They occupy, but they themselves are vacant.
Category: Aphorisms and Observations
Against Irrationalism
The problem is not that we conceptualize things, but that we conceptualize them wrongly, hastily, superficially. The problem is not that we draw distinctions, but that we draw too few distinctions or improper distinctions. Perhaps in the end one must learn to trace all distinctions back to the ONE whence they spring; but that is in the end. In the beginning people must be taught to conceptualize, discriminate, and distinguish.
A superficial Zen training that attacks the discursive intellect in those who have never properly developed it does a great disservice.
Revenge of the Parents
In the moment when one sees in oneself traces of the very attributes one so harshly criticized in one's parents — in that moment they get their vicarious revenge.
Different People to Different People
We are different people to different people, and different people are different people to us.
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No aphorism can comment on itself, or justify itself, on pain of ceasing to be an aphorism. But what I am now writing is not part of the above aphorism.
What makes a good aphorism? A good aphorism is pithy, one or two sentences. Three at most. It must lay bare an important truth. A saying clever but false is not a good aphorism. And the same goes for clever but unintelligible. A good aphorism should have 'literary merit' whatever exactly that is. I suggest mine does have some, though you are free to disagree. Note the play on 'different.' The formulation exploits the ambiguity of 'different' as between numerical and qualitative senses. We are qualitatively different people to numerically different people, and numerically different people are qualitatively different to us. Had I written the thing just like that it would have been clear but clunky and devoid of whatever literary value it has.
The thought expressed is not only true but important in the sense that bearing it in mind can help one negotiate the social world with equanimity. We meet people who like us, people who dislike us, and people who are indifferent. Some can't see our faults for our virtues; other are virtues for our faults. One can be discouraged and even depressed at the hostility one arouses in others. One better takes this all in stride if one never forgets that we are:
Different people to different people.
Of Meat and Meaning
Learning more and more about a piece of meat won't make manifest how that meat means.
The Art of Living
It is part of the art to know how to prolong one's life sufficiently to learn what can be learned only by living.
A Life Well-Lived
A life well-lived must be devoted in some measure to inquiry into the well-lived life.
The Issue of Procreation
Too many procreate thoughtlessly. Think too much about the issue, however, and you may end up without issue.
The Obvious
As Hilary Putnam once said, "It ain't obvious what's obvious." Or as I like to say, "One man's datum is another man's theory."
Spiritual Center of Gravity
A man with a big belly hanging over his belt betrays not only his physical center of gravity but his spiritual one as well.
Best to be Neither Poor nor Rich
The poor think only of their poverty, the rich of their wealth. The few exceptions prove the rule.
The Fat Man’s Hegemonikon
The fat man wears his 'ruling element' hanging over his belt.
Mors et Hora Mortis
Death is certain but the hour of death is not. Do not try to make an uncertainty of what is certain, or a certainty of what is uncertain.
Drinking and Dancing
If you want to spend your mornings thinking and trancing, then you cannot spend your nights drinking and dancing.
There is Already Europe
Why should the USA become like Europe? There is already Europe, and look at what it has become.