Tag: philosophy

The modern mind, which mistakenly believes or at least behaves as if the natural purpose of human life were the pursuit of pleasure, cannot understand how a life oriented in this way leads to the opposite result. It cannot understand how, invariably, such a practice leads to little pleasure and a lot of emptiness; nor how, from the emptiness, comes a despairing frustration. As unpleasant as responsibility may seem, the life around it seems oriented to the modern mind. But responsibility, more lasting and productive, provides a sense of continuity, satisfaction and value that pleasure of any kind can never offer.

The law only fulfills the social function for which it is justified when it is the legal expression of common sense. As soon as it is necessary to go to a specialist to learn about it, or rather, as soon as it becomes specialized knowledge, distant and not universally apprehended because it is obvious, the law loses its social function and becomes a mere means of oppression on the part of those who have the power to apply it or benefit from its application.

Often what motivates misanthropy is not a total repulsion for what is evil in man, but simply a divergence of interests. To put it this way, it sounds like a small thing, but there are differences that are so complete that contact is always a hindrance, always a waste of time, if not an annoyance. And so the search for a point of contact that is known not to exist becomes painful. Without it, there is no possible human relationship, and if there cannot be one, searching for it comes down, as the popular expression goes, to punching a knife.

What is valuable about Theosophists, at least at first, is not the syncretism of the doctrine they profess, but the initial impulse to study and understand different doctrines, seeking in them what is true and good. In short, it is that old humility in the face of the unknown, that genuine interest in the different, which begins with the granting of credit, manifested in a willingness to listen. So obvious and so basic. If theosophy were to teach people this one virtue, it would already have proved invaluable. All the rest is moaning.