This is especially for Farkel, whose good name has been stolen but who has not been robbed of the affection so very many of us have for him.
Recently we've been treated to philosophy that has been a bit opaque to many. I thought I'd expose you to the German philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (sounds somewhat like GERT.uh).
He really makes sense most times, once in awhile I think him out to lunch. Think about this truth: "Once you have missed the first buttonhole, you'll never manage to button up."
Or, in thinking about catch phrases from the Society like, "No matter what, it's still God's organization" "Things are so bad the end has to be here soon."
Here's Goethe: "The phrases men are accustomed to repeat incessantly, end by becoming convictions that ossify the organs of intelligence."
Herewith are gems I'd like to share, thanks to an unknown translator.
We cannot possess what we do not understand
Nothing is worse than active ignorance
We are never deceived: we deceive ourselves
Truth is a torch but a tremendous one. That is why we hurry past it, shielding our eyes, indeed, in fear of getting burned
The first and last thing required of genius is the love of truth
Everyone hears only what he understands
We are accustomed to see men deride what they do not understand, and snarl at the good and beautiful because it lies beyond their sympathies
The further one advances in experience, the closer one comes to the unfathomable; the more one learns to utilize experience, the more one recognizes that the unfathomable is of no practical value
Hypotheses are lullabies for teachers to sing their students to sleep. The close and thoughtful observer more and more learns to recognize his limitations. He realizes that with the steady growth of knowledge more and more new problems keep on emerging
Each has his own happiness in his hands, as the artist handles the rude clay he seeks to reshape it into a figure; yet it is the same with this art as with all others: only the capacity for it is innate; the art itself must be learned and painstakingly practiced
Once one knows what really matters, one ceases to be voluble. And what does really matter? That is easy: thinking and doing, doing and thinking--and these are the sum of all wisdom ... Both must move ever onward in life, to and fro, like breathing in and breathing out. Whoever makes it a rule to test action by thought, thought by action, cannot falter, and if he does, will soon find his way back to the right road.
To be pleased with one's limits is a wretched state
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Well, dear ones,
what do you think?
Maximus
pix withdrawn