Inner Being

The (inner) being of mankind has become (like) a jungle;
be cautious toward this (inner) existence,
if you are from that Breath 
(which God breathed into Adam). 

Within our individuality are a thousand wolves and pigs;
 pious and impious, beautiful and good, ugly and bastard. 

The judgment is about the (inner) nature [of a person]--
which one is more dominant:
if the gold is more than the copper,
it is  gold. 

Any quality which is dominant in your being 
will appear in the form of your resurrection 

Rumi

Truth and Peace

The heart is not made peaceful by lying speech, (just as) 
water and oil do not ignite (lamp) light. 

(But) there is peace for the heart in words of truth. Truths are 
the seeds of the snare for (the tranquillity of) the heart.


RUMI

If you are disturbed

When anyone is disturbed or saddened under the pretext of a good and soul-profiting matter, and is angered against his neighbour,it is evident that this is not according to God: for everything that is of God is peaceful and useful and leads
a man to humility and to judging himself.

St. Barsanuphius the Great 

Not to forget death

Oh, not to forget death for a moment, into
which at any moment you can fall! If we would
only remember that we are not standing upon an
even plain (if you think we are standing so, then
you are only imagining that those who have gone
away have fallen overboard and you yourself are
afraid that you will fall overboard), but that
we are rolling on, without stopping, running into
each other, getting ahead and being got ahead
of, yonder behind the curtain which hides from us
those who are going away, and will hide us from
those who remain. If we remember that always,
then, how easy and joyous it is to live and roll
together, yonder down the same incline, in the
power of God, with Whom we have been and
in Whose power we are now and will be afterwards
and forever. I have been feeling this very
keenly.

Tolstoy

जागरियसुत्तं Sutta on Wakefulness

वुत्तञ्हेतं भगवता, वुत्तमरहताति मे सुतं –

‘‘जागरो चस्स, भिक्खवे, भिक्खु विहरेय्य सतो सम्पजानो समाहितो पमुदितो विप्पसन्‍नो च तत्थ कालविपस्सी च कुसलेसु धम्मेसु। जागरस्स, भिक्खवे, भिक्खुनो विहरतो सतस्स सम्पजानस्स समाहितस्स पमुदितस्स विप्पसन्‍नस्स तत्थ कालविपस्सिनो कुसलेसु धम्मेसु द्विन्‍नं फलानं अञ्‍ञतरं फलं पाटिकङ्खं – दिट्ठेव धम्मे अञ्‍ञा, सति वा उपादिसेसे अनागामिता’’ति। एतमत्थं भगवा अवोच। तत्थेतं इति वुच्‍चति –

‘‘जागरन्ता सुणाथेतं, ये सुत्ता ते पबुज्झथ।

सुत्ता जागरितं सेय्यो, नत्थि जागरतो भयं॥

‘‘यो जागरो च सतिमा सम्पजानो, समाहितो मुदितो विप्पसन्‍नो च।

कालेन सो सम्मा धम्मं परिवीमंसमानो, एकोदिभूतो विहने तमं सो॥

‘‘तस्मा हवे जागरियं भजेथ, आतापी भिक्खु निपको झानलाभी।

संयोजनं जातिजराय छेत्वा, इधेव सम्बोधिमनुत्तरं फुसे’’ति॥

अयम्पि अत्थो वुत्तो भगवता, इति मे सुतन्ति। दसमं।

This was said by the Blessed One, said by the Arahant, so I have heard: "A monk should be wakeful: mindful, alert, centered, sensitive, clear, and calm. And there he should, at the appropriate times, see clearly into skillful mental qualities. For a monk who is wakeful — mindful, alert, centered, sensitive, clear, and calm, seeing clearly, at the appropriate times, into skillful mental qualities — one of two fruits can be expected: either gnosis right in the present life, or — if there be any remnant of clinging-sustenance — non-return."

Those who are wakeful, listen!

Those who are sleeping, wake up!

Wakefulness is better than sleep.

For those who are wakeful, there's no danger, no fear.

Whoever is wakeful, mindful, alert,

centered, sensitive, calm, and clear,

rightly exploring the Dhamma at appropriate times,

will — at oneness — shatter the darkness.

So be devoted to wakefulness.

 The ardent monk — masterful, acquiring jhana,

 cutting the fetter of birth and aging —

touches right here a self-awakening un-surpassed.

