Actually, people learn a great deal more by doing rather than reading or talking about it. I mean, you can read about how to drive a car...but you really don't know a damn thing until you try it yourself.

~Zoo

 

It's the only thing I have that is proven to exist, and it's the only thing I have that is proven to perceive.

And to add a bit of sexiness to that:



~Zoo

Zoo, you broke my blog.  It works fine under that heinous IE POS, but under Firefox...not so good :/

 

Ah well, screw it.  Let the JU folks deal with it.

Chant with me now...

"Who broke it?"

"Zoo broke it!"

Oh...sorry. Damn videos and their ability to break things...at least in Firefox.

I tend to prefer the IE POS as my brower.

~Zoo

It is.

You got to have faith.

This is an excerpt from my all-time favorite novel (if you can call it that), Niebla, by Miguel de Unamuno. I'll put the original first, and then translate it myself. (If I was at home, I know my little sister has a translation of it I gave her, but wrong continent, people. So you get to deal with my crappy interpretation of the text.) I think it's especially pertinent to your OP, Ock.

It's a conversation (well, hell, the whole book is either dialogue or monologue) between the main character, Augusto Pérez and his best friend, Víctor Goti. They've been talking about Augusto's doubts about women and their psychology, but it truly reflects Unamunian thinking as a whole. (V for Víctor, A for Augusto, all that jazz.) You'll see why I think this applies, especially in what Victor says.

V--¿No está claro?

A--No; está oscurísimo, muy oscuro.

V--Pues porque está tan oscuro, cásate.

A--Sí, pero... ¡me asaltan tantas dudas!

V--Mejor, pequeño Hamlet, mejor. ¿Dudas?, luego piensas; ¿piensas?, luego eres.

A--Sí, dudar es pensar.

V--Y pensar es dudar y nada más que dudar. Se cree, se sabe, se imagina sin dudar; ni la fe, ni el conocimiento, ni la imaginación suponen duda y hasta la duda los destruye, pero no se piensa sin dudar. Y es la duda lo que de la fe y del conocimiento, que son algo estático, quieto, muerto, hace pensamiento, que es dinámico, inquieto, vivo.

-- Now, to suckily translate:

V: "Isn't it clear?"

A: "No, it's completely darkened, very confused."

V: "Well if it's so dark, just get married already."

A: "Yes, but . . . So many doubts assail me!"

V: "Even better, little Hamlet, even better. You doubt? Then you think. You think? Then you are.

A: "Yes, to doubt is to think."

V: "And thinking is doubting and nothing else. One believes, one knows, one imagines without doubt; but neither faith, nor knowledge, nor imagination have anything to do with doubt, and doubt even destroys them - but you cannot think without doubt. And it is from faith and knowledge, which are static, lifeless, dead, that doubt creates thought, which is dynamic, restless, and alive.



That sums it all up. Faith and knowledge are but tools which, along with doubt, create true thought.

To doubt, to truly doubt, it to begin to truly think.

Actually, it's translated pretty well...or so I think anyway. I mean, that's how I would've worded it.


It's pretty damned insightful too. With doubt comes thought. Ask questions and think about it. To accept without asking, without doubting means you're a gullible and blind fool.


~Zoo