lasertag's New Writeupshttp://everything2.com/?node=New%20Writeups%20Atom%20Feed&foruser=lasertag2002-03-25T03:38:29ZBaltasar Gracian (person)http://everything2.com/user/lasertag/writeups/Baltasar+Gracianlasertaghttp://everything2.com/user/lasertag2002-03-25T03:38:29Z2002-03-25T03:38:29Z<p>Bathasar Gracian (1601-1658)a worldly Spanish Jesuit priest with an undying hatred for human folly. Author of "The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle" and "A Pocket Mirror for Heroes".<p>
<p>Admired by such dirverse personalities as <a href="/title/Arthur+Schopenhauer">Arthur Schopenhauer</a>, <a href="/title/Friedrich+Nietzsche">Friedrich Nietzsche</a>, Joseph Addison</p>
These are a samples of some aphorisms from "The Art of Worldly Wisdom":
<p>Speak what is very good, do what is very honorable </p>
<p>Hope is a great falsifer. Let good judgment keep her in check.</p>
<p>All has reached perfection, and becoming a true person is the greatest perfection of all. It takes more to make one sage today than it did to make the seven of Greece. And you need more resources today to deal with a single person these days than with an entire nation in times past. </p>
<p>Make people depend on you. A god is not made by adorning a statue but by adoring it. He who is truly shrewd would rather have people need him than thank him. Vulgar gratitude is worth less than<!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Babies and Zen (idea)http://everything2.com/user/lasertag/writeups/Babies+and+Zenlasertaghttp://everything2.com/user/lasertag2002-03-23T13:40:18Z2002-03-23T13:40:18ZSometimes I think that <a href="/title/babies">babies</a> are the perfect <a href="/title/Zen">Zen</a> <a href="/title/Buddhists">Buddhists</a>. They accept all sensory perceptions without judgment, Look at them. You can see them trying to process all that comes at them, trying to sort it out and figure out what it all means.
<p>The funniest thing about 2 months old is that you aren't even aware of your body as separate from the rest of the world. All is one.</p>
<p>Some might think a reversion to this state of mind would be blissful. I think it would cause insanity. We have learned to focus and filter reality. This is often based upon our preferences, the development of our ego. Ideas like: "I don't like spinach, I like <a href="/title/french+fries">french fries</a> or "I want to focus on this computer and ignore anything else that going on in this room". All the sensory perceptions coming at you all at once. Its an awesome thought...</p>
<p>A breakdown of ego, desire, and duality.</p>
<p>We all start this way. What happens to us?</p>