Fear, strangers as angels, (self-) transcendence, and the usefulness of failure
A number of weeks ago, three of my LinkedIn connections posted some passages from various sources that caught my attention and seemed somewhat related, as if belonging in a cluster - and to which I would add a fourth. 1) Gordana Lekovic shared the following quote from Bertrand Russell (British philosopher, 1872–1970), among other Russell quotes: “It is normal to hate what we fear, and it happens frequently that we fear what we hate. I think it may be taken as the rule among primitive men, that they both fear and hate whatever is unfamiliar.” This seems natural or normative, like a survival instinct: We hate and fear our enemies, as we often do strangers. 2) But this brought to mind Hamlet’s words to Horatio: Late in 1.5, upon seeing the ghost again, Horatio says, “this is wondrous strange!” Hamlet replies, “And therefore as a stranger give it welcome.” Hamlet seems to be thinking of the biblical injunctions to welcome the stranger: Hebrews 13:2 (in the Geneva translation wi...