It is ingrained in all living creatures, first of all, to preserve their own safety, to guard against what is harmful, to strive for what is advantageous.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the instinctual drive in all living beings to prioritize their safety and seek beneficial outcomes.
Saint Ambrose highlights the fundamental instincts that govern the behavior of all living creatures, suggesting that self-preservation and the pursuit of advantage are innate tendencies. This perspective offers insight into both animal behavior and human motivation, implying that the desire to protect oneself and improve oneβs situation is universal and essential for survival.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about animal behavior in biology classes.
A good youth ought to have a fear of God, to be subject to his parents, to give honor to his elders, to preserve his purity; he ought not to despise humility, but should love forbearance and modesty. All these are an ornament to youthful years.
Where a man's heart is, there is his treasure also.
The emperor is in the Church, not above the Church.
A kindness received should be returned with a freer hand.
Take away the contests of the martyrs, and you have taken away their crowns.
The best way to use the gold of the Redeemer is for the redemption of those in peril.
Divorced from the cosmos, from nature, from society and from each other, we have become fractured and fragmented.
Racial profiling punishes innocent individuals for the past actions of those who look and sound like them. It misdirects crucial resources and undercuts the trust needed between law enforcement and the communities they serve. It has no place in our national discourse, and no place in our nation's police departments.
We bring about a world in consciousness that is partly what is given, and partly what we bring, something that comes into being through this particular conjunction and no other. And the key to this is the kind of attention we pay to the world.
The highest religion is to rise to universal brother hood; aye to consider all creatures your equals.
God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy.
A thought may arise: 'It's okay now, but it's going to be different when I step out the door'. Already you are anticipating your downfall. Recognise these as just thoughts. You can just watch them, feel their pull yet observe them as a movement in consciousness. Stay put as formless awareness.
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