EPICTETUS. DISCOURSES. Book ii. §24. ¶1.
Wednesday
March 20
DO we know, then, what man is? What is his nature; what our idea of him is; and how far our ears are open in respect to this matter? Nay, do you understand what nature is; or are you able, and in what degree, to comprehend me, when I come to say, "But I must use demonstration to you"? How should you? Do you comprehend what demonstration is; or how a thing is demonstrated, or by what methods; or what resembles a demonstration, and yet is not a demonstration? Do you know what true or false is? What is consequent to a thing, and what contradictory? Or unsuitable, or dissonant?
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What is our idea man's nature? What answers are we willing to hear? Do we even understand what nature is? Before we can begin to make pronunciations about what people should do, we must first truly seek to understand who we are, and where we are, and what the world to which we along belong is like. Wisdom begins with questions and silence.
ReplyDeleteSilence is the key... ask the questions and be silent to hear the answers. We are often so busy in our modern day lives that there is no chance for us to hear the answers when they come. In stillness and simplicity the answers can be heard.
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