 "Itivuttaka: The Group of Twos" (Iti 28-49), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight, 19 September 2010, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/iti/iti.2.028-049.than.html.

Inner law of goodness

Have been thinking:
Have been thinking one thing: that this life
which we see around us is a movement of matter
according to fixed, well-known laws ; but that in us
we feel the presence of an altogether different law,
having nothing in common with the others and requiring
from us the fulfilment of its demands. It
can be said that we see and recognise all the other
laws only because we have in us this law. If we
did not recognise this law, we would not recognise
the others.
This law is different from all the rest, principally
in this, that those other laws are outside of us and
forces us to obey them ; but this law is in us and
more than in us; it is our very selves and therefore
it does not force us when we obey it, but on
the contrary frees us, because in following it we
become ourselves. And for this reason we are
drawn to fulfil this law and we sooner or later
will inevitably fulfil it. In this then consists the
freedom of the will. This freedom consists in
this, that we should recognise that which is
namely that this inner law is ourselves.
This inner law is what we call reason, conscience,
love, the good, God. These words have different
meanings, but all from different angles mean one
and the same thing. In our understanding of this
inner law, the son of God, consists indeed the essence
of the Christian doctrine.
The world can be looked upon in this way: a
world exists governed by certain, well-known laws,
and within this world are beings subject to the
same laws, but who at the same time bear in themselves
another law not in accord with the former
laws of the world, a higher law, and this law must
inevitably triumph within these beings and defeat
the lower law. And in this struggle and in
the gradual victory of the higher law over the
lower, in this only is life for man and the whole
world.

Tolstoy

Albert Camus: Absurdity and Moral values

Camus is well known for his statement that ` there is only one really serious philosophical problem, that of suicide. To judge that life is or is not worth the trouble of being lived, this is to reply the fundamental question of philosophy'. On the face of it this may seem a very eccentric view of philosophy. The presupposition however is that man seeks a meaning in the world and in human life and history which would ground and support his ideals and values. Man wants to be assured that reality is intelligible teleological process, comprising an objective moral order.To put the matter in another way, man desires metaphysical assurance that his life is part of an intelligible process directed to an ideal goal, and that in striving after his personal ideals he has the backing and support, so to speak, of the universe or of reality as a whole.

(However, accordig to Camus) the world is revealed to the clear-sighted man, as without any determinate purpose or meaning. The world is not rational. Hence arises the feeling of the absurd....The feeling of the absurd can arise in a variety of ways, through, for example , the perception of Nature's indifference to man's values and ideals, through recognition of the finality of death, or through the shock caused by the sudden perception of the pointlessness of life's routine.

Suicide is not hwever the action recommended by Camus. In his opinion suicide means surrender to the absurd, capitulation. Human pride and greatness are shown ... in living in the counsciousness of the absurd and yet revolting against it by man's committing himself and living in the fullest manner possible.... The man of the absurd lives without God. But it by no means follows that he cannot devote himself in a self-sacrificing manner to the welfare of his fellow men. Indeed, if he does so without hope of reward and conscious that in the long run it makes no difference how he acts, he exhibits the greatness of man precisely by this combination of recognition of ultimate futility with a life of self sacrificing love. It is possible to be a saint without illusion.
... Man cannot live without values. If he chooses to live , by that very fact he asserts a value, that life is good or worth living or should be worth living. Man as man can revolt against exploitation, oppression, injustice and violence, and by the very fact that he revolts he asserts the values in the name of which he revolts.

Frederick Copleston ( from A History of Philosophy)

On Prayer

I now feel every day the necessity of praying, of asking
God's aid.
This necessity is natural (at least to those of us who
have been accustomed to it from childhood), and I think
it is natural to all men.
To feel one's weakness and to seek outside aid, that is,
not merely through a struggle with evil, but to try to
find methods by which it would be possible to vanquish
evil, this is called praying.
To pray does not mean to employ methods which
deliver one from evil, but among the methods which deliver
there is also the action which is called prayer.
The peculiarity of prayer, as compared with all other
methods, consists in this, that it is agreeable to God.
If this is true, then, in the first place, the question
arises why prayer, that is, an action which is pleasing to
God and saves me from evil, must be expressed in words
only, or in obeisances, which do not last long, as is generally
assumed. Why can prayer not be expressed by
continuous motions of the body, say of the feet only,
the wandering of the pilgrim is a prayer of the feet,
and if I go and work a whole day or a whole week for a
poor widow, will this be prayer ?
I think it will.
Remember what Jesus said to the Samaritan, "Men
must worship God in spirit and in truth." The true
translation for " in truth " is " by deeds."

