210124 What I learned in my studies this morning

Today's Tao:

Without going outside, you may know the whole world. 

Without looking through the window, you may see the ways of heaven. 

The farther you go, the less you know. 

Thus the wise know without traveling; 

See without looking; 

Work without doing.

From The Daily Stoic: 

 

“From Rusticus . . . I learned to read carefully and not be satisfied with a rough understanding of the whole , and not to agree too quickly with those who have a lot to say about something.”—M ARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 1.7.3

Paul Johnson once joked that Edmund Wilson read books “as though the author was on trial for his life.”

Learn. Truly learn. Dive deep and bring the lesson into my soul so that it becomes a part of me. 

That is one reason these daily readings are so short — one section, one page, one paragraph some days. So I can reach for real understanding. 

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp / Or what's a heaven for? 

Andrea del Sarto, Robert Browning 

From Eric Hoffer, Part III, Unifying Agents:

Imitation 

Imitation is often a shortcut to a solution. We copy when we lack the inclination, the ability or the time to work out an independent solution. People in a hurry will imitate more readily than people at leisure. Hustling thus tends to produce uniformity. And in the deliberate fusing of individuals into a compact group, incessant action will play a considerable role.

(The True Believer, XIV-81)