General Category > General Discussion
Knowledge, Wisdom, Virtue et cetera
Skull:
--- Quote ---The same question stands open from the days of Socrates and Pilate down to our own age of wholesale negation: is there such a thing as absolute truth in the hands of any one party or man? Reason answers, “there cannot be.” There is no room for absolute truth upon any subject whatsoever, in a world as finite and conditioned as man is himself. But there are relative truths, and we have to make the best we can of them.
In every age there have been Sages who had mastered the absolute and yet could teach but relative truths. For none yet, born of mortal woman in our race, has, or could have given out, the whole and the final truth to another man, for every one of us has to find that (to him) final knowledge in himself. As no two minds can be absolutely alike, each has to receive the supreme illumination through itself, according to its capacity, and from no human light. The greatest adept living can reveal of the Universal Truth only so much as the mind he is impressing it upon can assimilate, and no more. Tot homines, quot sententiae [as many men, so many opinions] — is an immortal truism.
The sun is one, but its beams are numberless; and the effects produced are beneficent or maleficent, according to the nature and constitution of the objects they shine upon. Polarity is universal, but the polariser lies in our own consciousness. In proportion as our consciousness is elevated towards absolute truth, so do we men assimilate it more or less absolutely. But man’s consciousness again, is only the sunflower of the earth. Longing for the warm ray, the plant can only turn to the sun, and move round and round in following the course of the unreachable luminary: its roots keep it fast to the soil, and half its life is passed in the shadow. . . .
--- End quote ---
From "What is Truth?" article of Blavatsky
Absalom:
Words of wisdom indeed, yet they are hardly sufficient for the success of Mankind.
For every Marcus Aurelius there must be a Julius Caesar, a doer and achiever.
In life, Behavior measures the difference between success and failure, not intentions.
Skull:
--- Quote from: Absalom on May 14, 2021, 08:56:04 pm ---Words of wisdom indeed, yet they are hardly sufficient for the success of Mankind.
For every Marcus Aurelius there must be a Julius Caesar, a doer and achiever.
In life, Behavior measures the difference between success and failure, not intentions.
--- End quote ---
Weak as I am in education, but did not Marcus spend most of his time ruling & warring? Certainly an achiever, not a palace philosopher. Anyway, here is more of the article on valuing all kinds of truth:
--- Quote ---Now, since truth is a multifaced jewel, the facets of which it is
impossible to perceive all at once; and since, again, no two men, however
anxious to discern truth, can see even one of those facets alike, what can
be done to help them to perceive it? As physical man, limited and
trammelled from every side by illusions, cannot reach truth by the light
of his terrestrial perceptions, we say—develop in you the inner
knowledge. From the time when the Delphic oracle said to the enquirer
“Man, know thyself,” no greater or more important truth was ever
taught. Without such perception, man will remain ever blind to even
many a relative, let alone absolute, truth. Man has to know himself, i.e.,
acquire the inner perceptions which never deceive, before he can master
any absolute truth. Absolute truth is the symbol of Eternity, and no finite
mind can ever grasp the eternal, hence, no truth in its fulness can ever
dawn upon it. To reach the state during which man sees and senses it,
we have to paralyze the senses of the external man of clay. This is a
difficult task, we may be told, and most people will, at this rate, prefer to
remain satisfied with relative truths, no doubt. But to approach even
terrestrial truths requires, first of all, love of truth for its own sake, for
otherwise no recognition of it will follow. And who loves truth in this age
for its own sake? How many of us are prepared to search for, accept, and
carry it out, in the midst of a society in which anything that would
achieve success has to be built on appearances, not on reality, on self-assertion,
not on intrinsic value? We are fully aware of the difficulties in
the way of receiving truth. The fair heavenly maiden descends only on a
(to her) congenial soil—the soil of an impartial, unprejudiced mind,
illuminated by pure Spiritual Consciousness; and both are truly rare dwellers in civilized lands.
--- End quote ---
Absalom:
--- Quote from: Skull on May 14, 2021, 10:20:01 pm ---Weak as I am in education, but did not Marcus spend most of his time ruling & warring? Certainly an achiever, not a palace philosopher. Anyway, here is more of the article on valuing all kinds of truth:
--- End quote ---
---------------------------
Respectfully,
Skull, hardly disparaging your argument, simply pointing out that;
Words while powerful, must motivate the mind to achieve, otherwise
we are left w/wise ideas to debate.
Skull:
--- Quote from: Absalom on May 14, 2021, 10:43:57 pm ------------------------------
Respectfully,
Skull, hardly disparaging your argument, simply pointing out that;
Words while powerful, must motivate the mind to achieve, otherwise
we are left w/wise ideas to debate.
--- End quote ---
I understood your point about words alone as sounding brass.
Firstly I have no argument, nor am I seeking or caring for one.
Just sharing part of an article that presents the two most common motivations for achievement: personal, worldly, visible one and/or a spiritual, religious one. Both are possible for one person, but without the spiritual motive, the first alone often breeds foul offspring.
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