Real religion

DO not seek for the City of God on earth, for it is not built of wood or stone; but seek it in the soul of the man who is at peace with himself and is a lover of true wisdom.

If a man practises ablutions of the body, but defiles his mind—if he offers hecatombs, founds a temple, adorns a shrine, and does nothing for making his soul beautiful—let him not be called religious. He has wandered far from real religion, mistaking ritual for holiness; attempting, as it were, to bribe the Incorruptible and to flatter Him whom none can flatter. God welcomes the genuine service of a soul, the sacrifice of truth; but from display of wealth He turns away.

Will any man with impure soul and with no intention to repent dare to approach the Most High God? The grateful soul of the wise man is the true altar of God.

PHILO JUDAEUS, 1st cent.

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Wisdom or truth?

When Rav was taking leave of his uncle and teacher, Rabbi Ḥiyya, upon his return from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, Rabbi Ḥiyya said to him: May the Merciful One save you from something that is worse than death. Rav was perplexed: Is there anything that is worse than death? He went, examined the sources, and found the following verse: “And I find more bitter than death the woman, etc.” (Ecclesiastes 7:26). Rabbi Ḥiyya was hinting at this verse, and indeed, Rav’s wife would constantly aggravate him. When he would say to her: Prepare me lentils, she would prepare him peas; if he asked her for peas, she would prepare him lentils.

When Ḥiyya, his son, grew up, he would reverse the requests Rav asked him to convey to her, so that Rav would get what he wanted. Rav said to his son Ḥiyya: Your mother has improved now that you convey my requests. He said to Rav: It is I who reverse your request to her. Rav said to him: This is an example of the well-known adage that people say: He who comes from you shall teach you wisdom; I should have thought of that idea myself. You, however, should not do so, i.e., reverse my request, as it is stated: “They have taught their tongue to speak lies, they weary themselves to commit iniquity, etc.” (Jeremiah 9:4). If you attribute such a request to me, you will have uttered a falsehood.

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Divine Justice

in the soul of man there is a justice whose retributions are instant and entire. He who does a good deed is instantly ennobled. He who does a mean deed is by the action itself contracted. He who puts off impurity thereby puts on purity. If a man is at heart just, then in so far is he God; the safety of God, the immortality of God, the majesty of God, do enter into that man with justice. If a man dissemble, deceive, he deceives himself, and goes out of acquaintance with his own being. Character is always known. Thefts never enrich; alms never impoverish; murder will speak out of stone walls. The least admixture of a lie—for example, the taint of vanity, any attempt to make a good impression, a favorable appearance—will instantly vitiate the effect. But speak the truth, and all things alive or brute are vouchers, and the very roots of the grass underground there do seem to stir and move to bear your witness. For all things proceed out of the same spirit, which is differently named love, justice, temperance, in its different applications, just as the ocean receives different names on the several shores which it washes. In so far as he roves from these ends, a man bereaves himself of power, of auxiliaries. His being shrinks . .. he becomes less and less, a mote, a point, until absolute badness is absolute death. The perception of this law awakens in the mind a sentiment which we call the religious sentiment, and which makes our highest happiness. Wonderful is its power to charm and to command. It is a mountain air. It is the embalmer of the world.

It makes the sky and the hills sublime, and the silent song of the stars is it. It is the beatitude of man. It makes him illimitable. When he says 'I ought'; when love warns him; when he chooses, warned from on high, the good and great deed; then, deep melodies wander through his soul from supreme wisdom. Then he can worship, and be enlarged by his worship; for he can never go behind this sentiment. All the expressions of this sentiment are sacred and permanent in proportion to their purity. [They] affect us more than all other compositions. The sentences of the olden time, which ejaculate this piety, are still fresh and fragrant. And the unique impression of Jesus upon mankind, whose name is not so much written as ploughed into the history of this world, is proof of the subtle virtue of this infusion.

Emerson

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The finest emotion

1. The finest emotion of which we are capable is the mystic emotion. Herein lies the germ of all art and all true science. Anyone to whom this feeling is alien, who is no longer capable of wonderment and lives in a state of fear is a dead man. To know that what is impenetrable for us really exists and manifests itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, whose gross forms alone are intelligible to our poor faculties - this knowledge, this feeling ... that is the core of the true religious sentiment. In this sense, and in this sense alone, I rank myself among profoundly religious men.

Einstein

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Wisdom

Ideally, wisdom is total perspective — seeing an object, event, or idea in all its pertinent relationships. Spinoza defined wisdom as seeing things sub specie eternitatis, in view of eternity; I suggest defining it as seeing things sub specie totius, in view of the whole.

Obviously we can only approach such total perspective; to possess it would be to be God. The first lesson of philosophy is that philosophy is the study of any part of experience in the light of our whole experience; the second lesson is that the philosopher is a very small part in a very large whole. Just as philosopher means not a “possessor” but a “lover” of wisdom, so we can only seek wisdom devotedly, like a lover fated, as on Keats’ Grecian urn, never to possess, but only to desire. Perhaps it is more blessed to desire than to possess.

Shall we have examples? Rain falls; you mourn that your tennis games must be postponed; you are not a philosopher. But you console yourself with the thought, “How grateful the parched earth will be for the rain!” You have seen the event in a larger perspective, and you are beginning to approach wisdom.

