What have I learned?, A Human Strategy by Matt Berry, aphorism 344
344
I pour this tea. I want the tea, and so I tilt the kettle up a little higher. The tea, however, pours through the spout just as fast as before ... with the exception that now much of it spills through the lid. I have saved no time, have satisfied myself no sooner, and have made a mess of the whole matter. What have I learned? That an effort should be made to pull back my desires to the borders of necessity ... but no further: I do not want to root out my desires, but satisfy them. This is what others call “moderation,” but we know it to be the extreme, since there is no faster, more efficient way. The human tragedy, then, is not to desire the extreme, but to have no eyes for it.
I pour this tea. I want the tea, and so I tilt the kettle up a little higher. The tea, however, pours through the spout just as fast as before ... with the exception that now much of it spills through the lid. I have saved no time, have satisfied myself no sooner, and have made a mess of the whole matter. What have I learned? That an effort should be made to pull back my desires to the borders of necessity ... but no further: I do not want to root out my desires, but satisfy them. This is what others call “moderation,” but we know it to be the extreme, since there is no faster, more efficient way. The human tragedy, then, is not to desire the extreme, but to have no eyes for it.