Thanks to the Maverick Philosopher I have become familiar with a Turkish proverb: “He who knows the road does not join the caravan.” It came to mind last week when I was pondering the course this column has so far traced. In particular, it caused me to wonder about the fellow who doesn’t know the road, but doesn’t want to join the caravan, either, who wants to discover the road for himself.
In real life, of course, that could prove dangerous. Luckily, marauding brigands pose no threat for mental excursions. So the premise of this column — to follow a train of thought (a mental roadway if you will) and see where it leads — seems safe enough. Nevertheless, I am almost always surprised to find where I end up.
The quotes I choose for my point of departure are usually ones I think I agree with or at least understand. But writing about them makes it necessary to think about them and thinking about them often leaves me wondering about them. By the time I got to the end of the column I wrote about Lord Falkland’s dictum — “When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change” — I wasn’t at all sure that was always such a good idea.
Perhaps even more interesting — at least to me — is the direction in which the sequence of columns has taken me. After all, one quote often leads to another and the choice is bound to reflect my own preferences and predilections. But one is not always as conscious of those as one might suppose. The columns I have so far written make plain that certain leitmotifs govern my thinking.
I am suspicious of systems of thought. [Read more →]
Tags: religion & philosophy, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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