You may be a young radical, or an old businessman crying out for limitless liberty, and as such you may be a useful ferment in a lethargic mass; but if you think of yourself as part of a group, and recognize morality as the cooperation of the part with the whole, you are approaching perspective and wisdom. You may be a politician just elected to Congress for a term of two years; you spend half your time planning re-election; the situation encourages a myopic perspective, contracepting wisdom. Or you may be a secretary of state, or a president, seeking a policy that will protect and improve your country for generations; this is the larger perspective that distinguishes the statesmen.

Or you may be an Ashoka, a Marcus Aurelius, or a Charlemange planning to help humanity rather than merely your own country; you will then be a philosopher-king.

I have in my home a picture of the Virgin nursing her Child with St. Bernard looking at the Child. Your first thought may be that he is looking in the wrong direction; you are not a philosopher. Or you may remember Bernard as the persecutor who hounded Abelard from trial to tribulation until only the philosopher’s bones were handed to Heloise; and you vision for a moment the long struggle of the human mind for freedom; you are seeing the picture in a larger perspective; you touch the skirts of wisdom.

Or, again, you see the mother and her child as a symbol of that vast Amazon of births and deaths and births that is the engulfing river of history; you see woman as the main stream of life, the male as a minor commissary tributary; you see the family as far more basic than the state, and love as wiser than wisdom; perhaps then you are wise.

In a total perspective, all evil is seen as subjective, the misfortune of one self or part; we cannot say whether it is evil for the group, or for humanity, or for life. After all, the mosquito does not think it a tragedy that you should be bitten by a mosquito. It may be painful for a man to die for his country, but Horace, safe on his Sabine farm, thought it very dulce et decorum — that is, very fitting and beautiful.

Even death may be a boon to life, replacing the old and exhausted form with one young and fresh; who knows but death may be the greatest invention that life has ever made? The death of the part is the life of the whole, as in the changing cells of our flesh. We cannot sit in judgment upon the world by asking how well it conforms to the pleasure of a moment, or to the good of one individual, or one species, or one star. How small our categories of pessimism and optimism seem when placed against the perspective of the sky!

Are there any special ways of acquiring a large perspective? Yes. First, by living perceptively; so the farmer, faced with a fateful immensity day after day, may become patient and wise. Secondly, by studying things in space through science; partly in this way Einstein became wise. Thirdly, by studying events in time through history. “May my son study history,” said Napoleon, “for it is the only true philosophy, the only true psychology;” thereby we learn both the nature and the possibilities of man. The past is not dead; it is the sum of the factors operating in the present. The present is the past rolled up into a moment for action; the past is the present unraveled in history for our understanding.

Therefore invite the great men of the past into your homes. Put their works or lives on your shelves as books, their architecture, sculpture, and painting on your walls as pictures; let them play their music for you. Attune your ears to Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy. Make room in your rooms for Confucius, Buddha, Plato, Euripides, Lucretius, Christ, Seneca, Montaigne, Marcus Aurelius, Heloise, Shakespeare, Bacon, Spinoza, Voltaire, Montesquieu, Gibbon, Goethe, Shelley, Keats, Heine, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Spengler, Anatole France, Albert Schweitzer. Let these men be your comrades, your bedfellows; give them half an hour each day; slowly they will share in remaking you to perspective, tolerance, wisdom, and a more avid love of a deepened life.

Don’t think of these men as dead; they will be alive hundreds of years after I shall be dead. They live in a magic City of God, peopled by all the geniuses — the great statesmen, poets, artists, philosophers, women, lovers, saints — whom humanity keeps alive in its memory.

Plato is there, leading his students through geometry to philosophy; Spinoza is there, polishing his lenses, inhaling dust and exhaling wisdom; Goethe is there, thirsting like Faust for knowledge and loveliness, and falling in love at seventy-three; Mendelssohn is there, teaching Goethe to savor Beethoven; Shelley is there, with peanuts in one pocket and raisins in the other and content with them as a well-balanced meal; they are all there in that amazing treasure house of our race, that veritable Fort Knox of wisdom and beauty; patiently there they wait for you.

Be bold, young lovers of wisdom, and enter with open hands and minds the City of God

Will Durant

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Wisdom of Judaism

1. Be deliberate (patient and restrained) in judgment; establish a large cadre of disciples; and construct a boundary around the Torah.


2. On three things the world stands. On Torah, on Service of G-d, and on deeds of kindness.


3. Don't be like slaves (servants) who serve the master in order to receive reward. Rather be like slaves without any intention to receive reward. And the fear of Heaven should be upon you.


4. Your house should be a meeting place for wise people. Attach yourself to the dust of their feet. And drink thirstily of their words.


5. Yossi ben Yochanan Ish Yerushalaim says: Your home should be open with abundance; poor people should be members of your household; and don't carry on excessive conversation with a woman. This was said in relation to his wife. All the more so is it true with the wife of his friend. This is the source for the Rabbis who taught: A person who converses excessively with women causes himself harm, distracts himself from Torah study, and in the end he acquires Gehinom


6. Make for yourself a Rav (a teacher); acquire for yourself a friend; and judge every person on the positive side.


7. Distance yourself from a bad neighbor; don't attach yourself to (befriend) a wicked person; and don't divert your mind from [the possibility that] bad things [can happen to you].


8. Yehuda ben Tabai says(to judges): Don't make your self like a "lawyer;" and when the litigants are standing before you, they should both be viewed as guilty; and when they depart from before you (after the verdict has been rendered) they should both be viewed as virtuous, when they have accepted the judgment.


9. Shimon ben Shatach says(to judges): Cross-examine witnesses extensively; and be cautious with your words, lest the witnesses learn from them to lie (they understand from the question what the answer is supposed to be).


