Purify that inward sphere, and the many shapes of evil that haunt the outward, and which now seem almost our only realities, will turn to shadowy phantoms and vanish of their own accord; but if we go no deeper than the intellect, and strive, with merely that feeble instrument, to discern and rectify what is wrong, our whole accomplishment will be a dream.

Hawthorne

And the Goddess cordially admitted me, with her hand my right hand held and thus spoke and addressed me; Oh youth, to the immortal charioteers firmly raised with the mares that bring you as you come to our halls, be glad!, since you were not by evil destiny prompted to share this path – for indeed is beyond men’s feet – but by Rightness as well as Justice. And you have to know everything, both the well-rounded truth’s unshakable heart, and mortals’ opinions, empty of true faith. However, these also will you learn, that false beliefs like true must seem, pervading everything by all means.

καί με θεὰ πρόφρων ὑπεδέξατο͵ χεῖρα δὲ χειρί δεξιτερὴν ἕλεν͵ ὧδε δ΄ ἔπος φάτο καί με προσηύδα· ὦ κοῦρ΄ ἀθανάτοισι συνάορος ἡνιόχοισιν͵ ἵπποις ταί σε φέρουσιν ἱκάνων ἡμέτερον δῶ͵ χαῖρ΄͵ ἐπεὶ οὔτι σε μοῖρα κακὴ προὔπεμπε νέεσθαι τήνδ΄ ὁδόν (ἦ γὰρ ἀπ΄ ἀνθρώπων ἐκτὸς πάτου ἐστίν)͵ ἀλλὰ θέμις τε δίκη τε. χρεὼ δέ σε πάντα πυθέσθαι ἠμὲν Ἀληθείης εὐκυκλέος ἀτρεμὲς ἦτορ ἠδὲ βροτῶν δόξας͵ ταῖς οὐκ ἔνι πίστις ἀληθής. ἀλλ΄ ἔμπης καὶ ταῦτα μαθήσεαι͵ ὡς τὰ δοκοῦντα χρῆν δοκίμως εἶναι διὰ παντὸς πάντα περῶντα.

Parmenides

Great article on where bad policy ideas come from and why they stick:

There is no inexorable evolutionary march that replaces our bad, old ideas with smart, new ones. If anything, the story of the last few decades of international relations can just as easily be read as the maddening persistence of dubious thinking. Like crab grass and kudzu, misguided notions are frustratingly resilient, hard to stamp out no matter how much trouble they have caused in the past and no matter how many scholarly studies have undermined their basic claims.

…

Perhaps the most obvious reason why foolish ideas persist is that someone has an interest in defending or promoting them. Although open debate is supposed to weed out dubious ideas and allow facts and logic to guide the policy process, it often doesn’t work that way. Self-interested actors who are deeply committed to a particular agenda can distort the marketplace of ideas.

Stephan M. Walt, “Where Do Bad Ideas Come From (And Why Don’t They Go Away)?,” Foreign Policy, Jan/Feb 2011

When you say you “can’t believe” something because you can’t be certain, because “we don’t know,” you are using a posture of sensible skepticism to hide an ethical engagement. If we don’t know, we can choose, and you did. And with that, unknowing, you’ve assumed the full ethical burden of your choice.

When you cut through the dirt and the rock, you create a channel, and a smaller body flows out to greater waters. You take hold of the stark fact that you own your attention, that what you want and what you need are nothing. Out of that nothing, there you are, ready to make something. So you do. I will.

Practical reason and common sense are the twin fires we use to sacrifice authentic Being to our own limits and self-satisfaction.

Since other people have asked about my symbol (sorry if this is repetitive):