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Dear Forum Friends,
Searching the roots and branches of human thought on truth turns up some very interesting parallels with the teachings.
These were gleaned from the “Quotationary”. Note that Blaise Pascal is one of two humans who has the honor of being quoted verbatim in the UB (Paper 102:1.1 ):
...It is literally true, “Human things must be known in order to be loved, but divine things must be loved in order to be known….”
1. Buy truth, and do not sell it. Proverbs 23:23
2. A man is not to be reverenced more than the truth. Plato
3. We know truth, not only by reason, but also by the heart. Blaise Pascal
4. Knowing the truth and living it are two things. Anon.
5. In war, truth is the first casualty. Aeschylus
6. Truth fears no trial. Thomas Fuller
7. Truth will out. John Lidgate
8. There are no new truths, but only truths that have not been recognized by those who have perceived them without noticing. Mary McCarthy
9. When we really live truth, we will cease to talk about it. Elbert Hubbard
10. Faith perceives truth sooner than experience can. Kahlil Gibran
11. Truth is what stands the test of experience. Albert Einstein
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Up next: Beauty
Richard E Warren
Here’s some more:
The soul is the perceiver and revealer of truth. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Prayer becomes renewal, and renewal becomes truth, and truth becomes the presence of God. Adrienne Von Speyr, The World of Prayer
To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face one must be able to love the meanest of creation as oneself. Mahatma Gandhi, All Men are Brothers
The instruments for the quest of Truth are as simple as they are difficult. They may appear quite impossible to an arrogant person, and quite possible to an innocent child. The seeker after truth should be humbler than the dust. Mahatma Gandhi, All Men are Brothers
All that I can in true humility present to you is that Truth is not to be found by anybody who has not got an abundant sense of humility. If you would swim on the bosom of the ocean of Truth you must reduce yourself to a zero. Mahatma Gandhi, All Men are Brothers
Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth. Mahatma Gandhi, All Men are Brothers
Here’s some more:
To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face one must be able to love the meanest of creation as oneself. Mahatma Gandhi
Gandhi knew the SoT! That’s makes him even more understandable.
Richard E Warren
Dear Forum Members and Guests,
Does your heart/mind/soul resonate with any of these human created thought gems about Our Father’s super-sublime concept and outworking of Cosmic Beauty:
1. Everything on Earth is beautiful, everything, except what we ourselves think and do when we forget the higher purposes of life and our own human dignity. Anton Chekhov.
2. All high beauty has a moral element in it. R W Emerson
3. Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face… Kahlil Gibran
4. Beautiful is greater than good, for it includes the Good. Goethe
5. Beauty is no quality in things themselves, it exists merely in the mind, which contemplates them. David Hume
6. The Good is the Beautiful. Plato
7. “Truth is beauty, and beauty truth”–that is all ye know on Earth, and all ye need to know. John Keats
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7 More later~
Richard E Warren
Rick, why the quote from David Hume?
5. Beauty is no quality in things themselves, it exists merely in the mind, which contemplates them.
Exists merely in the mind? This seems to imply lack of objective status for divine Beauty, and to contradict the idea that Beauty is a spirit value, i.e. a universe reality.
Have I made too much of this divine value?
-Reader
Rick, why the quote from David Hume? 5. Beauty is no quality in things themselves, it exists merely in the mind, which contemplates them. Exists merely in the mind? This seems to imply lack of objective status for divine Beauty, and to contradict the idea that Beauty is a spirit value, i.e. a universe reality. Have I made too much of this divine value? -Reader
No! In fact, you’ve quickly and very accurately penetrated the reason for including it, imo. Also it highlights the sometimes vast difference between human and divine thinking. The treacherous mindfields of evolved understanding and partial formulation do ever harass even our vaunted dead sages and poets. :)
Richard E Warren
I would say that beauty is a mind phenomenon. Values are a soul phenomena made conscious in and by mind. When beauty is recognized as a value, it must then be given meaning through personal experience. The meaning of beauty has to do with the integration of contrasts (imperfect and perfect), with the resultant unification of all reality. For humans the love of truth is inextricably bound to the love of beauty. The Spirit of Truth is also the spirit of idealistic beauty. He reveals the relatedness of all things and beings, and in doing so reveals the supreme beauty of reality, which is the unification of the cosmic extremes of nature existing between creature and Creator.Relevant quotes: 2:7.8; 6:2.7; 44:7.3; 56:10.3; 56:10.9; 56:10.11; 56:10.15; 155:6.11I would say that beauty is a mind phenomenon. Values are a soul phenomena made conscious in and by mind. When beauty is recognized as a value, it must then be given meaning through personal experience. The meaning of beauty has to do with the integration of contrasts (imperfect and perfect), with the resultant unification of all reality. For humans the love of truth is inextricably bound to the love of beauty. The Spirit of Truth is also the spirit of idealistic beauty. He reveals the relatedness of all things and beings, and in doing so reveals the supreme beauty of reality, which is the unification of the cosmic extremes of nature existing between creature and Creator.Hmm. Thanks Bonita,So, what do you think Reader? Does Beauty exist and stand alone without a minded being to perceive/evaluate it?Richard E Warren
…..and does the falling tree that crashes to the forest floor make a sound with no ear to hear it?