10. Love work; despise public office; and don't become known to (become intimate with) politicians.


11. Avtalyon says: Wise scholars, be careful with your words (take care that ambiguous words not be misunderstood); lest you be liable for (the punishment of) exile, and you will be exiled to a place of evil waters, from which students may come and drink and die, resulting in the desecration of the Name of Heaven.


12. Hillel and Shamai received (the tradition) from them (Shmaya and Avtalyon). Hillel says: Be from among the students of Aharon; one who loves peace, one who pursues peace, one who loves others and brings them closer to Torah


13.
"[Hillel] used to say, one who seeks a name loses his name, one who does not increase [his knowledge] decreases it (or: will perish), one who does not study deserves death, and one who makes use of the crown [of Torah] will pass away."


14.
"He [Hillel] used to say, if I am not for me who is for me, if I am for myself what am I, and if not now when."


15. Shammai said: Make your Torah study fixed, say little and do much, and receive everyone with a cheerful countenance."


16.Shimon his son [the son of Rabban Gamliel of the previous mishna] said: All my life I have been raised among the Sages, and I have not found anything better for oneself than silence. Study is not the primary thing but action. Whoever talks excessively brings about sin."


17. Rabbi [Yehuda haNasi] said: What is the proper path a person should choose for himself? Whatever brings glory to himself [before G-d], and grants him glory before others. Be careful with a minor mitzvah (commandment) as with a major one, for you do not know the reward for the mitzvos. Consider the loss incurred for performing a mitzvah compared to its reward, and the 'reward' received for sinning compared to the loss. Consider three things and you will not come to sin: Know what is above you: an eye that sees and an ear that hears, and all your deeds are recorded in the Book."


18.
"Rabban Gamliel the son of Rabbi Yehuda the Prince said, good is Torah study together with a worldly occupation, for the exertion in both makes one forget sin. All Torah study without work will result in waste and will cause sinfulness. Anyone who works for the community should work for the sake of Heaven, for the merit of their [the community members's] forefathers will help him, and their righteousness endures forever. And as for you, [says G-d], I will grant you much reward as if you accomplished it on your own."
19. Be careful with authorities, for they do not befriend a person except for their own sake. They appear as friends when they benefit from it, but they do not stand by a person in his time of need."


20.
"He [Rabban Gamliel] used to say, do His will as your will, in order that He do your will as His. Annul your will before His will, in order that He annul the will of others before your will."


21. Hillel said, do not separate from the community, do not trust yourself till the day you die, do not judge your fellow until you reach his place, do not make a statement which cannot be understood which will [only] later be understood, and do not say when I have free time I will learn, lest you not have free time."


22. He [Hillel] used to say, a boor cannot fear sin, nor can an unlearned person be pious. A bashful person cannot learn, nor can an impatient one teach. Those who are occupied excessively with business will not become wise [in Torah]. In a place where there are no men, endeavor to be a man."


23.
"He [Hillel] further saw a skull floating on the water. He said to it: 'Because you drowned you were drowned, and in the end those who drowned you will be drowned.'"


24.
"He [Hillel] used to say: The more flesh [a person possesses], the more worms [will eventually consume him in the grave]; the more property the more worry; the more wives the more witchcraft; the more maidservants the more lewdness; the more slaves the more thievery. The more Torah the more life; the more study the more wisdom; the more advice the more understanding; the more charity the more peace. One who acquires a good name acquires it for himself; one who acquires words of Torah has acquired himself a share in the World to Come."


25.
"Rabban Yochanan ben (son of) Zakkai received [the transmission] from Hillel and Shammai. He used to say: If you have studied much Torah do not take credit for yourself because for this were you created."


26.
"He [Rabban Yochanan] said to them [his students]: Go out and see what is a good way to which a person should cleave. R. Eliezer said: A good eye. R. Yehoshua said: A good friend. R. Yossi said: A good neighbor. R. Shimon said: One who considers consequences. R. Elazar said: A good heart. He said to them, I prefer the words of Elazar ben Arach over your words, for included in his words are your words."


27.
"Akavia ben (son of) Mehalalel said, consider three things and you will not come to sin. Know from where you have come, to where you are heading, and before Whom you will give justification and accounting. From where have you come: from a putrid drop (of semen); to where are you heading: to a place of dirt, worms and maggots; and before Whom will you give justification and accounting: before the King of kings, the Holy One blessed be He."


28. "Rabbi Chanina the deputy [High] Priest said, pray for the welfare of the government (lit., monarchy), for if not for its fear, a person would swallow his fellow live."


29.
"Rabbi Chanina ben (son of) Tradyon said, if two people sit together and do not share words of Torah between them, it is a company of scorners, as the verse states, 'In the company of scorners he [the righteous man] did not sit [rather in G-d's Torah was his desire...]' (Psalms 1:1-2). But if two people sit and share words of Torah between them the Divine Presence rests between them, as the verse states, 'Then spoke those who fear G-d one to another, and G-d listened and heard, and it was written in a book of remembrance before Him, for those who fear G-d and regard His Name' (Malachi 3:16). From here we learn only about two. How do we know that even one who sits and studies Torah that the Holy One, blessed be He, allocates him reward? [It is] as the verse states, 'He will sit alone and be silent (studying by himself), for it [a reward] will be placed upon him' (Lamentations 3:28)."


30. "Rabbi Shimon said, three people who ate at the same table and did not speak words of Torah are as if they had eaten from sacrifices to dead [idols], as the verse states 'For all [such] tables are full of vomit and filth without room' (Isaiah 28:8). But three who ate at the same table and did speak words of Torah are as if they had eaten from the L-rd's table, as it states, 'And he [the angel] said to me, 'This [altar] is the table that is before the L-rd'' (Ezekiel 41:22)."