Tolstoy

Repentence

Repentance is connected with spiritual growth, just as
the breaking of the shell is connected with the hatching
of the birdling.
The breaking of the egg or the seed is necessary for
the germ to begin to grow and be subjected to the action
of air and light. The breaking of the egg is, at the same
time, a consequence of the growth of the germ.
The same is true of repentance.
If there is no repentance, there is no forward movement.

Tolstoy

Mystery of Memory

People generally think little about the meaning of the
memory in connection with the life of the spirit, and yet
it has a great, and even a mysterious meaning.
During his carnal life, a man only occasionally reaches
that elevation of comprehension which alone gives the
meaning and true joy of his life.
This condition is not uninterruptedly maintained in
our soul. It bursts forth from time to time and Illumines
our path, as though by disconnected flashes of
another, higher life. Why is this so ? Why do we not
always maintain ourselves on that height of spiritual
illumination to which we have risen ?
This is due to the defect of memory.
Something distracts our attention and we forget.
When we again rise to that height, we recall the former
occasions when we were in the same condition, and then
all the former illuminations of our spirit blend for us into
the one, true life outside time and space. Then the offences
of the carnal life again distract our attention, and
we again disappear from the sphere of the true life and
forget it. In respect to the true life we fall into a state
of thoughtlessness, from which we again awaken, when
with the new elevation of the spirit memory returns to us.
Now, with our carnal existence, this phenomenon presents
itself to us in the form of memory ; but when we
leave the limits of the carnal life, that which is in the
memory will be life itself.


Tolstoy

inner life of spirit

We must as frequently as possible remind ourselves
that our real life is not that external, material life, which
takes place here upon earth, in our sight, but the inner
life of our spirit, for which the visible life is only a
scaffolding necessary for the rearing of the building
of our spiritual growth. This scaffolding has in itself
but a temporary purpose, after the fulfilment of which
it is not good for anything and even becomes an
obstacle.
Seeing before himself the immense, towering, and firmly
clasped timbers, while the building barely rises above the
foundation, a man is inclined to make the mistake of
ascribing a greater significance to the scaffolding than to
the building which is going up and for the sake of which
this temporary scaffolding has been put up.
We must remind ourselves and one another that the
only meaning and significance of the scaffolding is the
possibility of rearing the building itself.

Tolstoy

I was ignorant

They knew the way and went to seek
you along the narrow lane, but I
wandered abroad into the night for I
was ignorant.

I was not schooled enough to be
afraid of you in the dark, therefore
I came upon your doorstep unaware.

The wise rebuked me and bade me
be gone, for I had not come by the
lane.

I turned away in doubt, but you
held me fast, and their scolding be-
came louder every day.

Rabindranath

Your speech is simple

Your speech is simple, my Master
but not theirs who talk of you.

I understand the voice of your stars
and the silence of your trees.

I know that my heart would open
like a flower; that my life has filled
itself at a hidden fountain.

Your songs, like birds from the
lonely land of snow, are winging to
build their nests in my heart against
the warmth of its April, and I am
content to wait for the merry season.

Rabindranath

My portion of the best

My portion of the best in this world
will come from your hands: such was
your promise.

Therefore your light glistens in my
tears.

I fear to be led by others lest I miss
you waiting in some road corner to
be my guide.

I walk my own wilful way till my
very folly tempts you to my door.

For I have your promise that my
portion of the best in this world will
come from your hands.

Rabindranath

Pathways to wisdom

Where roads are made I lose my
way.

In the wide water, in the blue sky
there is no line of a track.

The pathway is hidden by the birds'
wings, by the star-fires, by the flowers
of the wayfaring seasons.

And I ask my heart if its blood
carries the wisdom of the unseen way.

Rabindranath

Not-self

I must love being nothing. How horrible it would be if I were something.

Simone Weil

WE are like a stray line of a poem, which ever feels that it rhymes with another line and must find it, or miss its own fulfilment. This quest of the unattained is the great impulse in man which brings forth all his best creations. Man seems deeply to be aware of a separation at the root of his being, he cries to be led across it to a union; and somehow he knows that it is love which can lead him to a love which is final.

