16 April 2022

How To Live Well According To the Ancients (Part Two)

In my last Refresher, I selected a range of sayings from philosphers, religious figures and thinkers on how to live a deep and meaningful life. There are so many insights, I had to split the Refresher into two, so here’s part two:

Watch your tongue

It is better to conceal your ignorance than to reveal it to the world (Heraclitus, Greek philosopher, 5^th century BC)

The wise person does not talk, the talented ones talk and the stupid ones argue (Kung Ting-an, Chinese writer, 19^th century)

He who knows does not speak; he who speaks does not know (Tao Te Ching, Taoist text, 6^th century BC)

The food that enters your mouth doesn’t harm you; but rather the words that come out of it.  (St Matthew 15:11)

Your words are in your control before you have spoken, but once said, the words have power over you, and you’ve lost all control. (Shekel Hakodesh, Hebrew text of aphorisms, 12^th century)

You think you’re smart?

The wise person doesn’t learn anything new, but rather reviews what others have passed through (Tao Te Ching)

Knowledge without action is not knowledge (al-Hujwiri, Iranian/Indian sufi mystic, 11^th century)

A little knowledge carried into action is more profitable than much knowledge not carried into action. The best are those who know and act (Georg Hermes, German catholic theolgian, 19^th century)

The truly clever person is someone who understands they know little compared to what they don’t know (‘Ali, cousin of Prophet Muhammad, 7^th century)

Deceived by looks

All that glitters is not gold (William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice, 16^th century)

I have seen servants upon horses and princes walking as servants upon the earth (Old Testament, Ecclesiastes 10:7, 3^rd century BC )

One should not take outward beauty for reality: if you don’t understand this, you’ll be lost (Ching Hao, Chinese artist, 9^th century)

Can earthly things seem important to you if you know the vastness of the universe? (Cicero, Roman statesman and philosopher, 1^st century BC)

Pay it forward

It is more blessed to give than to receive (New Testament,  Acts 20:35, 1^st century)

Spending your wealth for a good cause is like a grain which sprouts seven ears, and in every ear, there are another hundred grains. (Quran 2:261, 7^th century)

‘Blessed is the person who gives up a present desire for a distant promise which they haven’t seen yet’ (a saying attributed to Jesus Christ in Islamic tradition, 7^th century)

I have always avoided following the wrong path: I have given food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, transport to the stranded, to the orphan I was a father, to the widow a husband, to the roofless I gave a home (Egyptian traditional saying)

Simple action plan

What’s better than practices like fasting, charity and meditation? Making peace between one another: hostility and nastiness tear up the greater good by the roots (Prophet Muhammad, 7^th century)

Whoever knocks persistently, ends up entering (Ali)

Replace doing things in which you have doubts, for things in you don’t have doubts (Prophet Muhammad)

 ‘May I ask what is the art of  government?’ Confucius: ‘The art of government simply consists in making things right  or putting things in their right places’ (Confucius, Chinese philosopher, 5^th century BC)

The good action and bad action are not the same. So respond to the bad action with one which is better, and then watch how the hatred between you and someone else disappears and you become like best friends. (Quran, 41:34)

Human Being, not Human Doing

Hope that your outward actions and inward being are the same. (Plato, Phaedrus 4^th century BC)

Master your random thoughts, try to raise yourself above the fluctuations of life and you will see all your anxiety disappear around what the right thing to do is (Anandamayi Ma, Hindu sprirual leader, 20^th century)

Give up over thinking and be just like a child. Follow simple wisdoms and the path will be become obvious. (Saraha, Buddhist monk, 9^th century)

Just try to be; and not to be this or that (Sri Ramana Maharshi, Indian sage, 20^th century)

When asked  “What shall I do to not waste time?” The Prophet Muhammad answered “Learn to know yourself” (Prophet Muhammad)

First, I must know myself. So to be nosy about others, while I am still ignorant of my own self, is silly (Plato, Phaedrus)

We’re not so different after all

Languages differ, but mankind is one; and speech likewise is one. It is translated from tongue to tongue, and we find it to be the same in Egypt, Persia and Greece….Speech then is a reflection of intellect; and intellect is an image of truth (Hermes)

The goal for everyone is the same. Yet different names are given to the goal only to suit the process before reaching the goal (Sri Ramana Maharshi)

All are one, both the visible and invisible  (Shabistari, Persian sufi poet, 14^thcentury)

All the great rivers, like the Ganges, the Jumna, the Aciravati– these, on reaching the great ocean lose their former names and identities and are viewed simply as the great one  ocean (Vinaya-Pitaka, Buddhist text, 5^th century BC)

Thanks,

Bilal