31. Rabbi Chanina ben (son of) Chachi'nie said, one who stays awake at night or travels on the road alone and leaves his heart open to idleness bears the guilt for his own soul."


32.
"Rabbi Nechunia ben (son of) Ha'kaneh said, whoever accepts upon himself the yoke of Torah study, the yoke of government and the yoke of earning a living will be removed from him. Whoever casts off of himself the yoke of Torah study, the yokes of government and earning a living will be placed upon him."


33.
"Rabbi Elazar of Bartosa said, give Him from His own, for you and your possessions are His. And so regarding King David does the verse state, 'For everything is from You, and from Your hands have we given to You' (I Chronicles 29:14)."


34. Rabbi Dostai ben (son of) Yannai said in the name of Rabbi Meir (mai-eer), anyone who forgets anything from his Torah study, Scripture considers it as if he bears the guilt for his own soul, as the verse says, 'Only take heed and guard yourself well, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw' (Deuteronomy 4:9). One might think this applies even if his studies were too difficult for him? The verse therefore continues, 'and lest they be removed from your heart all the days of your life.' Thus, one does not bear the guilt for his soul unless he sits and removes them from his heart."
35.
"Rabbi Chanina ben (son of) Dosa said, anyone whose fear of sin precedes his wisdom, his wisdom will endure. And anyone whose wisdom precedes his fear of sin, his wisdom will not endure."


36.
"He [Rabbi Chanina] used to say, anyone whose good deeds are greater than his wisdom -- his wisdom will endure. And anyone whose wisdom is greater than his good deeds -- his wisdom will not endure."


37.He [Rabbi Chanina] used to say, anyone who is pleasing to his fellows is pleasing to G-d. Anyone who is not pleasing to his fellows is not pleasing to G-d."


38. Rabbi Akiva said, jesting and lightheadedness accustom a person to immorality. The oral transmission is a protective fence for the Torah. Tithes are a protective fence for wealth. Vows are a protective fence for abstinence. A protective fence for wisdom is silence."


39.
"Everything is foreseen, yet free will is given. The world is judged with goodness, and all is according to the majority of deeds."


40.
"He [Rabbi Akiva] used to say, everything is given on collateral, and a net is spread over all the living. The store is open, the Storekeeper extends credit, the ledger is open, the hand writes, and whoever wants to borrow may come borrow. The collectors make their rounds constantly every day, they collect from a person whether he realizes it or not, and they have what to rely upon. The judgment is true, and everything is prepared for the banquet [of Leviathan]."
41.
"Rabbi Elazar ben (son of) Azariah said: If there is no Torah [study] there is no proper conduct; if there is no proper conduct there is no Torah [study]. If there is no wisdom there is no fear of G-d; if there is no fear of G-d there is no wisdom. If there is no knowledge there is no understanding; if there is no understanding there is no knowledge. If there is no flour (sustenance) there is no Torah; if there is no Torah there is no flour."


42.
"He [R. Elazar ben Azariah] used to say: Anyone whose wisdom is greater than his deeds to what is he comparable? To a tree whose branches are many and whose roots are few, and the wind comes and turns it over. As it is said: 'And he will be like a lonely tree in a wasteland, and it will not see when good comes. It will dwell on parched soil in the desert, a salty land, uninhabited' (Jeremiah 17:6). But one whose deeds are greater than his wisdom to what is he comparable? To a tree whose branches are few and whose roots are many, that even if all the winds in the world blow against it, they do not move it from its place. As it is said 'And he shall be like a tree planted on the water, and towards the stream it will spread its roots,and it will not see when heat comes. Its leaves will be fresh, in a year of drought it will not worry, and it shall not cease yielding fruit' (ibid., 17:8)."
43. Ben (the son of) Zoma said: Who is wise? He who learns from all people, as it is said: 'From all those who taught me I gained understanding' (Psalms 119:99). Who is strong? He who conquers his evil inclination, as it is said: 'Better is one slow to anger than a strong man, and one who rules over his spirit than a conqueror of a city' (Proverbs 16:32). Who is rich? He who is satisfied with his lot, as it is said: 'When you eat the toil of your hands you are fortunate and it is good for you' (Psalms 128:2). 'You are fortunate' -- in this world; 'and it is good for you' -- in the World to Come. Who is honored? He who honors others, as it is said: 'For those who honor Me will I honor, and those who scorn Me will be degraded' (I Samuel 2:30)."


44. Ben (the son of) Azzai said, run to perform [even] a minor mitzvah (commandment) and flee from sin, for one mitzvah leads to another mitzvah, and one sin leads to another sin; for the reward of a mitzvah is a mitzvah and the 'reward' of a sin is a sin


45. He [the son of Azzai] used to say, do not be disrespectful of any person and do not be dismissing of any thing, for there is no person who does not have his hour, and there is no thing which does not have its place."


46.
"Rabbi Yishmael bar (son of) Rabbi Yossi said, one who studies Torah in order to teach is granted the ability to study and to teach. One who studies in order to do is granted the ability to study, to teach, to observe, and to do."


47.
"Rabbi Yonasan said: Whoever fulfills the Torah out of poverty will ultimately fulfill it in wealth. And whoever neglects the Torah out of wealth will ultimately neglect it out of poverty."


