Calamities are of two kinds: misfortunes to ourselves, and good fortune to others.
Interpretation
Calamities can affect us negatively while simultaneously benefiting others, highlighting the dual nature of misfortune and fortune.
This quote by Ambrose Bierce reflects on the duality of calamities, suggesting that while we may experience misfortune in our own lives, those very circumstances can lead to beneficial outcomes for others. It highlights the interconnectedness of human experiences, emphasizing that our struggles might pave the way for someone else's good fortune, thus prompting a deeper contemplation of the nature of suffering and success.
In practice
In a speech discussing the importance of empathy, one might use this quote to illustrate how our struggles can lead to opportunities for others.
PALM, n. A species of tree . . . of which the familiar "itching palm" ("Palma hominis") is most widely distributed . . . . This noble vegetable exudes a kind of invisible gum, which may be detected by applying to the bark a piece of gold or silver.
Human nature is pretty well balanced; for every lacking virtue there is a rough substitute that will serve at a pinch--as cunning is the wisdom of the unwise, and ferocity the courage of the coward.
Indigestion: A disease which the patient and his friends frequently mistake for deep religious conviction and concern for the salvation of mankind. As the simple Red Man of the Western Wild put it, with, it must be confessed, a certain force: 'Plenty well, no pray; big belly ache, heap God.'
Disobey n:To celebrate with an appropriate ceremony the maturity of a command
NOUMENON, n. That which exists, as distinguished from that which merely seems to exist, the latter being a phenomenon. The noumenon is a bit difficult to locate; it can be apprehended only by a process of reasoning - which is a phenomenon.
PARDON, v. To remit a penalty and restore to the life of crime. To add to the lure of crime the temptation of ingratitude.
I seemed like a baby bird keeping its truly innocent animal lusts hidden under its wing. I was being tempted, not by the desire of possession, but simply by unadorned temptation itself.
I'm not one of those guys that has a great worldview. I kind of deal with terror and fear and isolation and abandonment.
Sometimes you have to travel a long way to find what is near
Karma brings us ever back to rebirth, binds us to the wheel of births and deaths. Good Karma drags us back as relentlessly as bad, and the chain which is wrought out of our virtues holds as firmly and as closely as that forged from our vices.
The media covers what’s new – and millions of people dying is nothing new. So it stays in the background, where it’s easier to ignore. But even when we do see it or read about it, it’s difficult to keep our eyes on the problem. It’s hard to look at suffering if the situation is so complex that we don’t know how to help. And so we look away.
Yoga in Mayfair or Fifth Avenue, or in any other place which is on the telephone, is a spiritual fake.
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