The whole truth and
nothing but the truth: If I am correct that the cause is as deep as I say it is then I have to forgive in proportion:
just because another is made aware of his cause does not remove him from being
its effect. Here, if I don’t find
myself wrong at the moment I cast blame on another, do I only fail to reveal my
own deep cause? If I do, can I forgive myself by the same awareness? … And why
isn’t awareness itself sufficient to correct my behavior? The dominance reflex keeps us stupid,
especially when it is responsible for the truth-event. Is it really our truth if it is triggered by something other than intelligence? Can it be an
understanding of my whole anatomy to find
the unintelligent reflex of
dominating by truths itself dominated by animal behavior? Do we need
the expense? Is it only wasted on gratification? Or do we simply fail to
value clarity to the point of sufficiency?
turning points, The Mechanics of Virtue, aphorism 322
322 When we attempt to engineer a future event, we demand complete research, “complete” being defined as not exceeding nor falling short of all details related to our aim and obtainable within our time limit. There is much that must be excluded. Thus our research requires a strategic ignorance. But the research is still not the plan. We have yet to cull out of the totality of facts simple “turning points” calculated to accommodate human behavior, and of course only on condition that they increase the probability of our success. We often have to impose a simplicity upon a reality that does not in any way merit the slightest implication of being simplistic. If our standard of excellence places greater value on the successful execution of the strategy than on our talent for detailing the problem, then here too we condemn the intellect to a strategic ignorance. Of course, it is true that simplicity is not necessarily the same thing as clarity, and can often be its opposite...