Rabindranath

A Dream

LAST night I dreamt that I was the same boy that I had been before my mother died. She sat in a room in a garden house on the bank of the Ganges. I carelessly passed by without paying attention to her, when all of a sudden it flashed through my mind with an unutterable longing that my mother was there. At once I stopped and went back to her and bowing low touched her feet with my head. She held my hand, looked into my face, and said: "You have come!"

In this great world we carelessly pass by the room where Mother sits. Her storeroom is open when we want our food, our bed is ready when we must sleep. Only that touch and that voice are wanting. We are moving about, but never coming close to the personal presence, to be held by the hand and greeted: "You have come!"

Rabindranath

निब्बान सुत्तं

एवं मे सुतं – एकं समयं भगवा सावत्थियं विहरति जेतवने अनाथपिण्डिकस्स आरामे। तेन खो पन समयेन भगवा भिक्खू निब्बानपटिसंयुत्ताय धम्मिया कथाय सन्दस्सेति समादपेति समुत्तेजेति सम्पहंसेति। तेध भिक्खू अट्ठिं कत्वा मनसि कत्वा सब्बं चेतसो समन्‍नाहरित्वा ओहितसोता धम्मं सुणन्ति।

अथ खो भगवा एतमत्थं विदित्वा तायं वेलायं इमं उदानं उदानेसि –

‘‘निस्सितस्स चलितं, अनिस्सितस्स चलितं नत्थि। चलिते असति पस्सद्धि, पस्सद्धिया सति नति न होति। नतिया असति आगतिगति न होति। आगतिगतिया असति चुतूपपातो न होति। चुतूपपाते असति नेविध न हुरं न उभयमन्तरेन [न उभयमन्तरे (सब्बत्थ) म॰ नि॰ ३.३९३; सं॰ नि॰ ४.८७ पस्सितब्बं]। एसेवन्तो दुक्खस्सा’’ति। चतुत्थं।

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi, in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's monastery. Now at that time the Blessed One was instructing urging, rousing, and encouraging the monks with Dhamma-talk concerned with Unbinding. The monks — receptive, attentive, focusing their entire awareness, lending ear — listened to the Dhamma.
Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed:

One who is dependent has wavering.

 One who is independent has no wavering.

There being no wavering, there is calm.

There being calm, there is no desire.

There being no desire, there is no coming or going.

There being no coming or going, there is no passing away or arising.

There being no passing away or arising, there is neither a here nor a there nor a between-the-two.

This, just this, is the end of stress.

"Nibbana Sutta: Total Unbinding (4)" (Ud 8.4), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight, July 8, 2010, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.8.04.than.html.

कुमारकसुत्तं

एवं मे सुतं – एकं समयं भगवा सावत्थियं विहरति जेतवने अनाथपिण्डिकस्स आरामे। तेन खो पन समयेन सम्बहुला कुमारका अन्तरा च सावत्थिं अन्तरा च जेतवनं मच्छके बाधेन्ति।

अथ खो भगवा पुब्बण्हसमयं निवासेत्वा पत्तचीवरमादाय सावत्थिं पिण्डाय पाविसि। अद्दसा खो भगवा ते सम्बहुले कुमारके अन्तरा च सावत्थिं अन्तरा च जेतवनं मच्छके बाधेन्ते। दिस्वान येन ते कुमारका तेनुपसङ्कमि; उपसङ्कमित्वा ते कुमारके एतदवोच – ‘‘भायथ वो, तुम्हे कुमारका, दुक्खस्स, अप्पियं वो दुक्ख’’न्ति? ‘‘एवं, भन्ते, भायाम मयं, भन्ते, दुक्खस्स , अप्पियं नो दुक्ख’’न्ति।

अथ खो भगवा एतमत्थं विदित्वा तायं वेलायं इमं उदानं उदानेसि –

‘‘सचे भायथ दुक्खस्स, सचे वो दुक्खमप्पियं।

माकत्थ पापकं कम्मं, आवि वा यदि वा रहो॥

‘‘सचे च पापकं कम्मं, करिस्सथ करोथ वा।

न वो दुक्खा पमुत्यत्थि, उपेच्‍चपि [उपच्‍चपि (क॰), उप्पच्‍चपि (?), उप्पतित्वापि इति अत्थो] पलायत’’न्ति॥

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Savatthi, in Jeta's Grove, Anathapindika's monastery. Now at that time, a large number of boys on the road between Savatthi and Jeta's Grove were catching fish. Then early in the morning the Blessed One, having put on his robes and carrying his bowl and outer robe, went into Savatthi for alms. He saw the large number of boys on the road between Savatthi and Jeta's Grove catching fish. Seeing them, he went up to them and, on arrival, said to them: "Boys, do you fear pain? Do you dislike pain?"
"Yes, lord, we fear pain. We dislike pain."
Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed:

If you fear pain,

if you dislike pain,

don't do an evil deed

in open or secret.

