Act in such a way as to treathumanity, whether in your own person or in that ofanyone else, always as an end and never merely as ameans
This quote is a bit confusing to me because when it says treat humanity as an end I feel as though it has a pretty negative and drastic implication. Although this is likely just a misenterpriation. I would appreciate some sort of clarification because I feel like I'm just not understanding what is being said here.
Ancient Greek philosophy was divided into three branchesof knowledge: •natural science, •ethics, and •logic
Something interesting that I found in this is its an early example of how we try as humans to organize our knowledge into distinct sets. While they're distinct categories they're also complementary to one another. The natural science explored our physical world through observations while ethics and logic both bleed into this understanding. For example with ethics its how we conduct ourselves in the natural world and logic is how we achieve clarity of why things are the way they are.
Pleasure and pain can flow from four sources:•the physical,•the political,•the moral and•the religious.
I found it quite surprising that they were able to simplify pleasure and pain into just these 4 categories. I feel as though it might be a bit of an oversimplification. I believe almost all of the pain we experience is through the mental which is completely left out in this case.
he Tao is infinite, eternal.Why is it eternal?It was never born;thus it can never die.Why is it infinite?It has no desires for itself;thus it is present for all beings.
I found this to be quite confusing. I don't understand how proof for something being eternal is the fact that it was born. I think the only way to argue that something born is infinite is through religion which isn't something that everyone follows. Since this wouldn't be good proof I'm curious if he's arguing it from a different perspective that I missed.
Seek not that the things which happen should happen as you wish; butwish the things which happen to be as they are, and you will have atranquil flow of life.
I found this quote interesting because it highlights a fundamental idea that I try to live by which is don't worry or try to change things that are out of your control. If you were to simply accept them as they come i've found that my life tends to be much less stressful. I think this quote as a whole highlights the idea of stoicism and this kind of mindset shift could help many people alike.
Become accustomed to the belief that death is nothingto us. For all good and evil consists in sensation, but deathis deprivation of sensation.
I think this is a very interesting take on how death should not be feared. Typically as humans we dread the idea of not existing but here it feels like it gives us an understanding that it is just nature. He further talks about how the anticipation of death is worse than the death itself and as a result we should try to live more in the present while we are here rather than be scared of the inevitable.