Married couples who quarrel bitterly every day may really need each other as deeply as those who appear to be desperately in love.
Why can't we simply borrow what is useful to us from Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, especially Zen, as we borrow from Christianity, science, American Indian traditions and world literature in general, including philosophy, and let the rest go hang? Borrow what we need but rely principally upon our own senses, common sense and daily living experience.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote advocates for selectively adopting useful ideas from various traditions while prioritizing personal experience and common sense.
Edward Abbey encourages us to draw wisdom and insights from a variety of spiritual and philosophical traditions, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and others, while emphasizing the importance of our own senses and daily experiences. He suggests that we should be open to borrowing beneficial concepts but ultimately rely on our individual judgment and practical life experiences to navigate our beliefs and actions.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on spirituality and personal growth, one might quote Abbey to emphasize the benefits of eclectic learning.
More from Edward Abbey
All quotes →I love America because it is a confused, chaotic mess - and I hope we can keep it this way for at least another thousand years. The permissive society is the free society.
If it's knowledge and wisdom you want, then seek out the company of those who do real work for an honest purpose.
The earth is real. Only a fool, milking his cow, denies the cow's reality.
I believe in nothing that I cannot touch, kiss, embrace.... The rest is only hearsay.
Man's deliberate destruction of his own habitat -- planet Earth -- could serve as a mighty theme for a mighty book worthy of a modern Melville or Tolstoy. But our best fictioneers confine themselves to domestic drama -- soap opera with literary trimmings.
Similar quotes
Time is the River on which the leaves of our thoughts are carried into oblivion.
We do not know what we want and yet we are responsible for what we are - that is the fact.
It is an obvious fact that when an age is torn loose from its moorings and everyone is to some degree thrown on his own, most people can take steps to find and realize themselves.
What do you think, would not one tiny crime be wiped out by thousands of good deeds?
Really high-minded people are indifferent to happiness, especially other people's.
He, who survives his reputation, lives out of despite himself, like a man listening to his own reproach.