Aphorisms and Observations – Page 36

It’s Enough

Standing on a hill behind my house, looking down on it, the thought occurred to me: It's enough. One modest house suffices. And then the thought that the ability to be satisfied with what one has is a necessary condition of happiness.

Satisfied with what one has, not with what one is.

Perhaps it is like this.

The fool, satisfied with what he is, is never satisfied with what he has. The philosopher, satisfied with what he has, is never satisfied with what he is. The sage is satisfied with both.

There are many fools and a few philosophers; are there any sages?

George Carlin

The poor guy died in adolescence.

The Additivity of Small Amounts of Money

He who is penny-foolish will also be pound-foolish.

Horror

The horror of a life completely entangled in the finite, lost in the mundane, swamped by the senses, mesmerized by the social.

Creation

The world's existence, intelligibility, and beauty point beyond it to its Source; its impermanence and deficiency to its non-identity with its Source.

Negativity and Animality

Negativity is more difficult to subdue than animality. No surprise: the mind is more difficult to control than the body.

A Big Ego

One associates loud, domineering, and aggressive behavior with a 'big ego.' But a long memory for wrongs done one, a fine sensitivity to slights and slurs real and imagined are also signs of a 'big ego.'

Suggestibility

People lack an inner compass; or rather the compass they possess is easily deflected by the surrounding 'socio-magnetic' fields.

Philosophy as High Ground

Philosophy is the high ground from which to survey the dismal and contentious scene, the bellum omnium contra omnes. One retreats to the high ground for three reasons. To contemplate and understand the passing scene, to escape from it, and to be in a position to transcend toward what is neither passing nor a scene.