Common sense isn't.
Another (old) perspective on words in books (and the Web) such as The Harvard Classics:
Source: The Way of Chuang Tzu by Thomas Merton, 1965.
The world values books, and thinks that in so doing it is valuing
Tao. But books contain words only. And yet there is something else
which gives value to the books. Not the words only, nor the thought in
the words, but something else within the thought, swinging it in a
certain direction that words cannot apprehend. But it is the words
themselves that the world values when it commits them to books: and
though the world values them, these words are worthless as long as that
which gives them value is not held in honor.
That which man apprehends by observation is only
outward form and
color, name and noise: and he thinks that this will put him in
possession of Tao. Form and color, name and sound, do not reach to
reality. That is why: "He who knows does not say, he who says, does not
know."
How then is the world going to know Tao through
words?
Quote of the moment |
"Hallo!" said Pooh, in case there was anything outside. "Hallo!" said Whatever-it-was. "Oh!" said Pooh. "Hallo!" "Hallo!" "Oh, _there_ you are!" said Pooh. "Hallo!" "Hallo!" said the Strange Animal, wondering how long this was going on. Pooh was just going to say "Hallo!" for the fourth time when he thought that he wouldn't, so he said, "Who is it?" instead. "Me," said a voice. "Oh!" said Pooh. |
~ -- Pooh meets Tigger _The House at Pooh Corner_, p. 20 ~ |
Common sense isn't.
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