"If you want to find out what a man is to the bottom, give him power. Any man can stand adversity — only a great man can stand prosperity.”
Robert Ingersoll
“You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“It is the magician’s bargain: give up our soul, get power in return. But once our souls, that is, ourselves, have been given up, the power thus conferred will not belong to us. We shall in fact be the slaves and puppets of that to which we have given our souls.”
C.S. Lewis
At what point does stupidity become a sin?
This is no idle question. Because the most pervasive and convincing reason I have found to not hold people, including myself, accountable for their usual bad actions is stupidity.
They are not really evil, even when they may accommodate evil things. They are mostly stupid.
But surely, like most things in excess, stupidity becomes a sin when it is
wanton in a careless manner, or even worse, purposeful. Habitual stupidity that favors the person who gives themselves over to it.
Surely almost all people will be taken in by a con man at some point in their lives.
But there are those who become the devotees of purposeful liars. And in their wanton stupidity they can become the accomplices of terrible sins, and sometimes sensational crimes.
Be careful then, of what you feed to your minds, and what foolishness you may stubbornly embrace, because it suits your purposes.
At the time of your judgement, cleverness and connections and impertinence will be of no use. The penetrating gaze of the Almighty will expose you naked before it.
The markets were mixed today as they like to say.
The economic news was dire. But we are becoming used to this.
Trumpolini will be announcing something distractingly fabulous tonight no doubt.
There will be a stock market option expiration on Friday.
And there is a reckoning coming, most likely by July.
Have a pleasant evening.
