My new proverb

[.t.]

I don't think it's quite right, yet. I dunno, I just have a funny feeling about it; I can't remember the word I wanted to use. Anyway: I thought I may share it:

We are lost until loss; blind until blinded.

Tell me what you think it means.

[jpeddicord]

I'm guessing it means that you don't know what something is like unless you've been there. "lost until loss" may need reworded, but otherwise good proverb. :)
Maybe try "We are at loss until lost, blind until blinded."

[.t.]

Not quite! And, I have the original wording for a reason. Any more ideas, people?

Not gonna say yet, though :mrgreen: :-#

[.t.]

Hmm... I've decided I like it the way it is, and am not going to change it; but still no-one seems to have worked out what it is! Tsk tsk.

[chaosgeisterchen]

I think it wants to show that one really gets what suffering means only if this entity has suffered itself. Before that it's nothing but assumption..

It is not only concerning suffering but concerning every part of life. You have to experience things to tell how they are - after that your experience will significantly alter your perception of how things are like.

[.t.]

Well done! (Sorta) hit the nail on the head: you don't know how lucky you are to have something until it is deprived of you.

[chaosgeisterchen]

That's a good sentence as a whole. People walk through their lives blindly, driven by experience of which they assume they have but in fact aren't.

But how should they ever know? Imagination is a gift.. not everyone is capable to show empathy.

[.t.]

I hate Plato's Cave, don't you? It's a scary notion; hence 1984, The Matrix and countless others.

This is why I think information should be free.

[illu45]

That's quite a nice quote, and I think the meaning is rather evident. The only thing that seems odd to be is the "we are lost until loss". I'm not sure that its grammatically correct, perhaps you meant "we are lost until at a loss" or something to that extent?

Plato's cave isn't meant to be particularly scary, I don't think, just there to make you realize that true ignorance comes from the ignorance of one's ignorance.

[.t.]

But it is scary; as it could very easily happen (I can plan it in the UK right now). Then Ingsoc takes over; and you know the rest...

I don't care if it [my proverb] seems odd, though. It's rather pithy to write "We are lost until we have suffered a loss; blind until blinded", so I wrote it as I did. It makes sense, and that's all that matters; to make you ponder.

It also provokes the question: can we be wise before we have indeed lost?

[beercz]

Well done! (Sorta) hit the nail on the head: you don't know how lucky you are to have something until it is deprived of you.

Why didn't you say that in the first place? Easier to understand! (At least for me).

[.t.]

Not as snazzy; IMHO. It's sounds better the way it was, having mysterious, hidden connotations is always a plus!

[chaosgeisterchen]

Contraquestion: Can we possibly ever be wise?

[migla]

"I am, why don't I think?"

[.t.]

I think therefore I am.

I know loss therefore I am wise.

[chaosgeisterchen]

Do you have evidence that you are really wise or are you simply writing that you are? It's not that I do not believe your words but I tend to wanting to understand everything.

[.t.]

Well; I wasn't really saying I was. We were just posting profound phrases... What's the term; can't really call them proverbs again.

Anyway, surely if one knows more than before an event they are all the more the wiser?

[chaosgeisterchen]

More the wiser but not yet wise. I reckon that 'wise' is a hypothetical state.

[fuscia]

my new proverb:

"you can lead a horse to water and even push his head in the trough, but it's up to the horse whether he sinks or swims."

[.t.]

I bet he swims though.