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Thought of the Week Archives
May 2000
May 1
A myth is a way of making sense in a senseless world. Myths are narrative
patterns that give significance to our existence. Whether the meaning
of existence is only that we put into life by our own individual fortitude,
as Sartre would hold, or whether there is a meaning we need to discover,
as Kierkegaard would state, the result is the same: myths are our way
of finding this meaning and significance. Myths are like the beams in
a house: not exposed to the outside view, they are the structure which
holds the house together so people can live in it.
- Rollo May, The Cry for Myth
May 8
Myths, after all, contain the greater story that never was but is always
happening. Their waters run far deeper than the compelling tales told
around ancient campfires to explain the seasons, the weather, and the
formidable conflicts found within human societies and the human soul.
Myth does serve as a manner of explanation, but it is also a mode of discovery,
for myth is the coded DNA of the human psyche. It is the stuff of the
evolving self that awakens consciousness and culture according to the
needs of time and place. It is the promise of our becoming.
- David Feinstein and Stanley Krippner, The Mythic Path
May 15
Man positively needs general ideas and convictions that will give a
meaning to his life and enable him to find his place in the universe.
He can stand the most incredible hardships when he is convinced that they
make sense; but he is crushed when, on top of all his misfortunes, he
has to admit that he is taking part in a �tale told by an idiot.�
- Carl Jung, The Function of Religious Symbols
May 22
There sometimes seems to be an inverse relationship between information
and wisdom. We are showered with information about living healthfully,
but we have largely lost our sense of the body's wisdom. We can tune in
to news reports and know what is happening in every corner of the world,
but we don't seem to have much wisdom in dealing with these world problems.
We have many demanding academic programs in professional psychology, and
states often have rigid requirements for the practice of psychotherapy,
and yet there is undoubtedly a severe dearth of wisdom about the mysteries
of the soul.
- Thomas Moore
Care of the Soul, HarperCollins, 1992
May 29
...the first thing you've got to do is understand there are two levels
in ethical decision-making. The first is to distinguish the clearly unethical
decisions from the ethical ones. It's usually unethical to lie, to steal,
to injure others. There's a second level of decision where you're choosing
between ethical values, truth and fairness, truth and loyalty, where no
one answer is absolutely right or absolutely wrong. Here you just have
to analyze the situation as clearly as possible and be sensitive to what
your values are. ...you're dealing with shades of gray. But what I find
is that too many people have adopted a kind of utilitarian view toward
ethics where they no longer consider whether they're dealing with an ethical
value or a non ethical value.
For example, it's one thing to sacrifice truth for fairness. It's another
thing to sacrifice truth for success. You can only sacrifice an ethical
principle for another ethical principle.
Michael Josephson
A World of Ideas: Conversations with thoughtful men and women about
American life today and the ideas shaping our future, by Bill Moyers
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