The Wisdom Letter #091
5 quotes from Franz Kafka (1883–1924)
✹ For today's Wisdom Letter, we have carefully curated five bite-sized quotes from the novelist and writer, Franz Kafka (1883–1924).
Quote № 01:
“We are as forlorn as children lost in the woods. When you stand in front of me and look at me, what do you know of the griefs that are in me and what do I know of yours? And if I were to cast myself down before you and weep and tell you, what more would you know about me than you know about Hell when someone tells you it is hot and dreadful? For that reason alone we human beings ought to stand before one another as reverently, as reflectively, as lovingly, as we would before the entrance to Hell.”
— Franz Kafka, “Letter to Oskar Pollak (8 November 1903)”
Quote № 02:
“To fight against this lack of understanding, against a whole world of non-understanding, was impossible.”
— Franz Kafka, “The Complete Stories”
Quote № 03:
“I can prove at any time that my education tried to make another person out of me than the one I became. It is for the harm, therefore, that my educators could have done me in accordance with their intentions that I reproach them; I demand from their hands the person I now am, and since they cannot give him to me, I make of my reproach and laughter a drumbeat sounding in the world beyond.”
— Franz Kafka, “The Diaries of Franz Kafka 1910-1923”
Quote № 04:
“I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound and stab us. If the book we are reading doesn't wake us up with a blow on the head, what are we reading it for?”
— Franz Kafka, “Letter to Oskar Pollak (27 January 1904)”
Quote № 05:
“I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.”
— Franz Kafka, “The Metamorphosis”
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✺ Today’s Questions
Three philosophical questions to foster your curiosity:
Question № 01:
How do we define and measure the depth and accuracy of our understanding of someone else's thoughts, feelings, and experiences?
Question № 02:
Should the education system prioritize knowledge acquisition, skill development, critical thinking, or character building?
Question № 03:
How do some books achieve timeless relevance and universal appeal, while others remain confined to their specific historical and cultural contexts?
✽ Thank you for reading today’s Wisdom Letter.
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One can never go wrong with Kafka. His bleak view of the world inspires me to explore absurdity, real-world frustrations, and diverse artistic expressions, highlighting human resilience and offering deep philosophical insights.
1. How do we define and measure the depth and accuracy of our understanding of someone else's thoughts, feelings, and experiences?
Very slowly and carefully. You can't get to know someone though a single social media post. Thoughts are fleeting, and too often, people are being condemned for posting a singular thought. The best approach is stated by Jesus in the bible - 'Take the log out of your own eye before trying to remove the splinter from your brother's eye.'
2. Should the education system prioritize knowledge acquisition, skill development, critical thinking, or character building?
I think that through proper organization of thoughts, skill development and character is built. Without critical thinking skills, children cannot properly develop. I have actually fought curriculum developers on this issue in formal education courses, and have been kicked out of 2 different programs for pointing out fallacies in true critical thought in various educational approaches. I think the future of true education of children will require major overhauls, exclusion of outside distractions; and that it isn't possible within the framework that currently exists. I am writing a fusion type course including a textbook and database designed to teach critical thinking and concepts of history and literature combined with data analysis. Currently, I am in a conceptual phase, and don't have a lot of time to work on it, but my goal is to get it written and published. Possibly to teach one day.
One school that I will always admire is Summerhill school. A.S. Neill has created some genius in design that truly works. I am not sure how to implement concepts into a formal curriculum, as I could never get far enough in my educational courses to actually get help from professors in my own curriculum design. I don't mean that in a way that puts me in a deficit of learning, I am providing that info to indicate the absence of flexibility in thought of the current educational leaders, and the complete carbon copy mindset that exists in educational (pseudo) science today.
3. How do some books achieve timeless relevance and universal appeal, while others remain confined to their specific historical and cultural contexts?
I think it takes focus and to become a rogue scholar and an explorer of historical literature. The reflexive responses to placing historical literature into current timeframes, and pointing out perceived indignities as a way of throwing out the entire work is contributing to an inhibition of understanding. I love to place myself in the time, and imagine the world that the author lived in, without taking things personally if it is a work that insults women, etc. You can't judge historical literature by current standards. And with that point, the reader should keep in mind that in the future, people will do the same for the works that are being created today, they will see the major infractions of thought and morality in writings of those who are currently on top of their game. Additionally, the current theme that if it isn't popular online, then it isn't valuable is also an inhibition to learning.