[INFJ] A philosophical quote that has altered your perspective:

BXM

BXM

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MBTI
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8w7
One of the things I take to is finding thought-provoking quotes/sayings that impact my reality.
For example, one quote that stands out to me:

“We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."


What are some you have?
 
BXM said:
One of the things I take to is finding thought-provoking quotes/sayings that impact my reality.
For example, one quote that stands out to me:

“We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."


What are some you have?
Click to expand...

Hi BXM and welcome to the forum. I don't have any particular favourite quotes but find many that twinkle like stars in a clear night sky - I'm copying these across from my earlier post in your PM :).

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upload_2023-7-15_9-4-37-png.91980
 
“All over the world, young males and females, schooled in the art of patriarchal thinking, are building an identity on a foundation that sees the will to do violence as the essential way to assert being.”

- bell hooks
 
“There is only one way to salvation, and that is to make yourself responsible for all men's sins. As soon as you make yourself responsible in all sincerity for everything and for everyone, you will see at once that this is really so, and that you are in fact to blame for everyone and for all things.”

- Father Zosima (Brothers Karamazov)
 
philostam said:
“There is only one way to salvation, and that is to make yourself responsible for all men's sins. As soon as you make yourself responsible in all sincerity for everything and for everyone, you will see at once that this is really so, and that you are in fact to blame for everyone and for all things.”

- Father Zosima (Brothers Karamazov)
Click to expand...

Hi philostam,
In what way has this quote altered your perspective/reality?
 
AJ_ said:
Hi philostam,
In what way has this quote altered your perspective/reality?
Click to expand...

Hi, AJ.

It's just an insane quote, isn't it. In my family we had a deep tradegy/trauma when I was around 5, and when I started investigating it later I found out that no one wants to take responsibility for what happened. Everyone is blaming somebody else. And in my opinion it's everyone's fault, because a single good person in the family could've prevented what happened. I think this is what the quote is getting at. Of course the further you zoom out from your family, community and country, the harder it is to feel responsible for what happens in the world. Certainly the quote is an exaggeration in this sense, but there's a lot of truth in it. A single individual has a lot of power and influence.
 
philostam said:
Hi, AJ.

It's just an insane quote, isn't it. In my family we had a deep tradegy/trauma when I was around 5, and when I started investigating it later I found out that no one wants to take responsibility for what happened. Everyone is blaming somebody else. And in my opinion it's everyone's fault, because a single good person in the family could've prevented what happened. I think this is what the quote is getting at. Of course the further you zoom out from your family, community and country, the harder it is to feel responsible for what happens in the world. Certainly the quote is an exaggeration in this sense, but there's a lot of truth in it. A single individual has a lot of power and influence.
Click to expand...
There are parallels to this idea in the great world religions - the Buddhas who keep returning to life and keep doing so until everyone is freed from Samsara, and the Christian idea that salvation for individuals isn't complete for anyone as long as there are others who are wandering, lost.
 
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"Idealists are foolish enough to throw caution to the winds. They have advanced mankind and enriched the world." - Sydney J. Harris
 
Do you want to improve the world?
I don't think it can be done.

The world is sacred.
It can't be improved.
If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.

There is a time for being ahead,
a time for being behind;
a time for being in motion,
a time for being at rest;
a time for being vigorous,
a time for being exhausted;
a time for being safe,
a time for being in danger.

The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
He lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle.

Lao Tsu
 
John K said:
Do you want to improve the world?
I don't think it can be done.

The world is sacred.
It can't be improved.
If you tamper with it, you'll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.

There is a time for being ahead,
a time for being behind;
a time for being in motion,
a time for being at rest;
a time for being vigorous,
a time for being exhausted;
a time for being safe,
a time for being in danger.

The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
He lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle.

Lao Tsu
Click to expand...

Reminds me of Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
"There is an occasion for everything,
and a time for every activity under heaven:
a time to give birth and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to uproot;
a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to tear down and a time to build;
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance;
a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing;
a time to search and a time to count as lost;
a time to keep and a time to throw away;
a time to tear and a time to sew;
a time to be silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace."
 
QuickTwist said:
Reminds me of Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
"There is an occasion for everything,
and a time for every activity under heaven:
a time to give birth and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to uproot;
a time to kill and a time to heal;
a time to tear down and a time to build;
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance;
a time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
a time to embrace and a time to avoid embracing;
a time to search and a time to count as lost;
a time to keep and a time to throw away;
a time to tear and a time to sew;
a time to be silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace."
Click to expand...
I have a feeling the two authors would have had a lot of time for each other.
 
More than a quote, really. But it has stayed with me since I was very young.



"No one will bring back the years; no one will restore you to yourself. Life will follow the path it began to take, and will neither reverse nor check its course. It will cause no commotion to remind you of its swiftness, but glide on quietly. It will not lengthen itself for a king’s command or a people’s favor. As it started out on its first day, so it will run on, nowhere pausing or turning aside. What will be the outcome? You have been preoccupied while life hastens on. Meanwhile death will arrive, and you have no choice in making yourself available for that.

"Putting things off is the biggest waste of life: it snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune’s control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining? The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately."

- Seneca
 
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