48. Rabbi Meir (mai-eer) said: Lessen your business activities and engage in Torah study. Be humble of spirit before every person. If you have wasted time from Torah study, you will be given many causes to neglect it. And if you have exerted yourself in Torah study, G-d has much reward to give you."


49.
"Rabbi Eliezer ben (son of) Yaakov said: One who fulfills one mitzvah (commandment) acquires himself a single defending angel. One who commits one transgression acquires one accusing angel. Repentance and good deeds serve as a shield before retribution."


50.
"Rabbi Yochanan the sandal maker said: Every assembly which is for the sake of Heaven will eventually endure. And one which is not for the sake of Heaven will not endure."


51.
"Rabbi Yehuda said: Be cautious in Torah study, for inadvertent errors in study are considered willful transgressions."


52. Rabbi Nehorai said: Exile yourself to a place of Torah and do not say it will come after you or that your colleagues will preserve it for you. 'And do not rely on your own understanding' (Proverbs 3:5)."


53.
"Rabbi Yannai said: It is not within our ability [to understand] neither the tranquility of the wicked nor the suffering of the righteous."
54.
"Rabbi Masya ben (son of) Charash said: Be first to greet every person, and be the tail of lions rather than the head of foxes."


55. Rabbi Yaakov said: This world is like an entrance chamber before the World to Come. Prepare yourself in the entrance chamber so that you may enter the banquet hall


56.
"He [Rabbi Yaakov] used to say: One hour of repentance and good deeds in this world is better than the entire life of the World to Come. And one hour of bliss in the World to Come is better than the entire life of this world."


57.
"Rabbi Shimon ben (son of) Elazar said: Do not appease your fellow at the time of his anger, do not console him at the time his dead lies before him, do not ask him [to regret his oath] at the time of his oath, and do not attempt to see him at the time of his downfall."


58. Shmuel (Sh-moo-ail) the Small said, 'At your enemy's fall do not rejoice, and when he stumbles let your heart not be joyous, lest the L-rd see and be displeased and turn back His anger from him [to you]' (Proverbs 24:17-18)."


59.
"Elisha ben (son of) Avuya said: One who studies Torah as a child, to what is he compared? To ink written on fresh paper. And one who studies Torah as an old man, to what is he compared? To ink written on blotted paper."


60.
"Rabbi Elazar HaKappar said: Jealousy, lust and the [pursuit of] honor remove a person from the world."


61. He (Rabbi Elazar HaKappar) used to say: The born will die, the dead will come to life, and the living will be judged -- [so that] they know, make known, and become aware that He is G-d, He is the Fashioner, He is the Creator, He is the One who understands, He is the Judge, He is the Witness, He is the Litigant, and He will eventually judge. Blessed is He for there is not before Him wrongdoing, forgetfulness, favoritism, or the acceptance of bribes -- for all is His. And know that everything is according to a reckoning. And do not let your evil inclination assure you that the grave is a refuge for you -- for against your will were you created, against your will were you born, against your will do you live, against your will will you die, and against your will will you stand in judgment before the King of kings, the Holy One, blessed be He."


62. Seven things apply to an uncultured person (Heb., 'golem'), and seven to a wise person. A wise person does not speak before one who is greater than he in wisdom or years; he does not interrupt his fellow; he does not rush to respond; he asks relevant questions; he answers accurately; he discusses first things first and last things last; on what he did not hear, he says 'I did not hear;' and he admits to the truth. The opposite [of these is true] of the golem."


63.
"There are four character types among people. One who says, 'What's mine is mine and what's yours is yours' is of average character, and some say, this is the character of Sodom. [One who says] 'What's mine is yours and what's yours is mine' is unlearned (lit., [of] the people of the land). [One who says] 'What's mine is yours and what's yours is yours' is pious. [One who says] 'What's yours is mine and what's mine is mine' is wicked."


64. There are four types of temperaments. One who is quick to become angry and quick to calm down -- his gain is outweighed by his loss. One who is slow to become angry and slow to calm down -- his loss is outweighed by his gain. One who is slow to become angry and quick to calm down is pious. One who is quick to become angry and slow to calm down is wicked."


65. "Any love which is dependent on something, when the 'something' ceases, the love ceases. Any love which is not dependent on anything will never cease. What is a love which is dependent? The love of Amnon for Tamar. And which is not dependent? The love of David and Yehonasan."


66. Any dispute which is for the sake of Heaven will ultimately endure, and one which is not for the sake of Heaven will not ultimately endure. What is a dispute for the sake of Heaven? This is a debate between Hillel and Shammai. What is a dispute not for the sake of Heaven? This is the dispute of Korach and his assembly."


67.
"Anyone who brings the many towards merit -- a sin will not come about through him. And anyone who brings the many to sin will not be given the opportunity to repent. Moses merited and brought merit to the many. The merit of the many was dependent upon him, as it is said, 'He did G-d's righteousness and G-d's justice with Israel' (Deuteronomy 33:21). Jeroboam ben (son of) Nevat sinned and brought the masses to sin. The sin of the many was dependent upon him, as it is said, '...for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned and caused Israel to sin' (I Kings 15:30)."
68.
"Yehuda ben (son of) Taima said, be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer, and strong as a lion to do the will of your Father in Heaven."


69. He [Yehuda ben Taima] used to say: At five [one should begin the study of] Scriptures; at ten, Mishna; at thirteen [one becomes obligated in] the commandments; at fifteen [the study of] Talmud; at eighteen the wedding canopy; at twenty to pursue; at thirty strength; at forty understanding; at fifty counsel; at sixty old age; at seventy fullness of years; at eighty spiritual strength; at ninety bending over; at one hundred it is as if he has died and passed on from the world."
70. Ben (son of) Bag Bag said: Turn the Torah over and over for everything is in it. Look into it, grow old and worn over it, and never move away from it, for you will find no better portion than it."


