What is truly profound is thought to be stupid and trivial, or worse, boring, while what is actually stupid and trivial is thought to be profound. That is what it means to fly upside down.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the paradox that often society misjudges depth and meaning, valuing the superficial instead.
In this quote, Dallas Willard explores the ironic nature of perception, suggesting that what is profound and meaningful is frequently dismissed as uninteresting or trivial, while shallow thoughts are erroneously revered as deep. He uses the metaphor of 'flying upside down' to illustrate this reverse understanding, indicating that we often navigate through life misinterpreting true wisdom and depth.
In practice
During a philosophical discussion about the nature of knowledge.
The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples – students, apprentices, practitioners – of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heavens into every corner of human existence.
The first act of love is always the giving of attention.
So many people would like to have guidance from God because obviously, if you have a word from God, it's the best possible thing. But they don't relate that to life as a whole. Often they want guidance as a way of opting out of the responsibility of making decisions.
The basic question 'will I obey Christ 's teaching?' is rarely taken as a serious issue. For example, to take one of Jesus' commands, that is relevant to contemporary life, I don't know of any church that actually teaches a church how to bless people who curse them, yet this is a clear command.
When I left home after graduating high school, I left as a migrant agricultural worker with a Modern Library edition of Plato in my duffel bag. It sounds kind of crazy, but I loved it. I loved the stuff. Before I knew there was a subject called philosophy, I loved it.
Few people arise in the morning as hungry for God as they are for cornflakes or toast and eggs.
I don't think there is any such thing as a black writer or a white writer. Ultimately, there is someone whom one reads.
Every time somebody speaks of my honesty, there is someone who quivers inside me.
The challenge here is to design a system where market incentives, including profits and recognition, drive those principles to do more for the poor. I like to call this idea creative capitalism, an approach where governments, businesses, and nonprofits work together to stretch the reach of market forces so that more people can make a profit, or gain recognition, doing work that eases the world's inequities.
Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity's belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul, and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all.
Let man be true and every god a liar.
I am oppressed with a dread of living forever. That is the only disadvantage of vegetarianism.
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