To mature is in part to realize that while complete intimacy and omniscience and power cannot be had, self-transcendence, growth, and closeness to others are nevertheless within one's reach.
Interpretation
Maturity involves understanding that while we cannot have total control or knowledge, we can still achieve personal growth and meaningful connections with others.
This quote by Sissela Bok highlights the essence of maturity as the recognition of our limitations, acknowledging that complete knowledge, intimacy, and power are unattainable. Instead, true growth and closeness with others are achievable goals, emphasizing the importance of self-transcendence and the development of relationships as fundamental aspects of a fulfilling life.
In practice
In a discussion about personal development, one might say, 'As Sissela Bok pointed out, maturity is realizing our limitations while still seeking closeness with others.'
I believe that a guarantee of public access to government information is indispensable in the long run for any democratic society.... if officials make public only what they want citizens to know, then publicity becomes a sham and accountability meaningless.
Liars share with those they deceive the desire not to be deceived.
Trust is a social good to be protected just as much as the air we breathe or the water we drink. When it is damaged, the community as a whole suffers; and when it is destroyed, societies falter and collapse
Are people the best judges of their own happiness, or outsiders? In defining happiness, should we think of entire lives or of shorter periods such as moments, days, or years? And to what extent are virtue and happiness linked?
We are all, in a sense, experts on secrecy. From earliest childhood we feel its mystery and attraction. We know both the power it confers and the burden it imposes. We learn how it can delight, give breathing space and protect.
Secrecy is as indispensable to human beings as fire, and as greatly feared.
Youth is not a time of life - it is a state of mind.
A moment's insight is sometimes worth a life's experience.
Ideas are the easy part. I spend a lot of time batting them away, trying to keep them from distracting me from what I actually have to focus on and finish. A lot of times, they are a siren temptress beckoning me with the promise of a much shorter, simpler, more slender novel over the horizon, but of course that's very dangerous.
Everyone goes through adversity in life, but what matters is how you learn from it.
Whatever happens, do not lose hold of the two main ropes of life - hope and faith.
They [the Persians] are accustomed to deliberate on matters of the highest moment when warm with wine; but whatever they in this situation may determine is again proposed to them on the morrow, in their cooler moments, by the person in whose house they had before assembled. If at this time also it meet their approbation, it is executed; otherwise it is rejected. Whatever also they discuss when sober, is always a second time examined after they have been drinking.
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