We are slow to believe that which if believed would hurt our feelings.
OvidRead
That's one of the greatest curses ever inflicted on the human race, memory.
Interpretation
Memory is portrayed as a burden that can cause suffering.
In this quote, Ovid suggests that memory, while essential to human experience, can also be a source of pain and anguish. It implies that remembering past hardships and regrets can burden individuals, leading to a cursed existence, highlighting the dual nature of memory as both a gift and a curse in the human condition.
In practice
In a mental health seminar discussing the impact of trauma on our memories.
We are slow to believe that which if believed would hurt our feelings.
All things human hang by a slender thread; and that which seemed to stand strong suddenly falls and sinks in ruins.
A new idea is delicate. It can be killed by a sneer or a yawn; it can be stabbed to death by a quip and worried to death by a frown on the right man's brow.
Fas est ab hoste doceri._x000D_ One should learn even from one's enemies.
Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.
The end doesn't justify the means.
We seldom speak of the virtue which we have, but much oftener of that which we lack.
Laws must be clear, precise, and uniform for all citizens.
One forgets too easily the difference between a man and his image, and that there is none between the sound of his voice on the screen and in real life.
The evolution of man is the evolution of his consciousness, and 'consciousness' cannot evolve unconsciously. The evolution of man is the evolution of his will, and 'will' cannot evolve involuntarily.
Is this the curse of modernity, to live in a world without judgment, without perspective, no context for understanding or distinguishing what is real and what is imagined, what is manipulated and what is by chance beautiful, what is shadow and what is flesh?
The Old Religion, as we call it, is closer in spirit to Native American traditions or to shamanism of the Arctic. It is not based on dogma or a set of beliefs, nor on scriptures or a sacred book revealed by a great man. Witchcraft takes it's teachings from nature, and reads inspiration in the movements of the sun, moon, and stars, the flight of birds, the slow growth of trees, and the cycles of the seasons.
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