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Letters Upon the Aesthetic Education of Man - Part X

Letters Upon the Aesthetic Education of Man - Part X

Letter XIV WE have been brought to the idea of such a correlation between the two impulsions that the action of the one establishes and limits at the same time the action of the other, and that each of them, taken in isolation, does arrive at its highest manifestation just because the other is active. No doubt this correlation of the two impulsions is simply a problem advanced by reason, and which man will only be able to solve in the perfection of his being. It is in the s

Tao Te Ching - Part III

Tao Te Ching - Part III

Chapter 19 End sagacity; abandon knowledge The people benefit a hundred times End benevolence; abandon righteousness The people return to piety and charity End cunning; discard profit Bandits and thieves no longer exist These three things are superficial and insufficient Thus this teaching has its place: Show plainness; hold simplicity Reduce selfishness; decrease desires Chapter 20 Cease learning, no more worries Respectful response and scornful response How much is

Tao Te Ching - Part I

Tao Te Ching - Part I

Chapter 1 The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao The name that can be named is not the eternal name The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth The named is the mother of myriad things Thus, constantly without desire, one observes its essence Constantly with desire, one observes its manifestations These two emerge together but differ in name The unity is said to be the mystery Mystery of mysteries, the door to all wonders Chapter 2 When the world knows b

A Defence of Poetry - Part VII

A Defence of Poetry - Part VII

It is probable that the poetry of Moses, Job, David, Solomon, and Isaiah had produced a great effect upon the mind of Jesus and his disciples. The scattered fragments preserved to us by the biographers of this extraordinary person are all instinct with the most vivid poetry. But his doctrines seem to have been quickly distorted. At a certain period after the prevalence of a system of opinions founded upon those promulgated by him, the three forms into which Plato had distribu

A Poison Tree

A Poison Tree

"A Poison Tree" William Blake I was angry with my friend: I told my wrath, my wrath did end. I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow. And I water'd it in fears, Night & morning with my tears; And I sunned it with smiles, And with soft deceitful wiles. And it grew both day and night, Till it bore an apple bright; And my foe beheld it shine, And he knew that it was mine, And into my garden stole When the night had veil'd the pole: In the morning glad I see

A Defence of Poetry - Part IV

A Defence of Poetry - Part IV

The whole objection, however, of the immorality of poetry rests upon a misconception of the manner in which poetry acts to produce the moral improvement of man. Ethical science arranges the elements which poetry has created, and propounds schemes and proposes examples of civil and domestic life: nor is it for want of admirable doctrines that men hate, and despise, and censure, and deceive, and subjugate one another. But poetry acts in another and diviner manner. It awakens an

Oration on the Dignity of Man - Part II

Oration on the Dignity of Man - Part II

Who then will not look with awe upon this our chameleon, or who, at least, will look with greater admiration on any other being? This creature, man, whom Asclepius the Athenian, by reason of this very mutability, this nature capable of transforming itself, quite rightly said was symbolized in the mysteries by the figure of Proteus. This is the source of those metamorphoses, or transformations, so celebrated among the Hebrews and among the Pythagoreans; for even the esoteric t

Love's Bright Star

Love's Bright Star

Take a look at the night sky. See the vast emptiness of its darkness. Now think that although the world may look scary and threatening without the light, and there may be many tragic corners that seem to drag the divine out of its place, there will always be stars. And the darker the night is, the brighter each star lights. John Keats had tragic life story. Although he only lived 25 years due to the serious symptoms of tuberculosis (1795-1821), with his passionate dedicatio

A Poet to his Beloved

A Poet to his Beloved

They say that when we fall in love it is forever, and perhaps that is true. Even though we change who we are through time, through our life experiences, through emotions, through the dreams and hopes we follow, we remember and we forget; and even though those whom we love change as well . . . Love persists in our souls eternally, as a timeless flame. ~ "A Poet to his Beloved" by William Butler Yeats I bring you with reverent hands the books of m numberless dreams, White wo

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