“So many of us want to rush to judgment—to latch on to one style of belief or another, shutting the mind entirely to other possibilities.”
― The Ten Thousand Things
― The Ten Thousand Things
“A 'post-truth democracy' [...] would no longer be a democracy.”
― Between Naturalism and Religion: Philosophical Essays
― Between Naturalism and Religion: Philosophical Essays
“Those who are actively seeking enlightenment will not find it because the act of looking for it is the distraction from it.”
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“The enchantment of being here at all, alive and aware, is a gift too often considered a problem.
Simply feeling the aliveness—the unique suchness—of each never-to-be-repeated moment outshines completely the desire for power, or pleasure, or meaning—outshines those desires in my world at least.
When actually engaged in this aliveness without trying to explain it (as if it ever could be explained), questions such as “What does it all mean?” or “Who am I?” never even arise. The aliveness is the meaning.”
― The Ten Thousand Things
Simply feeling the aliveness—the unique suchness—of each never-to-be-repeated moment outshines completely the desire for power, or pleasure, or meaning—outshines those desires in my world at least.
When actually engaged in this aliveness without trying to explain it (as if it ever could be explained), questions such as “What does it all mean?” or “Who am I?” never even arise. The aliveness is the meaning.”
― The Ten Thousand Things
“The mob believes everything it is told, provided only that it be repeated over and over. Provided too that its passions, hatreds, fears are catered to. Nor need one try to stay within the limits of plausibility: on the contrary, the grosser, the bigger, the cruder the lie, the more readily is it believed and followed. Nor is there any need to avoid contradictions: the mob never notices; needless to pretend to correlate what is said to some with what is said to others: each person or group believes only what he is told, not what anyone else is told; needless to strive for coherence: the mob has no memory; needless to pretend to any truth: the mob is radically incapable of perceiving it: the mob can never comprehend that its own interests are what is at stake.”
― Réflexions sur le mensonge
― Réflexions sur le mensonge
Monty’s 2024 Year in Books
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