August 14
Wipe away your tears, says Philosophy; the cloud of the passions has darkened your sight. Remember who you are — then light will return to the eye.
The Consolation of Philosophy (freely rendered)
Listening mode
Wipe away your tears, says Philosophy; the cloud of the passions has darkened your sight. Remember who you are — then light will return to the eye.
After a mistake that embarrasses you, your whole memory can arrange itself around it. At night you play the scene through again and find better lines. Earlier occasions come back to you when you were similarly off the mark. Everything seems to prove the same thing.
The next day someone asks you the way, and you explain it precisely, shortcut behind the bakery included. For a few sentences you are someone who knows the area. The mistake hasn't become any smaller for it. It simply stands, all of a sudden, alongside other things again.
This difference is easily overlooked. Remembering yourself doesn't mean bringing out a more flattering picture. That would only trade one judgement for another. It means, rather, having more of yourself in view again than a single evening can hold: knowledge, habits, people to whom you mean something. And yes, the other mistakes too.
It is hard to force. When you try to talk yourself round, you usually notice that you are bargaining. More often it comes by way of a question that has nothing to do with the whole business.
