While waiting for a Moses to lead us into the promised land, we have forgotten how to walk.
Interpretation
We often look for a savior or leader to guide us, forgetting the importance of self-reliance and personal action.
Wendell Johnson's quote highlights the tendency of people to wait passively for someone else to take charge and lead them to success or fulfillment, much like the biblical figure Moses leading the Israelites to the promised land. In doing so, they neglect to take initiative in their own lives, losing sight of their ability to walk their own paths and make progress independently.
In practice
In a speech about personal development, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of taking action.
If you have more than one reason to do something (choose a doctor or veterinarian, hire a gardener or an employee, marry a person, go on a trip), just donβt do it. It does not mean that one reason is better than two, just that by invoking more than one reason you are trying to convince yourself to do something. Obvious decisions (robust to error) require no more than a single reason.
Sure, I went through my 'J'accuse' phase. I was so angry for so long, I could hardly have a conversation without getting into an argument. And it was only when I felt I could finally distance myself from my past that I began to write about what happened - not just to me, but to lots of young people. I think my story is a cautionary tale.
I am in that temper that if I were under water I would scarcely kick to come to the top.
Thou mayest as well expect to grow stronger by always eating as wiser by always reading. Too much overcharges Nature, and turns more into disease than nourishment. 'Tis thought and digestion which makes books serviceable, and give health and vigor to the mind.
God speaks to each of us as he makes us, then walks with us silently out of the night. These are the words we dimly hear: You, sent out beyond your recall, go to the limits of your longing. Embody me. Flare up like a flame and make big shadows I can move in. Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final. Don't let yourself lose me. Nearby is the country they call life. You will know it by its seriousness. Give me your hand.
The intellect is not the means of creation, and creation does not take place through the functioning of the intellect; on the contrary, there is creation when the intellect is silent.
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