Among irrational animals the love of the offspring and of the parents for each other is extraordinary because God, who created them, compensated for the deficiency of reason by the superiority of their senses.
Interpretation
Saint Basil highlights the extraordinary bond of love among animals, suggesting that they have a deep connection that compensates for their lack of reason.
In this quote, Saint Basil reflects on the profound love that exists among animals, particularly between parents and their offspring. He suggests that although these creatures may lack human-like reasoning abilities, they possess heightened senses that cultivate an extraordinary emotional connection. This underscores the idea that love is a fundamental force in nature, bridging gaps created by cognitive limitations.
In practice
This quote could be shared during a talk about animal rights to emphasize the emotional bonds among animal families.
Now, if you notice how the swan, putting its neck down into the deep water, brings up food for itself from below, then you will discover the wisdom of the Creator, in that He gave it a neck longer than its feet for this reason, that it might, as if lowering a sort of fishing line, procure the food hidden in the deep water.
When you have become God's in the measure he desires, then he himself will bestow you upon others; unless, to your greater glory, he chooses to keep you all to himself.
What is there astonishing in the death of a mortal? But we are grieved at his dying before his time. Are we sure that this was not his time? We do not know how to pick and choose what is good for our souls, or how to fix the limits of the life of man.
I heard many discourses which were good for the soul, but I could not discover in the case of any one of the teachers that his life was worthy of his words.
To lovers of the truth, nothing can be put before God and hope in Him.
If every man took only what was sufficient for his needs, leaving the rest to those in want, there would be no rich and no poor.
Very often the Group actor is a critic when he's acting and an actor when he's criticizing.
Free institutions certainly exist, but a tradition of passivity and conformism restricts their use - a cynic might say that this is why they continue to exist.
Love of country is the Mason's deed; world citizenship is his thought.
My philosophy is simple: It's a down-home, common, horse-sense approach to things.
Jesus Christ belonged to the true race of prophets. He saw with open eye the mystery of the soul. Drawn by its severe harmony, ravished with its beauty, he lived in it and had his being there. Alone in all history, he estimated the greatness of man.
We must suffer to the end, to the moment when we stop believing in suffering.
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