Remove the dross, keep the essence?
I often hear the line “remove the dross, retain the essence,” and it always makes me feel uncomfortable. Now I’ve finally realized that this attitude itself is profoundly problematic! Follow the logic of that sentence, and on the surface you seem to be looking for “essence,” but in reality you are always picking out “dross.” People take such delight in pointing out faults that they forget what they ought to be doing instead! A whole pile of fruit, some sweet and some rotten—are you “removing the dross, retaining the essence”? First, there are so many rotten ones that you’ll never finish sorting them out; second, if you keep digging and…
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