The flesh endures the storms of the present alone; the mind, those of the past and future as well as the present. Gluttony is a lust of the mind.
Interpretation
The body withstands only current challenges, while the mind grapples with the past and future. Excessive desire and indulgence stem from mental cravings.
In this quote, Thomas Hobbes reflects on the nature of human experience, emphasizing that while our physical existence is limited to the present moment, our mental faculties are burdened with memories of the past and anxieties about the future. He suggests that gluttony, or overindulgence, is not merely a physical craving but fundamentally a mental obsession that distracts us from the realities of the present.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the nature of human suffering and desire at a philosophical gathering.
Baptism is the sacrament of allegiance of them that are to be received into the Kingdom of God, that is to say, into Eternal life, that is to say, to Remission of Sin. For as Eternal life was lost by the committing, so it is recovered by the remitting of men's sins.
Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.
For it is not the shape, but their use, that makes them angels.
For to accuse requires less eloquence, such is man's nature, than to excuse; and condemnation, than absolution, more resembles justice.
Scientia potentia est, sed parva; quia scientia egregia rara est, nec proinde apparens nisi paucissimis, et in paucis rebus. Scientiae enim ea natura est, ut esse intelligi non possit, nisi ab illis qui sunt scientia praediti.
The end of knowledge is power ... the scope of all speculation is the performing of some action or thing to be done.
Racism is a physical experience.
The ascent to the divine Life is the human journey, the Work of works, the acceptable Sacrifice. This alone is man's real business in the world and the justification of his existence, without which he would only be an insect crawling among the ephemeral insects on a speck of surface mud and water which has managed to form itself amid the appalling immensities of the physical universe.
Mankind censure injustice fearing that they may be the victims of it, and not because they shrink from committing it.
Islam is itself destiny and will not suffer destiny.
We inherited these principles and these freedoms and we here highly resolve that we shall pass them on, as we will pass on an undivided Republic purged of racism and slavery, to our descendants. The popgun discharges of a few pathetic sectarians and crackpot revisionists are negligible, and will be drowned by the mounting chorus that demands: 'Mr Jefferson! BUILD UP THAT WALL'.
The reason why life is a sleep & dream for most people is because their awareness is caught up with past or future & not with what is.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.