So what is your point?

Look at the title and figure it out.

I love the Analects, but it was Plato who first initiated that 'whoa' epiphany for me, when I was 14 and realised that our perceptions were merely the shadows of reality.

"On the walls of the cave, only the shadows are the truth."
"How could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?”
“It is the task of the enlightened not only to ascend to learning and to see the good but to be willing to descend again to those prisoners and to share their troubles and their honours, whether they are worth having or not. And this they must do, even with the prospect of death.”

This probably is not a parable, but I love it. Emerson and Lao Tzu are the only philosophers who have gone right to my heart:

I remember an answer which when quite young I was prompted to make to a valued adviser, who was wont to importune me with the dear old doctrines of the church. On my saying, What have I to do with the sacredness of traditions, if I live wholly from within? my friend suggested, — "But these impulses may be from below, not from above." I replied, "They do not seem to me to be such; but if I am the Devil's child, I will live then from the Devil."

Interesting, but being the jokester I am, I would state that the fire is always real before the shadows. :cool:



Could you provide a summary? I'm interested to know your take on it.

Interesting, but being the jokester I am, I would state that the fire is always real before the shadows. :cool: — Sum Dude

That's not funny.

Summary: Moral and ethical conduct via The Rites as in rituals of respect are what facilitate moral homeostasis. — Sum Dude

Yes, well that's the "Catholic" attitude. But lots of people can't stand decoration and like things to be clean-lined and functional.

Art and life seem to oscillate between too little "decoration" and too much.

It's interesting that the etymology of "decorum" would seem to suggest a similar awareness of the beauty of settled social ritual in Western thought. This is something the iconoclasts of the Boomer generation were completely blind to - the culture of critique and the restless need to make things over dominated thought then. I think respect for ritual and tradition are coming back into fashion though. Most people feel happier when things are a bit ritualized, at least - when there's a degree of propriety in the public space, a degree of decorum. But again, not too tight, not too loose.

Finding the sweet spot is an active process - I myself would say the balance was about right in the late 50s/early 60s (before the disastrous "sexual revolution" of the mid to late 60s), when there was about equal respect for settled order and for social experimentation.

Could you provide a summary? I'm interested to know your take on it. — Sum Dude

The quote is from "Self-Reliance." Here's another which summarizes Emerson's thoughts in the essay:

To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost, and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets of the Last Judgment.

When he says "genius" he doesn't mean like Einstein, he means something more like our essence.

I've always thought that "Self-Reliance" is the most radical intellectual statement possible. Makes "Cogito Ergo Sum" seem like "I tawt I taw a puddy tat." Trust yourself. Your thoughts. My original quote is the most radical statement of Emerson's radical position.

It's only about 10 pages long and you can download it free. Worth reading.

A parable is typically a fictitious story used to make a moral point, like the boy who cried wolf. The other posts in this thread are just observations, perhaps profound, but not really parables. .

To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost, and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets of the Last Judgment.

When he says "genius" he doesn't mean like Einstein, he means something more like our essence.

I've always thought that "Self-Reliance" is the most radical intellectual statement possible. Makes "Cogito Ergo Sum" seem like "I tawt I taw a puddy tat." Trust yourself. Your thoughts. My original quote is the most radical statement of Emerson's radical position. — T Clark

I don't see Self-Reliance and the Cogito as comparable. The former falls within the realm of ethics, the latter metaphysics.

I don't see Self-Reliance and the Cogito as comparable. The former falls within the realm of ethics, the latter metaphysics. — Hanover

Really? I have always thought of Self-Reliance as epistemology. How do we know what's true or false. Right or wrong. Look to your own judgment. Maybe that's epistemology and ethics. I guess it's everything.

"AND a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of
Children.
And he said:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of to-morrow, which you cannot visit, not
even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with
His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the Archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is
stable."

From The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

To me, he is Socrates reborn. Magnifico!

Summary: Moral and ethical conduct via The Rites as in rituals of respect are what facilitate moral homeostasis. — Sum Dude

He's talking about the "Liji" ("Book of Rites").

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Rites

A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that's just how the world will come to an end: to general applause from wits who believe it's a joke. ― Søren Kierkegaard, Either/Or, Part I

A girl goes to the beach with her family and takes photos walking on along the shore with her dad to upload to farcebook. Everyone criticizes her for hanging on to daddy when there are a bunch of hunks in the background.

She takes some photos of herself with a couple of the hunks and herself in a very skimpy bikini. Everyone screams that she is acting indecently wearing that bikini in front of her family and flirting with people she does not know.

She puts clothes back on to cover up and takes a photo to upload. Everyone jumps all over her saying she looks stupid because she is supposed to be enjoying the sun on the beach.