71. Ben (son of) Hai Hai said, according to the distress is the reward."


72.
"Rabbi Meir (Mai-eer) said: Anyone who engages in Torah study for its own sake ('lishma') merits many things. Not only that, but the entire world is worthwhile for him alone. He is called 'friend' and 'beloved,' he loves G-d, he loves man, he brings joy to G-d, he brings joy to man. It [the Torah] clothes him in humility and fear. It enables him to be righteous, pious, upright, and faithful. It distances him from sin and brings him to merit. [Others] benefit from him advice and wisdom, understanding and strength, as it says, 'To me is advice and wisdom, I am understanding, and strength is mine' (Proverbs 8:14). It gives him kingship, dominion and analytical judgment. It reveals to him the secrets of the Torah. He becomes as an increasing stream and an unceasing river. He becomes modest, slow to anger, and forgiving of the wrongs done to him. It makes him great and exalted above all of creation."
73.
"This is the way of the Torah: Bread and salt you will eat, measured water you will drink, on the ground you will sleep, a life of suffering you will live, and in the Torah you will labor. If you do this, 'You are fortunate and it is good for you' (Psalms 128:2). 'You are fortunate' -- in this world; 'and it is good for you' -- in the World to Come."
74. Do not seek greatness for yourself and do not crave honor. Do more than you have studied and do not desire the 'table' of kings. For your table is greater than their table, and your crown is greater than their crown. And your Employer can be trusted to pay you the reward for your efforts."


75. Torah is greater than priesthood and kingship, for kingship is acquired with 30 qualities, priesthood is acquired with 24, whereas the Torah is acquired with 48 ways. These are: (1) study, (2) attentive listening3) articulate expression, (4) understanding and perception of the heart(5) awe, (6) fear, (7) modesty, (8) joy(9) service of the sages, (10) careful discussion with colleagues, (11) sharp discussion with students 12) composure, (13) Scripture and Mishna (14) limited business activity, (15) limited involvement with the world (some translate: sexual activity), (16) limited enjoyment, (17) limited sleep, (18) limited light conversation, (19) limited laughter (20) slowness to anger, (21) a good heart 22) trust in the Sages 23) acceptance of suffering, (24) knowing one's place, (25) being happy with one's lot 26) making a fence for one's words, (27) not taking credit for oneself (28) being loved, (29) loving G-d (30) loving mankind, (31) loving righteousness 32) loving uprightness (33) loving rebuke (34) distancing oneself from honor, (35) not being arrogant in one's studies, (36) not enjoying instructing others (37) bearing the yoke with his fellow 38) judging one's fellow favorably (39) setting [his fellow] on the path of truth, (40) setting him on the path of peace (41) being composed in one's studies, (42) asking and responding, (43) listening and adding [to one's own knowledge] (44) learning in order to teach, (45) learning in order to do 46) making one's teacher wiser, (47) precisely quoting what one has heard 48) saying a statement in the name of the one who said it. For we have learned that anyone who says a statement in the name of the one who said it brings redemption to the world, as the verse says 'And Esther said to the King in the name of Mordechai' (Esther 2:22)."


76.
"Great is Torah, for it gives life to its doers in this world and in the next world, as it is written: 'For they [the teachings of the Torah] give life to those who find them and healing to all flesh' (Proverbs 4:22). It also says: 'Healing will it be for your flesh and marrow for your bones' (ibid., 3:8). It also says: 'It is a tree of life to those who take hold of it, and those who support it are fortunate' (3:18). And it says: 'They are a graceful garland for your head and necklaces for your throat' (1:9). And it says: 'It will give your head a graceful garland; it will provide you a crown of glory' (4:9). And it says: 'For in me [the Torah] will you lengthen days, and years of life will be added to you' (9:11). And it says: 'Length of days in its right hand; in its left are wealth and honor' (3:16). And it is written: 'For length of days, years of life, and peace will they [the Torah's teachings] increase for you' (3:2)."


77. Rabbi Shimon ben (son of) Yehuda said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai: Beauty, strength, wealth, honor, wisdom, old age, fullness of years, and children are fitting for the righteous and fitting for the world, as it is written: 'A crown of majesty is old age; it will be found along the path of righteousness' (Proverbs 16:31). And it says: 'The crown of the aged is grandchildren, and the glory of children is their fathers' (17:6). And it says: 'The glory of young men is their strength, and the majesty of elders is age' (20:29). And it is written: 'And the moon will be darkened and the sun will grow ashamed for the L-rd of Hosts rules in Mount Zion and Jerusalem, and before his elders will be honor' (Isaiah 24:23). Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya said: These seven qualities which the Sages listed regarding the righteous were all fulfilled in Rabbi [Yehuda the Prince] and his sons."


78.
"Rabbi Yossi ben (son of) Kisma said: One time I was walking along the way and a certain man met me. He greeted me and I returned the greeting. He said to me: 'Rabbi, where are you from?' I responded: 'I am from a large city of scholars and scribes.' He said to me: 'Rabbi, would you be willing to dwell among us in our place, and I will give you hundreds of thousands of gold coins, precious stones and pearls?' I said to him: 'Even if you would give me all the silver, gold, precious stones, and pearls in the world, I would not dwell anywhere other than a place of Torah.' So too it was written in the Book of Psalms by David, King of Israel: 'The Torah of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver [coins]' (119:72). And further, when a person departs this world neither his silver, gold, precious stones, nor pearls accompany him, but only his Torah study and good deeds, as it is written: 'When you walk it will guide you, when you lie down it will protect you, and when you arise it will speak for you' (Proverbs 6:22). 'When you walk it will guide you' -- in this world; 'when you lie down it will protect you' -- in the grave; 'and when you arise it will speak for you' -- in the World to Come. And it says: 'To Me is silver and gold says the L-rd of hosts' (Haggai 2:8)."