If you're doing or

will do an evil deed,

you won't escape pain:

it will catch you even as you run away.

"Kumaraka Sutta: The Boys" (Ud 5.4), translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Access to Insight, July 8, 2010, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.5.04.than.html.

Three Principles

I had long been aware

that in practical life one sometimes has to act on opinions

that one knows to be quite uncertain just as if they were

unquestionably •true (I remarked on this above). But now

that I wanted to devote myself solely to the search for truth,

I thought I needed to do the exact opposite—to reject as if

it were absolutely •false everything regarding which I could

imagine the least doubt, so as to see whether this left me

with anything entirely indubitable to believe. Thus,

•I chose to suppose that nothing was such as our

senses led us to imagine,

because our senses sometimes deceive us. Also,

•I rejected as unsound all the arguments I had previously

taken as demonstrative [= ‘absolutely rigorous’]

proofs,

because some men make mistakes in reasoning, even in the

simplest questions in geometry, and commit logical fallacies;

and I judged that I was as open to this as anyone else. Lastly,

•I decided to pretend that everything that had ever

entered my mind was no more true than the illusions

of my dreams,

because all the mental states we are in while awake can

also occur while we sleep ·and dream·, without having any

truth in them. But no sooner had I embarked on this project

than I noticed that while I was trying in this way to think

everything to be false it had to be the case that •I, who was

thinking this, was •something. And observing that this truth

I am thinking, therefore I exist

was so firm and sure that not even the most extravagant

suppositions of the sceptics could shake it, I decided that

I could accept it without scruple as the first principle of

the philosophy I was seeking. [This ‘first principle’ could be (1)

‘I exist’ or (2) the connection between ‘I am thinking’ and ‘I exist’—the

uncertainty in this version echoes that in Descartes’s French.]

Then I looked carefully into what I was. I saw that while I

could pretend that I had no body and that there was no world

and no place for me to be in, I still couldn’t pretend that I

didn’t exist. I saw on the contrary that from the mere fact

that I thought about doubting the truth of other things, it

followed quite evidently and certainly that I existed; whereas

if I had merely stopped thinking altogether [here = ‘stopped

being in any conscious mental state’], even if everything else I had

ever imagined had been true, I ·would have· had no reason to

believe that I existed. This taught me that I was a substance

whose whole essence or nature is simply to think [here = ‘to be

in conscious mental states’], and which doesn’t need any place, or

depend on any material thing, in order to exist. Accordingly

this me—this soul that makes me what I am—•is entirely

distinct from the body, •is easier to know than the body, and

•would still be just what it is even if the body didn’t exist.

After that I considered in general what is needed for a

proposition to be true and certain: I had just found one

that I knew was true and certain, I thought that I ought

also to know what this certainty consists in. I observed that

the proposition ‘I am thinking, therefore I exist’ has nothing

about it to assure me that I am speaking the truth ·when I

assert it· except that I see very clearly that in order to think

it is necessary to exist. This convinced me that I could take it

as a general rule that the things we conceive very vividly and

very clearly are all true; but ·this isn’t as powerfully simple

a rule as you might think, because· there is some difficulty

in telling which conceptions are really clear.

Next, I reflected on the fact that I was doubting, and that

consequently I wasn’t wholly perfect (for I saw clearly that it

is a greater perfection to know than to doubt). This led me

to the question:

Where did I get my ability to think of something more

perfect than I am?

and I drew the obvious conclusion that this ability had to

come from—·had to be caused by·—something that was in

fact more perfect than me. ·To explain why I reached that

conclusion, I should first explain why· I wasn’t exercised

about such questions as

Where did I get my ability to think of the heavens, the

earth, light, heat (and so on)?

It was because I saw nothing in those thoughts that seemed

to make them superior to me, ·i.e. more perfect than I am·;

and ·that opened the door to a pair of possible explanations

for my ability to have them·. (1) If the thoughts in question

were true, they could depend on—·i.e. come from·—some

perfection in my own nature. (2) If they weren’t true, I could

have derived them from •nothingness - meaning that they

could be in me because I had some •defect. But neither of

these explanations could hold for the idea of a being more

perfect than me. For it was obviously impossible (2) to get

this from nothingness; and I couldn’t have (1) derived it from

myself, because the proposition

(1) Something resulted from and depends on something

less perfect than it is

is just as contradictory as

(2) Something resulted from nothingness.

