The                                          The                                        The                                                The                                             The                                           The                                           The                                            The

Letter XIX TWO principal and different states of passive and active capacity of being determined can be distinguished in man; in like manner two states of passive and active determination. The explanation of this proposition leads us most readily to our end. The condition of the state of man before destination or direction is given him by the impressions of the senses is an unlimited capacity of being determined. The infinite of time and space is given to his imagination fo

Letter XVIII BY beauty the sensuous man is led to form and to thought; by beauty the spiritual man is brought back to matter and restored to the world of sense. From this statement it would appear to follow that between matter and form, between passivity and activity, there must be a middle state, and that beauty plants us in this state. It actually happens that the greater part of mankind really form this conception of beauty as soon as they begin to reflect on its operati

XVII WHILE we were only engaged in deducing the universal idea of beauty from the conception of human nature in general, we had only to consider in the latter the limits established essentially in itself, and inseparable from the notion of the finite. Without attending to the contingent restrictions that human nature may undergo in the real world of phænomena, we have drawn the conception of this nature directly from reason, as a source of every necessity, and the ideal of

Letter XVI FROM the antagonism of the two impulsions, and from the association of two opposite principles, we have seen beauty to result, of which the highest ideal must therefore be sought in the most perfect union and equilibrium possible of the reality and of the form. But this equilibrium remains always an idea that reality can never completely reach. In reality, there will always remain a preponderance of one of these elements over the other, and the highest point to whi

Letter XV I APPROACH continually nearer to the end to which I lead you, by a path offering few attractions. Be pleased to follow me a few steps further, and a large horizon will open up to you and a delightful prospect will reward you for the labour of the way. The object of the sensuous instinct, expressed in a universal conception, is named Life in the widest acceptation: a conception that expresses all material existence and all that is immediately present in the senses.

Chapter 75 The people's hunger Is due to the excess of their ruler's taxation So they starve The people's difficulty in being governed Is due to the meddling of their ruler So they are difficult to govern The people's disregard for death Is due to the glut in their ruler's pursuit of life So they disregard death Therefore those who do not strive for living Are better than those who value living Chapter 76 While alive, the body is soft and pliant When dead, it is ha

Chapter 67 Everyone in the world calls my Tao great As if it is beyond compare It is only because of its greatness That it seems beyond compare If it can be compared It would already be insignificant long ago! I have three treasures I hold on to them and protect them The first is called compassion The second is called conservation The third is called not daring to be ahead in the world Compassionate, thus able to have courage Conserving, thus able to reach widely