Forfatter: Morten Juhl-Johansen

Bud: Ego og intellekt adskilt

Så hvad er intellektuel ydmyghed helt præcis? Grundlæggende går det ud på fire ting:

  1. at have respekt for andre synspunkter
  2. at tøjle sin overselvsikkerhed
  3. at holde sit ego og sit intellekt adskilt
  4. at være åben over for at ændre mening.

Man kunne også sige det på en anden måde: At være intellektuelt ydmyg handler om at træne hjernen til at tænke mere som en forsker og mindre som en forsvarsadvokat.

– Jesper Olsen: Her er en simpel kur mod dumme skænderier og dybe samfundskonflikter. Den begynder med at erkende, hvor lidt vi egentlig ved. Zetland 05.05.2020

Afblomstringens skønhed

If the rose at noon has lost the beauty it had at dawn, the beauty it had then was real. Nothing in the world is permanent, and we’re foolish when we ask anything to last, but surely we’re still more foolish not to take delight in it while we have it. If change is of the essence of existence one would have thought it only sensible to make it the premise of our philosophy.

-The Razor’s Edge, W. Somerset Maugham

Alt er i altet

“Fabulous weather, isn’t it?” said the chauffeur, looking up at the sky. “It’s–how can I put it?–crystal clear.”
I nodded.
“When it gets this clear, God’s messages must have no trouble getting through at all,” I offered.
“Nothing of the kind,” said the chauffeur with a grin. “There are messages already in all things. In flowers, in the rocks, in the clouds…”
“And cars?”
“In cars too.”
“But cars are made in factories.” Typical me.
“Whosoever makes it, God’s will is worked into it.”
“As in ear lice?” Her contribution.
“As in the very air,” corrected the chauffeur.
“Well then, I suppose that cars made in Saudi Arabia have Allah in them.”
“They don’t produce cars in Saudi Arabia.”
“Really?” Again me.
“Really.”
“Then what about cars produced in America for export to Saudi Arabia? What god’s in them?” queried my girlfriend.
A difficult question.

– Haruki Murakami: A Wild Sheep Chase, p. 151

If it’s not me, it’s you

General Ralph Landry: You know, when they forced Khruschev out, he sat down and wrote two letters to his successor. He said – “When you get yourself into a situation you can’t get out of, open the first letter, and you’ll be safe. When you get yourself into another situation you can’t get out of, open the second letter”.
Soon enough, he gets into a tight situation, and he opens the first letter. It says – “Blame it all on me”. So he blames it all on the old guy, and it worked like a charm.
When he got himself into a second situation, he opened the second letter. It said – “Sit down, and write two letters”.

– Traffic (2000)