So the only possibility left was that the idea had been

put into me by •something that truly was more perfect

than I was, •something indeed having every perfection of

which I could have any idea, that is—to explain myself in

one word—by •God. To this I added that since I knew of

some perfections that I didn’t myself have, I wasn’t the only

being that existed. . . .,and there had to be some other more

perfect being on which I depended and from which I had

acquired everything that I had. For if I had existed alone,

not depending on anything else, so that my meagre ration of

perfections had come from myself, then by that same line of

reasoning

•I could have derived from myself all the remaining

perfections that I knew I lacked,

and thus

•I could myself have been infinite, eternal, unchanging,

omniscient, omnipotent;

in short,

•I could have had all the perfections that I had been

able to discover in God.

[What follows starts with the word Car = ‘For’. Descartes seems to be

promising a reason for what he has just said, but the promise isn’t kept.]

For, according to the arguments I have just presented: in

order to know as much of God’s nature as my nature allows

me to know, all I needed was to consider, for each property

of which I had some idea, whether having it was a perfection

or not; and I was sure that God doesn’t have any of the

properties that indicate any imperfection, but that he does

have all the others. Thus I saw that God could not have

doubt, inconstancy, sadness and the like, since I myself

would have been very glad to be free from them, ·which

shows that they are imperfections·. Furthermore, I had

ideas of many perceptible bodies (even if I was dreaming, and

everything that I saw or imagined was false, I still couldn’t

deny that the ideas of bodies were in my mind). But since

I had already recognized very clearly in my own case that

intellectual nature is distinct from bodily nature, and as I

observed that

•if a thing is composed ·of simpler elements· in any

way, that shows that it is dependent on something

else,

and that

•dependence is obviously a defect,

I concluded that

•it couldn’t be a perfection in God to be composed of

these two natures—·the intellectual and the bodily·—

and consequently that he was not composed of them;

and also that if there were any bodies in the world, or any

intelligences or other natures that weren’t wholly perfect,

their being must depend on God’s power in such a way that

they couldn’t stay in existence for a single moment without

him.

Rene Descartes

Provisional moral code of Descartes

I formed for myself a provisional moral code consisting of just

three or four maxims, which I should like to tell you about.

(1) The first was to obey the laws and customs of my

country, holding constantly to the religion in which by

God’s grace I had been instructed from my childhood, and

governing myself in all other matters—·i.e. all the ones not

settled by the law of the land or my religion·—on the basis of

the most moderate and least extreme opinions, the opinions

commonly accepted in practice by the most sensible of the

people with whom I would have to live. For I had begun at

this time to count my own opinions as worthless, because

I wanted to examine them all, and didn’t see how I could

do better than ·in the meantime· to follow those of the most

sensible men. And although the Persians or Chinese may

have men as sensible as any of ours, I thought •that it would

serve me best to be guided by those with whom I was going

to live, and—·a second reason for going this way·—•that in

order to discover what opinions people really held I had to

attend to their actions rather than their words. ·There are

two reasons for this last point·. With our declining standards

of behaviour, few people are willing to say everything that

they believe; and anyway many people don’t know what they

believe, since •believing something and •knowing that you

believe it are different acts of thinking, and you could have

one without the other. Where many opinions were equally

well accepted, I chose only the most moderate, both because

these are always the most convenient in practice, and

probably the best (excess being usually bad),

and also so that

if I made a mistake, it wouldn’t take me as far from

the right path as if I had chosen one extreme when I

ought to have adopted the other.

Coming down to details: I counted as excessive all promises

by which we give up some of our freedom. Not that I

disapproved of laws that allow people to make vows or

contracts that •oblige them to persevere in some worthy

project (or even, for the security of commerce, in something

that is neither good nor bad)—this being a remedy for the

inconstancy of weak minds. ·But I didn’t see myself as

bound by any contract to remain faithful to any of my earlier

beliefs·. I saw nothing in the world that remained always in

the same state, and for my part I was determined to make

my judgments ever more perfect, rather than worse; so I

thought I would be sinning against good sense if I took my

previous approval of something as •obliging me to regard it

as good later on, when it had perhaps ceased to be good or I

no longer regarded it as such.

