Man adapts himself to everything, to the best and the worst.
Jose Ortega Y GassetRead
Life is a terrible conflict, a grandiose and atrocious confluence. Hunting submerges man deliberately in that formidable mystery and therefore contains something of religious rite and emotion in which homage is paid to what is divine, transcendent, and in the laws of Nature.
Interpretation
Life is a complex struggle that reveals deep mysteries, akin to a sacred ritual.
In this quote, Jose Ortega Y Gasset reflects on the inherent conflicts and challenges of life, suggesting that engaging with these difficulties brings us closer to understanding the profound mysteries of existence. He likens this engagement to a religious rite, emphasizing that through the act of 'hunting' or confronting life's struggles, individuals show reverence for the divine aspects of nature and reality.
In practice
This quote can inspire reflection during a philosophical discussion.
Man adapts himself to everything, to the best and the worst.
"Natural" man is always there, under the changeable historical man. We call him and he comes-a little sleepy, benumbed, without his lost form of instinctive hunter, but, after all, still alive. Natural man is first prehistoric man-the hunter.
We have not reached ethical perfection in hunting. One never achieves perfection in anything, and perhaps it exists precisely so that one can never achieve it. Its purpose is to orient our conduct and to allow us to measure the progress accomplished. In this sense, the advancement achieved in the ethics of hunting is undeniable.
I am myself and what is around me, and if I do not save it, it shall not save me.
We fall in love when our imagination projects nonexistent perfection upon another person. One day, the fantasy evaporates and with it, love dies.
We do not live to think, but, on the contrary, we think in order that we may succeed in surviving.
Only those persons who have lived, really lived, are ready, welcoming, receptive, thankful to death. Then death is not the enemy. Then death becomes the fulfillment.
A conscious attempt to fall asleep is sure to produce insomnia, to try to be conscious of one's own digestion is a sure way to upset the stomach. Consciousness is a poison when we apply it to ourselves. Consciousness is a light directed outward. it's like the headlights on a locomotive—turn them inward and you'd have a crash.
Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose_x000D_ _x000D_ he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it._x000D_ _x000D_ But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life_x000D_ _x000D_ that one exists for other people.
Far too many young people today have no spiritual roots. The've been deprived of values by an agnostic, contemporary culture.
Rather than turning away from the staggering scale and depth of misery caused by war, we must strive to develop our capacity to empathize and feel the sufferings of others.
In other words, we are never freer than when we become most ourselves, most human, most just, most excellent, and the like.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.