Originally posted by Proper Knob==============================
'Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.'
Carl Sagan.
'Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.'
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This sentiment reminds me of Psalm 8.
"When I see Your heavens, the works of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is mortal man, that You remember him, and the son of man, that you visit him?"
Psalm 8:3,4
now we appreciate that what affords us so much enjoyment in chess is really the same thing for all of us, be it for the layman who sees nothing finer in chess than the sacrificial combination or be it the expert who marvels at the far reaching scheme of the game. It is the triumph of intellect and genius over lack of imagination; the triumph of personality over materialism. - Reti
The conditions of a solitary bird are five:
The first, that it flies to the highest point;
The second, that it does not suffer for company, not even of its own kind;
The third, that it aims its beak to the skies;
The fourth, that it does not have a definite color;
The fifth, that it sings very softly.
—San Juan de la Cruz, “Sayings of Light and Love”
To arrive at what you do not know
You must go by a way that you do not know.
—San Juan de la Cruz
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This is similar to the traveler going to places not previously known, and walking paths that are not only new but unknown to others previously. … It is obvious this traveler could not travel in new lands or learn more than he previously knew were he not able to leave aside the paths he knows already.
—San Juan de la Cruz, Ascent on Mount Carmel
(Both selections translated by Antonio de Nicolás, St. John of the Cross: Alchemist of the Soul.)