(2) My second maxim was to be as firm and decisive in

my actions as I could, and to follow even the most doubtful

opinions, once I had adopted them, as constantly as if they

had been quite certain. In this I would be imitating travellers

who find themselves lost in a forest: rather than •wandering

about in all directions or (even worse) •staying in one place,

they should •keep walking as straight as they can in one

11

direction, not turning aside for slight reasons, even if their

choice of direction was a matter of mere chance in the first

place; for even if this doesn’t bring them to where they want

to go it will at least bring them to somewhere that is probably

better for them than the middle of a forest. Similarly, since

in everyday life we often have to act without delay, it is a

most certain truth that when we can’t pick out the truest

opinions we should follow the most probable ones. And

when no opinions appear more probable than any others, we

should nevertheless adopt some; and then we should regard

those as being—from a practical point of view—not doubtful

but most true and certain, because the reason that made us

pick on them is itself true and certain. This maxim could

free me from all the regrets and remorse that usually trouble

the consciences of those weak and stumbling characters who

set out on some supposedly good course of action and then

later, in their inconstancy, judge it to be bad.

(3) My third maxim was to try always to master •myself

rather than •fortune, and change •my desires rather than

changing •how things stand in the world. This involved

getting the habit of believing that nothing lies entirely within

our power except our thoughts, so that after we have done

our best in dealing with matters external to us, whatever

we fail to achieve is absolutely impossible so far as we are

concerned. This seemed to me to be enough, all by itself,

to •prevent me from having unsatisfied desires and thus to

•make me content. For it is the nature of our will to want

only what our intellect presents to it as somehow possible; so

if we regard all external goods as equally beyond our power,

that will certainly save us from regrets over not having goods

that seem to be our birthright but which we are deprived

of through no fault of our own, any more than we regret

not owning the kingdom of China or of Mexico! ‘Making

a virtue of necessity’—as the phrase goes—we shan’t want

to be healthy when ill, or free when imprisoned, any more

than we now want to have bodies as hard as diamonds

or wings to fly like the birds. But I admit that it takes

long practice and repeated meditation to get used to seeing

everything in this light. I think this was the secret of those

philosophers of old who could escape from being dominated

by fortune and, despite suffering and poverty, could rival

their gods in happiness. By constantly busying themselves

with thoughts about the limits that nature had placed on

them, they became thoroughly convinced that nothing was

in their power except their own thoughts, which was enough

to prevent them from being attracted to other things. They

were so absolutely in control of their thoughts that this gave

them some reason to think themselves richer, more powerful,

freer and happier than any men who—however favoured by

nature and fortune they may be—don’t have this philosophy

and so never get such control over all their desires.

 (4) Finally, to conclude this moral code, I decided to

review the various occupations of human life, so as to try

to choose the best. Without wanting to say anything about

other people’s occupations, I thought it would be best for me

to continue with the very one I was then engaged in, and

devote my whole life to cultivating my reason and advancing

as far as I could in the knowledge of the truth, following my

self-imposed method. Since beginning to use this method I

had felt such extreme satisfactions that I didn’t think one

could enjoy any sweeter or purer ones in this life [= ‘before we

get to heaven’]. Every day my method led me to discover truths

that seemed to me to be quite important and not widely

known; my pleasure in this so filled my mind that nothing

else mattered to me. The sole basis for maxims (1)–(3) was

my plan to continue my self-instruction, ·i.e. the course of

action decided on in (4)·. For God has given each of us a light

to distinguish truth from falsehood, and I wouldn’t have (1)

thought myself obliged to rest content for a single moment

with the opinions of others if I hadn’t intended in due course

to bring my own judgment to bear on them; I couldn’t have

(2) avoided having scruples about following these opinions, if

I hadn’t hoped to take every opportunity to discover better

ones if there were any; and I couldn’t have (3) limited my

desires, or been happy, if I hadn’t been following a path that

I thought was sure to lead me to

all the knowledge of which I was capable,

and in this way to lead me to

all the true goods that were within my power.

For our will tends to pursue (or avoid) only what our intellect

represents as good (or bad), so all we need in order to act

well is to judge well; and judging as well as we can is all we

need to •act as well as we can—that is to say, •to acquire

all the virtues and in general all the other attainable goods.

With this certainty, one cannot fail to be happy.

Rene Descartes