We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.
Tom RobbinsRead
If you're honest, you sooner or later have to confront your values. Then you're forced to separate what is right from what is merely legal. This puts you metaphysically on the run. America is full of metaphysical outlaws.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Honesty compels individuals to assess their moral values, distinguishing right from legal obligations.
In this quote, Tom Robbins suggests that being honest requires an introspective journey where one must evaluate their core values. This often leads to a conflict between what is ethically right and what is legally permissible, creating a sense of dislocation or unrest within oneself—a condition he characterizes as being a 'metaphysical outlaw' in a society that may prioritize legality over morality.
Themes
HonestyValuesMoralityLegalityEthics
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about integrity in business practices.
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The Divine was beyond description, beyond knowing, beyond comprehension. To say that the Divine was Creation divided by Destruction was as close as one could come to definition. But the puny of soul, the dull of wit, weren't content with that. They wanted to hang a face on the Divine. They went so far as to attribute petty human emotions - anger, jealousy, etc - to it, not stopping to realize that if God were a being, even a supreme being, our prayers would have bored him to death long ago.
Tom RobbinsRead
On their sofas of spice and feathers, the concubines also slept fretfully. In those days the Earth was still flat, and people dreamed often of falling over edges.
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