"Man would fain be great and sees that he is little; would fain be happy and sees that he is miserable; would fain be perfect and sees that he is full of imperfections; would fain be the object of the love and esteem of men, and sees that his faults merit only their aversion and contempt. The embarrassment wherein he finds himself produces in him the most unjust and criminal passions imaginable, for he conceives a mortal hatred against that truth which blames him and convinces him of his faults." —PASCAL, Pensées
"And slime had they for mortar." —GENESIS I
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It could be argued that Eric Hoffer, Blaise Pascal and the author of Genesis were pointing at something akin to the "deplorable" conversation that caused so much consternation among some in a recent U.S. Presidential election.
My inability to recognize I am broken, ignorant, cruel...fallen - leads people like me to create all sorts of problems in our world. All the bad things I so easily recognize in others - are, if I only had the courage, or perhaps psychoanalytical help, also within me.
Rather than trying to fix myself, I set out to fix the world, ignoring Voltaire's advice to cultivate my own garden,
My project of making the world a better place while ignoring my own failures, requires I erect some sort of shield(s) between what I truly am and how I'd like to think of myself. I can't imagine the number of ways we humans manage to escape self-reflection. One could write a book on that topic and that book would be big enough to stun an ox to paraphrase Laurie Anderson. At a simple level we could start with the country western lyrics, "faster horses, younger women, older whiskey. and more money."
We avoid the examined life to avoid shame as we realize that whatever "bad" we see in others....in some way resides in us.
The primary difference is not that you don't have an inner murderer/abuser/thief/liar/sinner it's how you manifest that in the world.
Coming to the realization that we are all fallen broken slime would require taking some kind of strong medicine and giving up the easy alternatives that we use to escape our broken selves - endless consumption, intoxication, entertainment, blame, denial, etc. etc. etc.
I believe based on my own experience that Christianity in some forms allows humans like me to come to the realization of how broken we are and why we should be begging God for forgiveness constantly...some days, other days I prefer to just be another flawed human doing my best.
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Lots of people have told us we can't handle the truth or at least too much truth - Jack Nicholson, James Baldwin, Madame du Châtelett, Vico, T.S. Eliot, Nietzsche...I'm sure there are many more.
Having determined some humans can't handle the truth I can then pat myself on the back and keep that lil smug! attitude us know-it-alls have. I am what I am as St. Paul and Popeye said.
Anyway...the thing that got me thinking about this topic this morning was an article in the April 9, 2026 issue of the NYRB by Robert Pogue Harrison, titled - "Interminable Ignorance - Why has the will to ignorance become so virulent in our time?" I recommend reading it.
Finally...speaking of ignorance, or possibly more accurately stupidity, I read somewhere recently that in law enforcement it can become difficult to separate stupid from evil. Mull that over for a while and then think about Plato saying something similar about 2400 years ago.
Readers will rule the world of the future as we slime choose whatever AI oracle has the most divine knowledge. Keep the fire - read books.
Good night and good morning. Wishing you a good one.
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