When one has not yet encountered perplexity, it is enough to act by instinct and sensibility; when one encounters confusion, one must appeal to reason; and when one runs into perplexity that reason still cannot resolve, one can only fall back once more on instinct and sensibility.
When does one have to begin using reason, and in what circumstances can one give up reason again? That seems impossible to sort out. Still, once one has appealed to reason and reason has already given a definite answer, then if one still wants to evade it, that is painful; just as it is painful to stubbornly keep searching within reason when reason has not given an answer.
Would it work to remain from the outset in instinct and sensibility, never once asking reason for help? Of course that, too, is painful—like clearly having a pair of healthy eyes, yet always deliberately avoiding using them.
What Kierkegaard said about the three stages of life means more or less the same thing. In fact, it is not only that one divides a whole life into stages; people treat every single matter according to these “three stages.”
Latest Comments
- chong
2006-06-17 23:41:28
The key is action!!!
- Gu
2006-06-18 04:18:01
What is action, anyway? Avoidance is also action; silence is also action. Of course, choosing nothing is impossible. For me, the key is not what to choose, or whether one does it well or badly, but simply having a clear conscience, taking responsibility for what one has said, and for one’s own innermost intentions; then there is nothing to feel guilty about. It is enough not to fall into confusion oneself. I very rarely have problems that reason still cannot solve. As for the things that can make me perplexed, counting them up, there are only three: first, death; second, ***; third, ###.
By the way, the reason I am airing these sentiments has another cause; it is not because I myself have any confusion.
Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.
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