I came across a webpage today that featured "rudimentary Latin phrases." I had been reading an article that was addressing the once given inclusion of Latin; in institutes of "higher learning," in the Western world, which had since given way to English. Included in that article was the link to the afore mentioned page.
As I was skimming the various phrases and its translation I noticed this one: "faber est suae quisque fortunae."("every man is the artisan of his fortune.")
What struck me immediately was the similarity to this phrase and those that suggest "that we create our own reality." Many detractors blow off such suggestions with such weighty arguments as: "that's just a bunch of New Age bullshit!"
I'm not intent on trying to prove or disprove this claim. I don't even know what fields of knowledge constitute the full spectrum encapsulated under the umbrella of "New Age." I can't sit here now and tell you what is "legitimate" and what is "snake oil." I can't even dismiss snake oil, it might well be great for something for all I know. I don't know "the shit from the shinola." (heh, what do ya know - there's another George Carlin -ism) ... maybe George was an Avatar?! (I would have loved to hear him respond to that supposition.
I do know that medical science throws it's collective hands in the air on some scenario's and there are those that would say at that point - that's it, game over. This is not even close to being true in all situations.
I have had a fairly diverse number of experiences that fall well outside the "mainstream medical model." By no means have I experienced it all. I have witnessed others having some sort of experience (that was theirs and therefore not directly my experience or even within my comprehension) suffice to say, you wouldn't see these things happening at the "drop in clinic."
The thing about the idea translated from the latin phrase I opened with, it is attributed to a Roman "politician" that lived between 340 B.C. and 273 B.C. Maybe his contemporaries dispelled him as just another "New Age" crack-pot? My observation is that the time period he lived in is a far cry from the "New Age," yet this idea he was espousing has survived through the eons. My question then - what is the life expectancy of Bullshit?
As it happens I remember, I also have noticed this sort of "parallel" teaching in an old book "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. In many of the concepts he was expanding on throughout his book, he was giving biblical passages as supporting cross-references. If nothing else this demonstrates the variety of sources I have sought over the years for answers and the "passing of the torch" over the passing generations and cultures.
Once again there are ideas from both those sources that have been carried forward by more recent authors/teachers and even upstart would be writer's cum spiritual seeker/philosopher's like me.
Of course on that note all we need do, is refer once again, the Latin phrase site and it yields: "barba non facit philosophum." (a beard doesn't make one a philosopher).
I hadn't really considered that one did, however, having now digested that pearl of wisdom; I feel vindicated and heartened, by another phrase I will leave you with: "docendo disco, scribendo cogito."
"I learn by teaching, think by writing."
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