The answer to this question is no….the ear is required for the sound waves to result in sound….but of course there are many ears in the forest, no? To the issue of truth, beauty, and goodness, I think the same is true…. all the universes are filled by mind and by minds. There can be no beauty with no eye to behold it nor truth with no mind to discover it nor goodness without a mind to perceive it. Mind creates all this, some by Diety and some by Celestial and still more by mortal mind. The essence of the First Source and Center is minded….I AM. Without mind there is no tree or forest or truth or beauty or goodness….or me….or you. Nothing created is unattended or unappreciated or without audience of some form….a mindful audience indeed.
So! Can we safely update the ancient axiom to: Beauty is in the MIND of the beholder??
Richard E Warren
Another way to look at this that mind is creative. It is the function of the Infinite Spirit to bring the thought-word of the Father and Eternal Son into union and execute it. The Infinite Spirit is the source of mind and the spark of life. I honestly do not think the creation of beauty is possible without mind. Yet we know that mind alone is impotent to create; it needs personality on some level. Even the Creative Spirit of a local universe cannot bestow mind until she is endowed with personal prerogatives. Beauty seems to be conceived in mind, executed by personality, experienced and appreciated by mind.
We are even told that in order to form a suitable body (matter), mind is required. We also know that the Creator Son cannot create physical matter without the Creative Spirit. Matter is derived from the pattern of all beauty, which is Paradise. It seems to me that beauty and mind cannot be separated unless you’re referring to the original pattern on Paradise, but that would only be theory, a function of mind.
Relevant quotes: 0:5.5; 9:5.4; 14:6.8; 14:6.17; 17:6.6; 34:4.8; 42:12.9; 56:2.1;
Another way to look at this that mind is creative. It is the function of the Infinite Spirit to bring the thought-word of the Father and Eternal Son into union and execute it. The Infinite Spirit is the source of mind and the spark of life. I honestly do not think the creation of beauty is possible without mind. Yet we know that mind alone is impotent to create; it needs personality on some level. Even the Creative Spirit of a local universe cannot bestow mind until she is endowed with personal prerogatives. Beauty seems to be conceived in mind, executed by personality, experienced and appreciated by mind. We are even told that in order to form a suitable body (matter), mind is required. We also know that the Creator Son cannot create physical matter without the Creative Spirit. Matter is derived from the pattern of all beauty, which is Paradise. It seems to me that beauty and mind cannot be separated unless you’re referring to the original pattern on Paradise, but that would only be theory, a function of mind. Relevant quotes: 0:5.5; 9:5.4; 14:6.8; 14:6.17; 17:6.6; 34:4.8; 42:12.9; 56:2.1
Great thought work, thanks. I still have to wonder, and you set it up very well:
…It seems to me that beauty and mind cannot be separated unless you’re referring to the original pattern on Paradise, but that would only be theory, a function of mind.
So, is there the possibility of the existence of objective Beauty? Paradise Havona perhaps? Still, with no perceiver, no beauty. Beauty is non-sensical sans an appreciative consciousness, at least from this lowly human perspective.
Beauty, in the final analysis, is not alive, is not a thing or a being, is it?
Richard E Warren
Seven more human thought gems on beauty:
1. A thing of beauty is a joy forever. John Keats
2. Beauty is the flower of virtue. Plutarch
3. True beauty is never separate from utility. Quitilian
4. In each person I catch the fleeting glimpse of something beautiful and swear eternal friendship with that. George Santayana
5. Even Fiji is without beauty to one who is cold and hungry. Japanese aphorism
6. Genuine beauty springs from within. Unknown
7. Beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture. An “ideal beauty” is an entity which is admired, or possesses features widely attributed to beauty in a particular culture, for perfection.
The experience of “beauty” often involves an interpretation of some entity as being in balance and harmony with nature, which may lead to feelings of attraction and emotional well-being. Because this can be a subjective experience, it is often said that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
There is evidence that perceptions of beauty are evolutionarily determined, that things, aspects of people and landscapes considered beautiful are typically found in situations likely to give enhanced survival of the perceiving human’s genes. Wikipedia
Richard E Warren
I think Bonita’s observations are quite beyond anything Hume dreamed of in his simple statement (which I think did imply the utter subjectivity and merely relative value of beauty – an idea not supported by the UB).
But she has me reconsidering the question.
…But she has me reconsidering the question.She’s beautiful that way :D
Richard E Warren
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