Monday, July 20, 2009

sub specie aeternitatis

(H)umans have the special capacity to step back and survey themselves, and the lives to which they are committed... Without developing the illusion that they are able to escape from their highly specific and idiosyncratic position, they can view it sub specie aeternitatis—and the view is at once sobering and comical. (Thomas Nagel, The Absurd)

sub specie aeternitatis -- literally, under the aspect of eternity (Merriam-Webster)

From the "highly specific and idiosyncratic" positions I have seen lately, I face the temptation to fall into one of my own, but am unable to, too far gone.

I pray that all humans "without developing the illusion that they are able to escape from their highly specific and idiosyncratic position" can "view it sub specie aeternitatis."

I'm a-tellin' you! The view is definitely both sobering and comical!
And it will save both you and the folk around you a lot of grief.

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