79. Everything that the Holy One, Blessed be He, created in His world He created only for His honor, as it is written, 'All that is called by My Name, for My honor I have created, formed and made it' (Isaiah 43:7). It also states, 'The L-rd shall reign forever and ever' (Exodus 15:18)."

Beatitude of soul

good fortune [= ‘good luck’] depends only on things external to us;
so someone to whom some good comes without his having
done anything to get it is regarded as more fortunate than
wise men are. In contrast with that, true beatitude [béatitude]
seems to me to consist in a complete contentment of the
mind and an inner satisfaction. People who are the most
favoured by fortune usually don’t have this contentment,
and wise people acquire it with no help from fortune. Thus,
vivere beate, to live in beatitude, is nothing but to have a
mind that is perfectly content and satisfied.

When I think about what the things are quod beatam
vitam efficiat, i.e. that can give us this utter contentment
·that I call ‘beatitude’·, I see that they are of two sorts:
(1) those that depend on us, such as virtue and wisdom,
and (2) those that don’t depend on us, such as honours,
riches, and health. Consider two men who are equally (1)
wise and virtuous, and who differ in that (2) one of them
is shapely, not ill, and affluent while the other is deformed,
unhealthy, and poor; it is certain that the former can be more
completely contented than the latter can.
Still, a small jug can be just as full as a larger one! Taking
the contentment of each man to be
the fullness and the satisfaction of
his desires regulated according to reason,
I don’t doubt that the poorest people, least blest by nature
and fortune, can be entirely content and satisfied just as
others can, although they don’t enjoy as many good things.
That is the only sort of contentment that is in question here;
trying for the other sort would be a waste of time, because it
is not in our own power.
Now, it seems to me that each person can make himself
content, unaided by anything external to him, provided he
respects three conditions that are related to the three rules
of morality that I presented in the Discourse on the Method.
(1) He should always try to use his mind as well as he
can in order to know what he should do or not do in all the
events of life.
(2) He should have a firm and constant resolution to do
whatever reason advises, without being turned away from
that by his passions or appetites. Virtue, I believe, consists
precisely in sticking firmly to this resolution; though I don’t
know that anyone has ever explained the word in this way. . . .
(3) He should bear in mind that while he is living as much
as he can under the guidance of reason, all the good things
that he doesn’t have are one and all entirely outside his
power. This will get him into the habit of not wanting them.
Why is it that we want to be healthier and richer than we are,
but don’t want to have more arms or more tongues than we
have? It is because we know that we can’t by our own efforts
come to have more tongues or arms, while •we imagine that
health and riches are achievable by our exertions or are owed
to our nature—·i.e. are things that it is not natural for us
to lack·. We can rid ourselves of •that opinion by bearing in
mind that since we have always followed the advice of our
reason we have left undone nothing that was in our power,
and that sickness and misfortune are as natural to man as
prosperity and health. 
Nothing can impede our contentment except •desire and
•regret or repentance. 
·I have explained how the person who
lives by reason can be free of discontenting desires, and now
I add that he can also be free of repentance·. If he always
does whatever his reason tells him to do, then even if events
show him afterwards that he has gone wrong, he will never
have any grounds for repentance, because it was not his
fault.
I should add that beatitude is not incompatible with
every sort of desire—only with desires that are accompanied
by impatience and sadness. Also, it isn’t necessary ·for
beatitude = utter contentment· that our reason should be
free from error. All that is needed is for our conscience
to testify that we have never lacked resolution and virtue
to carry out whatever we have judged the best course. So
virtue by itself is sufficient to make us content in this life.
Nevertheless, because virtue unenlightened by intellect can be false: i.e. our will and resolution to do well can carry us to evil
courses that we think are good,
(1) the contentment that comes from such virtue is not solid,
·i.e. we can’t depend on it to be durable·; and because
we ordinarily oppose this virtue to pleasures, appetites,
and passions,
(2) it’s very difficult to put it into practice. On the other
hand, the right use of reason gives us a true knowledge of
the good ·and thus (1) gives us solid contentment because· it
prevents our virtue from being false; and because the right
use of reason brings virtue into harmony with permissible
pleasures, (2) it makes the practice of virtue quite easy.
·And it also contributes to virtue in a way that I haven’t yet
mentioned, namely·: by giving us knowledge of the condition
of our nature, it restrains our desires in such a way that
one must admit that •man’s greatest happiness depends on
this right use of reason and that therefore •the study that
leads one to it is the most useful occupation one can have.
Certainly it is the most agreeable and delightful.

