Tag: Fyodor Dostoevsky

Three Avian Musings from Days at The Beach

December 3, 2024

One day this summer marked a special series of milestones of mythological proportions in my life: for the first time ever, like this vigilant seagull, I was perched completely on my own, staring at a monumental decision that only affects me…no parents, no spouse, no siblings, no children, no grandchildren, no in-laws, no neighbors, no friends, no teachers, no professors, no dogs, no horses, no lambs, no governments, no embassies, no colleagues, no employers, no contractors, no priests nor priestesses, no nothing!

One of my brothers said, “Wow, go get a gerbil!”

I wonder how many philosophical essays have been written while pondering the uniqueness of making such types of decision? After all, to quote Robert Louis Stevenson,

“Everyone, soon or late, sits down to a banquet of consequences.”

You don’t just reap what you sow. You also sow what you reap.

Spending some time in one of the most beautiful beaches around, I came across a colony of seagulls. They didn’t fly away as I walked by. And they gave me food for thought. As I am delving into the Russian authors, I took this photo and thought of Fyodor Dostoevsky:

“Oh, how hard it is to be the only one who knows the truth!”

The more I walked, the more my lovely colony of seagulls made me reflect. Aesop came to mind.

By the way, I didn’t take the shunning personally!!!!!

The next day I remembered the New York Avian melodrama above. She flew the coop. Or did she?

A Little Lie is Like a Little Pregnancy…

September 20, 2024

One of the things I used to try to inculcate in my children was the importance of never lying, because once one is categorized as a liar, the link of trust is broken, and it really can’t be repaired. The worst thing that can happen to a person is to be seen as a liar, because their word will be forever doubted, even when they speak the truth (Peter and the Wolf comes to mind).

Lately, I keep returning to a conundrum of my making, and this is how my mind works: why would I lie, not to protect myself or hide my shame, but rather, to protect someone else’s misdeed, when I know full well that there is misconduct involved? There’s the rub that led me to a vortex of etymological discovery and legal peregrination.

The Greek word “diaballein” means “to slander, attack, cast apart”. “Dia” meaning “across, through” and “ballein” meaning “to throw”. It literally means “to throw across, to scatter” (e.g., families get scattered, communities get divided). It is the source of another Greek word “diavolos” , which is the provenance of the term we all know, “the devil”.

Now this led me to discover the origin of that other name for devil, “ho sataunus”, which is also Greek and based on the Hebrew word that means “The Accuser”, and is the origin of the name Satan.

A philosopher I read somewhere even stated that in today’s world, The Accuser’s role could be seen as that of a Prosecuting Attorney, whose job is to blame and blame the accused: he/she did it! (Poor lawyers, they never get a break!).

We mere mortals engage in accusations all the time when we gossip, point the finger, play the shame and blame game, and/or destroy someone’s character. How many times are we oblivious to carelessly wounding others by saying or implying an untruth that may wreck their family life, their reputation and character, all done through a lie?

At the end of the day, the Bible calls the devil the father of lies… and for good reason.

I leave it to better writers than me to share my conclusions through their thoughts on lies and lying:

A liar will not be believed, even when he speaks the truth. (Aesop)

No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar. (Abraham Lincoln)

You can always lie to others and hide your actions from them… but you can not fool yourself.    (Also A. Lincoln).

A little lie is like a little pregnancy; it doesn’t take long before everyone knows. (C.S. Lewis)

A truth can walk naked…but a lie always needs to be dressed. (Khalil Gibran)

Lastly, Fyodor Dostoevsky has a brutal passage in the Brothers Karamazov on lying.

By the way, daffodils symbolize honesty and truth. I like daffodils!