Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse.
Graham Weeks
What do we think this Japanese Proverb means?
--
Graham J Weeks
http://www.weeks-g.dircon.co.uk/
http://www.grace.org.uk/churches/ealing.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------
More light than we can learn, More wealth than we can treasure,
More love than we can earn, More peace than we can measure,
Because one Child is born.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Craig R. Smith
>'Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse.'
> What do we think this Japanese Proverb means?
That sometimes the greatest stupidity and venality can be found in the presence
of our leaders and the champions of morality; sometimes the greatest darkness
comes from those who are supposedly enlightened.
Craig
William N. Hodges
: 'Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse.'
: What do we think this Japanese Proverb means?
The more you concentrate light the more darkness there is at its source.
Just as the more you concentrate your efforts to learn a subject you
become less learned about the everyday things around you. Hence the PHD
that know almost everything about nothing versus the generalist that knows
almost nothing about everything. I fall into the latter category:-)
--
I wish you a GREAT DAY!!!
Bill Hodges, DTM, HODGES SEMINARS INTERNATIONAL - WHERE GREAT DAYS BEGIN
William "Bill" Hodges, DTM PDG, **AUTHOR**KEYNOTE SPEAKER**TRAINER**
Bill authored the BEST SELLING motivational book "Within Your Reach."
Web Site: http://www.billhodges.com E-mail: hod...@dma.org
STOP****STOP****Beyond here there be advertising, but also a great offer!
FREE MOTIVATIONAL MESSAGES for your newsletter or enjoyment are on our web
site or can be obtained by e-mail. Over 1000 positive people in 34 nations
now receive these free messages by e-mail once per month. To be added to
the list: send your name, city, state/province, country and e-mail address
to us with the request "Add me to the motivation list." Your information
will be used for no other purpose than to let us know where the columns
are going. Back issues can be found in the archives on our web site.
Daniel P. B. Smith
Graham Weeks <wee...@dircon.co.uk> wrote:
>'Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse.'
> What do we think this Japanese Proverb means?
Well, to begin with, like many good proverbs, it is literally true. (For
that matter, the purpose of a lighthouse is not to illuminate anything
else or to disperse darkness anywhere).
I assume it means that the shoemaker's children have no shoes...
--
Daniel P. B. Smith
dpbs...@world.std.com
ScottH9999
>From: dpbs...@world.std.com (Daniel P. B. Smith)
>Date: Mon, Dec 28, 1998 06:31 EST
>Message-id: <F4oAn...@world.std.com>
That's similar to the way I read it. It's a nice proverb. It reminds me of the
Russian proverb:
"Under great oaks, only mushrooms grow."
In that proverb, though, the implication is that it is the inherent fault of
great individuals that their successors are so puny and pitiful (because they
give them no room to grow and develop). In the Japanese proverb the implication
is perhaps more along the lines that great individuals attract many epigones at
their feet who are not really enlightened by the wisdom of the master.
--Scott Harrison
Vlad
to take a few steps back and view a situation from a distance. The
light will only illuminate your eyes if you are actually in a position
to see it, which in this case is only possible from a distance.
Graham Weeks wrote:
>
> 'Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse.'
> What do we think this Japanese Proverb means?
The Sanity Inspector
>Personally, I feel this one implies that to gain understanding one has
>to take a few steps back and view a situation from a distance. The
>light will only illuminate your eyes if you are actually in a position
>to see it, which in this case is only possible from a distance.
>> 'Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse.'
>> What do we think this Japanese Proverb means?
I think it might be a dig at hypocrisy. I have in mind
Rousseau, who wrote those books on the proper rearing of children, but
abandoned his own illegitimate daughters into orphanages.
--
bruce
The dignified don't even enter in the game.
--The Jam
Ed C
>
> 'Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse.'
> What do we think this Japanese Proverb means?
>
Things are never what they seem. Everything looks wonderful, but below
the surface, it is the "dark night of the soul". Kinda reminds you of
Clinton's spin doctors.
Ed
Ed says: Humpty Dumpty was pushed!
Margaret
>choll...@mindspring.com (The Sanity Inspector) scripsit:
>
>>I think it might be a dig at hypocrisy. I have in mind
>>Rousseau, who wrote those books on the proper rearing of children, but
>>abandoned his own illegitimate daughters into orphanages.
>
>Or, for that matter, Dr Spock (the guy without the pointy ears), who
>was estranged from his children for years. (I seem to remember,
>though, that they made up before his death.)
"Show of hands: how many of you chose this class
because you have or will soon have teenagers? [very
large show of hands] Well forget it! No matter how
much you learn or how much you know -- it won't help
with your own kids! We're just as hopeless as any lay
person when it comes to our own kids."
-- my Adolescent Development prof, whose name i can no
longer recall. Smart man. He was right. :-)
Serenleono
>I think it might be a dig at hypocrisy. I have in mind
>Rousseau, who wrote those books on the proper rearing of children, but
>abandoned his own illegitimate daughters into orphanages.
Or, for that matter, Dr Spock (the guy without the pointy ears), who
was estranged from his children for years. (I seem to remember,
though, that they made up before his death.)
Seren
Kwanzaa yenu iwe na heri! - May your Kwanzaa be happy!
Daniel P. B. Smith
AJA <ahne...@microdsi.net> wrote:
>
>>>> 'Darkness reigns at the foot of the lighthouse.'
>>>> What do we think this Japanese Proverb means?
>
>Republic, Trans. A. D. Lindsay, ending thus:
Wonder if Omar read Plato?
We are no other than a moving row
Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go
Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held
In Midnight by the Master of the Show.
--Edward FitzGerald, "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam"
Modern translation:
Let us consider this wheel of heaven that amazes us
As if it were a diorama --
The sun the candle, the world the lanthorn,
Then we are like the images revolving on its walls
--Peter Avery and John Heath-Stubbs, "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam"
Dave Kifer
If this is a good example of the Avery/Heath-Stubbs translation,
I hope you don't mind if I stick with FitzGerald.
And this I know: whether the one True Light,
Kindle to Love, or Wrath, consume me quite,
One Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught
Better than in the Temple lost outright.
--Edward FitzGerald, "The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam"
Dave
"Tam multi libri, tam breve tempus!"
(Et brevis pecunia.) [Et breve spatium.]