The Hat&Cauldron: In what sense, then, was he different from the pigs?

Sunday, July 26, 2015

In what sense, then, was he different from the pigs?

The Grand Augur, in his ceremonial robes, approached
the shambles and thus addressed the pigs: “How can you
object to die? I shall fatten you for three months. I shall
discipline myself for ten days and fast for three. I shall
strew fine grass, and place you bodily upon a carved
sacrificial dish. Does not this satisfy you?”
Then, speaking from the pigs’ point of view, he
continued: “It is better, perhaps, after all, to live on bran
and escape the shambles. . . .”
“But then,” added he, speaking from his own point of
view, “to enjoy honour when alive one would readily die
on a war-shield or in the headsman’s basket.”
So he rejected the pigs’ point of view and adopted his
own point of view. In what sense, then, was he different
from the pigs?

In what sense, then, was he different from the pigs? was originally published on The Hidden Left Hand

Filed under: Life, Taoism Tagged: human nature, Left Hand Path, Life