Eric Hoffer book The True Believer
Section 62
The True Believer (1951), Part Three: United Action and Self-Sacrifice
Source: Lady Midnight
Eric Hoffer book The True Believer
Section 62
The True Believer (1951), Part Three: United Action and Self-Sacrifice
“Gentleness clears the soul
Love cleans the mind
And makes it Free.”
David Bowie (1947–2016) British musician, actor, record producer and arranger
Leo Strauss (1899–1973) Classical philosophy specialist and father of neoconservativism
Source: What is Political Philosophy (1959), p. 40
Context: Men are constantly attracted and deluded by two opposite charms: the charm of competence which is engendered by mathematics and everything akin to mathematics, and the charm of humble awe, which is engendered by meditation on the human soul and its experiences. Philosophy is characterized by the gentle, if firm, refusal to succumb to either charm. It is the highest form of the mating of courage and moderation. In spite of its highness or nobility, it could appear as Sisyphean or ugly, when one contrasts its achievement with its goal. Yet it is necessarily accompanied, sustained and elevated by eros. It is graced by nature's grace.
Gianfranco Ravasi (1942) Catholic cardinal
Foreword
The Encounter: Discovering God Through Prayer (2014)
John Dee (1527–1608) English mathematican, astrologer and antiquary
The Mathematicall Praeface to Elements of Geometrie of Euclid of Megara (1570)
Context: There is (gentle reader) nothing (the works of God only set apart) which so much beautifies and adorns the soul and mind of man as does knowledge of the good arts and sciences. Many arts there are which beautify the mind of man; but of all none do more garnish and beautify it than those arts which are called mathematical, unto the knowledge of which no man can attain, without perfect knowledge and instruction of the principles, grounds, and Elements of Geometry.