"The philosophers have variously interpreted the world, but the point is to change it." (Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach, #11) No, the point is to understand it, and to understand it so well that one understands that it cannot be changed in any but metaphysically inessential and unimportant ways.
Category: Aphorisms and Observations
Pleasure in the Petty
We humans are ineluctably petty in various ways. It can't helped. And so we can't be faulted for the occasional pleasure we take in the petty particulars of the quotidian round, such as the way the towels are arranged on the rack or the way the lazy cats are splayed upon the bed.
Quality and Equality
Quality of life is what counts, not equality of outcome. To enforce the latter is to destroy the former.
The Less I Know of You . . .
. . . the more highly I can think of you. And the more highly I think of myself, the less I know of myself.
Ars vivendi longa, sed vita brevis
Life is too short to master the art of life. That is surely the case for most. A few old souls are exceptions to the rule.
Self-Deprecation
A modicum of self-deprecation, judiciously deployed, will enhance your relations with others. Too much will earn contempt, and the opposite hostility.
Progress in Philosophy
I am making progress in philosophy, which is not to say that philosophy is making progress in me.
Earning and Living
The trick is to earn a living without living to earn.
Your Vehicle
Keep it roadworthy. But it's only a vehicle. And life's only a road.
And don't forget to take it easy. We're going to the end of the line.
Reason
Reason calls itself into question but often won't allow a challenge from anything other than reason. But if reason, despite its weakness, has the power to limit its reach and curb its pretensions, then it is strange indeed that it should not allow this power to other sources of insight such as faith, mystical intuition, and conscience.
Writing and Reading
He who writes may or may not be read, but he who only reads will never be read.
A Meta-Aphorism
An aphorism that comments on itself is no aphorism, which fact does not rule out commentary on aphorisms.
Accept No Ersatz Soteriology!
The eschaton will not be immanentized.
The Good Teacher
On a given topic, the good teacher at the university level does not teach the student what to think about the topic, but what to think about when thinking about the topic.
Human Relationships
The good ones require differences, but the differences must be complementary, not contradictory, like the halves of a natural whole that make up the whole, complementing but not contradicting each other.