She lifts her middle finger to the camera and uploads the final pic.
Caption
"I now understand that it is impossible to make everyone happy on farcebook, so I am not even going to try.
Screw the lot of you."

THE BLESSED CITY

In my youth I was told that in a certain city every one lived according to the Scriptures.
And I said, “I will seek that city and the blessedness thereof.” And it was far. And I made great provision for my journey. And after forty days I beheld the city and on the forty-first day I entered into it.
And lo! the whole company of the inhabitants had each but a single eye and but one hand. And I was astonished and said to myself, “Shall they of this so holy city have but one eye and one hand?”
then I saw that they too were astonished, for they were marvelling greatly at my two hands and my two eyes. And as they were speaking together I inquired of them saying, “Is this indeed the Blessed City, where each man lives according to the Scriptures?” And they said, “Yes, this is that city.”
“And what,” said I, “hath befallen you, and where are your right eyes and your right hands?”
And all the people were moved. And they said, “Come thou and see.” And they took me to the temple in the midst of the city. and in the temple I saw a heap of hands and eyes. All withered. Then said I, “Alas! what conqueror hath committed this cruelty upon you?”
And there went a murmur amongst them. And one of their elders stood forth and said, “This doing is of ourselves. God hath made us conquerors over the evil that was in us.”
And he led me to a high altar, and all the people followed. And he showed me above the altar an inscription graven, and I read:
“If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that the whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” Then I understood. And I turned about to all the people and cried, “Hath no man or woman among you two eyes or two hands?”
And they answered me saying, “No, not one. There is none whole save such as are yet too young to read the Scripture and to understand its commandment.”
And when we had come out of the temple, I straightway left that Blessed City; for I was not too young, and I could read the scripture.

From The Madman by Kahlil Gibran.

A woman is crossing the street and is struck by a car. Her back is quite severely injured. Her doctors tell her that she may walk again, but only after years of arduous and painful physical therapy.

The driver of the car could give her a sum of money, but the driver can not help her perform the difficult and distressing physical therapy. She may receive a disability payment, but neither the insurance company nor the government disability program can ease the distress of the painful therapy. Friends can visit and chat, but they can not step in to do her therapy for her.

Even though she was not at fault, the woman must entirely bear the suffering of learning to walk again.

Does this parable apply to groups who have been injured by the policies of others?

Does this parable apply to groups who have been injured by the policies of others? — Bitter Crank

Yes, it certainly does. There are so many groups that have been damaged by both ignorant political policies and biased religious stupidity.

And most of the time it is only the innocent that suffer the consequences.

@BrianW
I love Kahlil Gibran's writings. The one about Children is a writing I print and frame on top of a Photo Keepsake box and give as a gift at every baby shower and Christening I am asked to attend.

When I read it as a young mother, it began a time ticking, knowing that I was their only influence for such a short period of time in their lives, as my Mom was with me. It was at that moment that I knew I was experiencing an awesome Motherhood and needed to stop, take a look around and realize that those were the "good times" that people so often speak of.

Now as a Mom of two gentlemen in their early adulthood, I recognize the full impact of Kahil's words and try to savor every moment I am blessed to be with them. And still today, I take the time to stop and look around, for these too are the "good times".

"In a midrash that bears the title “Massekhta Satan” (“Treatise on Satan”), God has Satan appear before him on the last day to judge him. The accusation that he directs at him is accusation itself: Satan is accused of having constantly accused humanity and, in this way, the works of creation. He accused Adam and Eve, so that God had to drive them out of Paradise; he accused the people of the generation of the flood, and to punish them God produced the catastrophe of the universal Deluge; he accused the people of the Tower of Babel, and for this reason God had to divide them and confound their tongues; he accused the Israelites at the time of the first and second destruction of the Temple, and God twice destroyed the sanctuary and scattered his people in exile among the nations.

For this reason God condemns the accuser to vanish from the world, which must be renewed in a new creation. Satan does not accept the sentence and objects to his judge: “You say to me: Vanish from the world! Yet I resemble you because I am associated with you: you created the heavens and the earth, and I created hell”. Up to the last moment, when God expels him eternally into the depths of darkness, he continues to level his objection against God: “Lord of the world, all the power you have demonstrated by descending into the flames to condemn me really does not belong to you: above you, there is another Power.”

From Giorgio Agamben, Karman.

@ArguingWAristotleTiff
It's a really good poem. Kinda makes you realize the sanctity of bringing a life to the world and the immensity of the work to undertake.

Kinda makes you realize the sanctity of bringing a life to the world and the immensity of the work to undertake. — BrianW

Absolutely on both points. :heart:

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

by Max Ehrmann.