeking to erase its memory by destroying monuments and redacting the historical record. There is no piety in the leftist, no reverence. Try using those words at a Manhattan or Georgetown cocktail party and see what happens.
This political retromingency helps explain the leftists' lack of respect for language.
Related: On Reverence
Stoicism Nolens Volens
One innocent of Epictetus and Seneca may yet become a Stoic of sorts just by living, and the more so the longer he lives.
To Exemplify Virtues . . .
. . . more than suffices unto the signalling thereof.
Friendship and Enmity
One difference between the two is that friendship is mutual: A and B are not friends unless A is B's friend, and B is A's. Not so with enmity. It suffices for A and B to be enemies that just one party be the enemy of the other.
Political Circularity
The Democrats, under party discipline, circle the wagons.
The Republicans, with their obstructionist 'mavericks,' form a circular firing squad.
The Libertarians, bent on irrelevance, engage in a 'circle jerk.'
Like a Faraday Cage
Our 24-7, narcissistic, chit-chat connectivity is like a Faraday cage shielding us from influences from beyond the human horizon. But the comparison breaks down: the influences from beyond are benign unlike the electrostatic and electromagnetic signals that threaten our 'devices.'
A Groundless Stereotype About Stereotypes
Not all stereotypes are negative; some are positive. And not all stereotypes lack a fundamentum in re; some are based in reality.
It is a stereotype both negative and without a foundation in reality that all stereotypes lack a foundation in reality.
On Travel
A man does not escape his trials by travel. He merely gives them a change of venue.
Friendships Superficially Satisfying
I had known him for years. Our friendship was an acquaintanceship that remained on the surface. Never having gone deep, it never drifted toward the hazards the deep waters hide: the differences that most truly define and distinguish us, but also oppose us to others. And so when he died I could not bring to mind a false word, a sarcastic expression, a competitive tension, or a joke that hid a jab. Not one unpleasant memory sullied my recollection.
Such superficial friendships are perhaps perfect for an imperfect world in which there is more of seeming than of being. We do well to value the surfaces in a world of surfaces. The surfaces are sure; the depths are dubious. On life's surface those who meant little but brighten memory count for more than those who meant more but haunt and disturb from a past their presence makes dark.
The Good of Moral Failure
It teaches humility.
Know Thyself
If your self-assessment does not dismay you, it was not objective.
Vows
Vows ought to be as irreversible as death itself. Time was when they were.
Communists
Seeking heaven on earth, they gave humanity the gulag, hell on earth.
A Mark of Intelligence
One mark of intelligence is the ability to recognize intelligence in others and ignorance in oneself.