Truth, Adjusted

The word of right is the word that truly raises a right, and it is not always necessary that the “word of right” be a word of truth.

“And indeed, he is intense in love of good.” People always forget this truth when dealing with one another.

“There is no such thing as alternative medicine. Medicine either treats, and is real medicine, or it does not treat, and is false medicine.” A phrase whose speaker I salute, though unfortunately I do not know who he is.

I was not surprised at all when I learned that psychoanalysis, in its varieties, is considered pseudoscience. Whatever you do, you will not be able to bind human behavior and actions to fixed rules, just like Aristotle’s failure to write mathematical equations describing the movement of sea currents.

Recently the phenomenon spread of correcting “munaqqaba” to “muntaqiba” with strange insistence. The funny thing is that I found most of those who insist on the correction do not know why. They just say, “That is the correct form,” and that is it. “Munaqqaba” is the passive participle of the verb “naqqaba,” while “muntaqiba” is the active participle of “intaqaba.” The difference is vast, since the first suggests being led. In any case, between us, I have used and still use “munaqqaba” deliberately.

Ignorance is the head of the snake.

“The greatest trick the devil played on us was making us believe he does not exist.” And the greatest trick you can play on people is making them believe you are incapable of evil.

You know the matter is completely obscure and ambiguous to everyone, and that no one understands anything, when you hear a thousand new explanations every day. Whereas what is clear is clear.

The secret of skill in judgment is to separate “feelings” from “conclusions,” first of all before yourself: Is this a judgment based on clear reasons, a conclusion? Or is it entirely emerging from within, a feeling?

I walk through my life with a large possibility in my mind, perhaps exceeding half, that everything I say and do is completely wrong and carries not an atom of correctness, even though I am convinced of everything I say and do. But who could the opposite apply to? So my ideas and decisions are the ones most deserving that I carry them out. If I do not fight for my beliefs, who will?

Lying is an act, not a statement. You cannot infer a lie from words alone. The ethics of lying: bluff or equivocate before you lie; if you lie in speech, be truthful in action; if you lie to others, do not lie to yourself.