Today’s card reminds me of this quote I got from the AWAD newsletter. The word was so far from the essence of this card that it made me laugh. I liked the juxtaposition of the card, the word and this quote.
The word was “nosy parker”.
The quote was, “Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on “I am not too sure.” -H.L. Mencken, writer, editor, and critic (1880-1956) ”
The quote makes me think of the Hermit as the skeptical yet tolerant civilized man. However the Hermit is the furthest thing away from a nosy parker.
I like Mencken’s notion that the more right you think you are, the less civilized you are. I agree with that wholeheartedly.
In fact, grin, you might say I’m right. Ha!
Seriously though, how flexible are you? Can you be like the Hermit who remains a dedicated student of life? Can you follow his lead into quiet introspection about how things work? Will you join him in his intense search using the natural world as his vehicle?
And let me just state here and now that I live in a city and I can find nature EVERYWHERE I go. It may be harder when the weather is severe, but nature is there. Look for it.
Your 180 second challenge today? Search within yourself to find where you are “RIGHT, DAMMIT” and see how much flexibility you can worm into that.
That’s three minutes of admitting that your point of view might not be the only one with validity. That maybe that person with a different religious belief or cultural understanding of the world might simply be different rather than wrong.
Hermit, Shadowscapes, Llewellyn
This is a toughie – I’m right about there being no absolutes… Talk about elliptical arguments 😉
As for the card, perhaps he had to get up that high so he could see over his neighbour’s wall 😀 Seriously, though, that is just such a stunning card! Love the quote, too.