LICHTENBERG'S PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTIONS. PART II.

Here are a few more examples of Lichtenberg’s excellent wit, which I find particularly attractive:

Delight at having understood a very abstract and obscure system leads most people to believe in the truth of what it demonstrates. I confess that at some time in my youth I had this little weakness, but, fortunately, got out of it having understood a few conflicting abstract and obscure systems, in which situation I simply could not accommodate within myself a belief in the truth of all of them.

Doubt must be no more than vigilance, otherwise it becomes dangerous. A forceful philosophical warning against excessive doubt, which parallels practical life, where excessive caution can turn into a paranoia.

Man is to be found in reason, God in the passions. Very few church-going folks realize it, but religion is a distinctly irrational preoccupation, if it is sincere; anywhere where reason predominates, religion is man’s clever artifice.

Never undertake anything for which you would not have the courage to ask the blessings of Heaven. This is actually one of the most profound precepts for life that I have ever encountered, and a good man can live by it throughout his whole life, had it been the sole ethical principle available to him. Agreeing with Dèscartes that the fewer laws there are, the better they can be followed, I must venture the thought that all other moral rules, in excess of Lichtenberg’s one and only, are actually serious impediments to a moral life, rather than its promoters.

Nothing is more conducive to peace of mind than having no opinion on anything at all. This one needs no commentary… or does it?

The most dangerous untruths are truths slightly distorted. The best workers in the propaganda business go about their business with the professional understanding that the most effective propaganda is such which is based on truth slightly distorted, only they have very little idea how dangerous the best propaganda can be to the welfare of humanity.

There are very many people who read simply to prevent themselves from thinking. Here is a gem which is best without a setting.

With prophesies, the commentator is often a more important man than the prophet. This goes right to the core of the irreverent view that the Apostle Paul is more important to Christianity than Jesus Himself. The view is highly contentious, but Lichtenberg’s aphorism is an uncontestable masterpiece of sheer cleverness and deep insight into the history of the human race.

Bad writers are those who try to express their own feeble ideas in the language of good ones. But let us be mindful, however, that even a very good writer can suddenly become a bad one, should he, all of a sudden, succumb to a feeble idea of his own, which, on such occasions, ought to be summarily expurgated from his legacy or, if not summarily, then on second reading. Thus Lichtenberg’s wisdom here is designed not only to discourage mediocrities from writing, but also to keep the great ones on their toes.

…With this last aphorism I make a stop in writing this open-ended entry, which has brought me so much pleasure from revisiting an old friend who has always so much to say to me. I hope that the reader will see my point in loving Lichtenberg and will obtain a copy of his book to enjoy it hopefully as much as I have.