Descartes

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virtues and wisdom

There’s a great difference between apparent virtues and true ones. .
What I call ‘apparent virtues’ are certain relatively unusual
vices that are ·extreme· opposites of other better known vices,
with the related virtues occupying a position intermediate
between the two. Because they are further from their
opposite vices than the virtues are, they are usually praised
more highly than the related virtues are. Here are some
examples.
 (1) It more often happens that someone timidly
flees from danger than that someone rashly throws himself
into it; so rashness is contrasted with the vice of timidity
as if it were a virtue, and is commonly valued more highly
than true courage ,which is intermediate between timidity
and rashness. 
The same mechanism is at work when 
(2)someone who is over-generous is more highly praised than
one who gives liberally ·because his conduct is further from
the vice of meanness than is the virtuous conduct of the
merely liberal giver.
There is also a division within the true virtues, between
ones that arise solely from knowledge of what is right and
ones that come partly from some error. Examples of the
latter class of virtues:
goodness that is a result of naivety,
piety that comes from fear,
courage that comes from the loss of hope.
Because such virtues differ from each other, they have
different names; whereas the pure and genuine virtues that
come entirely from knowledge of what is right all have the
very same nature and are covered by the single term ‘wisdom’.
The person who is firmly and effectively resolved always to
use his reasoning powers correctly, as far as he can, and to
do whatever he knows to be best, is the person who is as
wise as his nature allows him to be. And simply because
of this wisdom, he will have justice, courage, temperance,
and all the other virtues—all interlinked in such a way that
no one of them stands out among the others. Such virtues
are far superior to the ones that owe their distinguishing
marks to some admixture of vice, but they usually receive
less praise because common people are less aware of them.The kind of wisdom I have described has two prerequisites:


•the perceptiveness of the intellect and the •disposition
of the will. If something depends on the will, anybody can
do it; but ·the same doesn’t hold for intellectual perceptions,
because· some people have much keener intellectual vision
than others. Someone who is by nature a little slow in
his thinking and ·therefore· ignorant on many points can
nevertheless be wise in his own way and thus find great
favour with God; all that is needed is for him to make a firm
and steady decision to do his utmost to acquire knowledge
of what is right, and always to pursue what he judges to
be right. Still, he won’t rise to the level of those who are
firmly resolved to act rightly and have very sharp intellects
combined with the utmost zeal for acquiring knowledge






Descartes

wisdom

We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one
can take for us or spare us.




(Marcel Proust)

Do not put your trust in every idea and every notion

Life can show the most
wonderful things, but behind all of them lies a
trap should we forget the source of this wonder.
God has devised this plan so that we will learn
not to claim, out of arrogance and vanity, these
ideas and plans as our own.
If everything were in truth as it appears to be,
Mohammed, endowed as he was with a vision so
penetrating, so illuminated, would never have
cried,
“Lord, show me things as they are.
You show a thing as fair, and in reality it is ugly.
You show a thing as ugly, and in truth it is beautiful.
Show us everything just as it is,
So that we will not fall into the snare.”

Now, your judgement, however good and
luminous it may be, is certainly not better than
the Prophet’s judgement.
So do not put your trust in every idea and every notion,
 but only in God and Its wisdom.

RUMI

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

freed of five fears

"There are, monks, four powers. The power of wisdom, the power of energy, the power of an unblemished life, and the power of benevolence.
"And what, monks, is the power of wisdom? As to those things which are good and held to be good, bad and held to be so; blameless and blameworthy, and held to be so; dark and bright, and held to be so; fit or unfit to be practiced, and held to be so; which are worthy and unworthy of noble ones, and are held to be so — to see all these things clearly and to consider them well, this is called the power of wisdom.
"And what, monks, is the power of energy? As to those things that are bad, blameworthy, dark, unfit to be practiced, unworthy of noble ones, and which are held to be so — to rouse one's will, to make an effort and stir up one's energy for giving up all these things; and as to those things that are good, blameless, bright, fit to be practiced, worthy of noble ones, and which are held to be so — to rouse one's will, to make an effort and stir up one's energy for gaining all these things — this is called the power of energy.
"And what, monks, is the power of an unblemished life? Herein, monks, a noble disciple is unblemished in his deeds, unblemished in his words, unblemished in his thoughts. This is called the power of an unblemished life.
"And what, monks, is the power of benevolence? There are four ways of benevolence; by gifts, by friendly speech, by helpful acts and by bestowal of equity. This is the best of gifts: the gift of Dhamma. And this is the best of friendly speech: to teach again and again Dhamma to those who wish for it and who listen attentively. And this is the best of helpful acts: to arouse, instil and strengthen faith in the unbeliever; to arouse, instil and strengthen virtue in the immoral; to arouse, instil and strengthen generosity in the niggard; to arouse, instil and strengthen wisdom in the unwise. And this is the best bestowal of equity: if a stream-winner becomes equal to a stream-winner; a once-returner equal to a once-returner; a non-returner equal to a non-returner; and an arahant equal to an arahant. This, monks, is called the power of benevolence.
"And this (concludes) the four powers.
"Now, monks, a noble disciple endowed with these four powers has left behind five fears: the fear for his livelihood, the fear of disrepute, the fear of embarrassment in assemblies, the fear of death, and the fear of an unhappy future destiny.
"A noble disciple (thus endowed) will think: 'No fear do I have for my livelihood. Why should I have fear about it? Have I not the four powers of wisdom, energy, unblemished life and benevolence? It is one who is foolish and lazy, of blameworthy conduct in deeds, words and thoughts, and who has no benevolence — such a one might be in fear for his livelihood.
"'No fear do I have about disrepute or about embarrassment in assemblies, nor have I fear of death or of an unhappy future destiny. Why should I have these fears? Have I not the four powers of wisdom, energy, unblemished life and benevolence? It is one who is foolish and lazy, of blameworthy conduct in deeds, words and thoughts, and who has no benevolence — such a one might have all these fears.'
"Thus it should be understood, monks, that a noble disciple endowed with the four powers has left behind five fears."