Induction

The term agnostic was fittingly coined by the 19th-century British scientist Thomas H. Huxley, who believed that only material phenomena were objects of exact knowledge. He made up the word from the prefix a-, meaning “without, not,” as in amoral, and the noun Gnostic. Gnostic is related to the Greek word gn?, “knowledge,” which was used by early Christian writers to mean “higher, esoteric knowledge of spiritual things”; hence, Gnostic referred to those with such knowledge. In coining the term agnostic, Huxley was considering as “Gnostics” a group of his fellow intellectuals—“ists,” as he called them— who had eagerly embraced various doctrines or theories that explained the world to their satisfaction. Because he was a “man without a rag of a label to cover himself with,” Huxley coined the term agnostic for himself, its first published use being in 1870.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Fu 復 10/6/2007

主靜: 明莫大乎自見,聰莫大乎自聞,睿莫大乎自慮;精神不誤用,思慮不妄動。

象傳:
Xiang Zhuan:
1 雷在地中,復;先王以至日閉關,商旅不行,后不省方。
(The trigram representing) the earth and that for thunder in the midst of it form Fu. The ancient kings, in accordance with this, on the day. of the (winter) solstice, shut the gates of the passes (from one state to another), so that the travelling merchants could not (then) pursue their journeys, nor the princes go on with the inspection of their states.
2 不遠之復,以修身也。
'Returning (from an error) of no great extent' is the prelude to the cultivation of the person.
3 休復之吉,以下仁也。
'The good fortune attendant on the admirable return (of the subject of the second line)' is due to his condescension to the virtuous (subject of the line) below.
4 頻復之厲,義無咎也。
Notwithstanding 'the perilous position of him who has made many returns,' there will be no error through (his aiming after righteousness).
5 中行獨復,以從道也。
'He moves right in the centre (among those represented by the other divided lines), and yet returns alone:' - his object is to pursue the (proper) path.
6 敦復無悔,中以自考也。
'The noble return, giving no ground for repentance,' is due to (the subject of the line) striving to perfect himself in accordance with his central position.
7 迷復之凶,反君道也。
'The evil consequent on being all astray on the subject of returning' is because the course pursued is contrary to the proper course for a ruler.

<中論Zhong Lun>
[脩本]:
人心莫不有理道,至乎用之則異矣。或用乎己,或用乎人;用乎己者謂之務本,用乎人者謂之近末。君子之理也,先務其本,故德建而怨寡;小人之理也,先近其末,故功廢而讎多。孔子之制《春秋》也,詳內而略外,急己而寬人,故於魯也,小惡必書;於眾國也,大惡始筆。夫見人而不自見者謂之矇,聞人而不自聞者謂之聵,慮人而不自慮者謂之瞀。故明莫大乎自見,聰莫大乎自聞,睿莫大乎自慮。此三者、舉之甚輕,行之甚邇,而莫之知也。故知者舉甚輕之事以任天下之重,行甚邇之路以窮天下之遠。故德彌高而基彌固,勝彌眾而愛彌廣。《易》曰:“《復》亨。出入無疾。朋來無咎。”其斯之謂歟!

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