As geographers, Sosius, crowd into the edges of their maps parts of the world which they do not know about, adding notes in the margin to the effect that beyond this lies nothing but sandy deserts full of wild beasts, and unapproachable bogs.
Interpretation
The quote illustrates the tendency to fear the unknown and fill gaps in knowledge with assumptions.
In this quote, Plutarch uses the metaphor of geographers who draw maps to highlight how people often confront the unknown with fear and conjecture. The geographers' annotations suggest that what lies beyond their knowledge is inhospitable and perilous, reflecting a common human inclination to avoid exploring unfamiliar territories, whether in thought, experience, or understanding. This captures the essence of how ignorance can breed misconceptions and hinder the pursuit of knowledge.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the importance of facing fears and embracing the unknown.
Sometimes small incidents, rather than glorious exploits, give us the best evidence of character. So, as portrait painters are more exact in doing the face, where the character is revealed, than the rest of the body, I must be allowed to give my more particular attention to the marks of the souls of men.
It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such a one as is unworthy of him; for the one is only belief - the other contempt.
Come back with your shield - or on it
The richest soil, if uncultivated, produces the rankest weeds.
For the correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting.
Our senses through ignorance of Reality, falsely tell us that what appears to be, is. FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real
Let no one mistake it for comedy, farcical though it may be in all its details. It serves notice on the country that Neanderthal man is organizing in these forlorn backwaters of the land, led by a fanatic, rid of sense and devoid of conscience.
All lies are told with a straight face. It is truth that's said with a dismissive giggle.
Force is the only language the imperialists can hear, and no country became free without some sort of violence.
In view of the tide of religiosity engulfing a once secular republic it is refreshing to be reminded by Freethinkers that free thought and skepticism are robustly in the American tradition. After all the Founding Fathers began by omitting God from the American Constitution.
I never had anyone I could call “Master”. No Christ died for me. No Buddha showed me the right path. In the depths of my dreams no Apollo or Athena appeared to me to enlighten my soul
It's only possible to see people when one is able to see the world as others see it.
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