I find there to be profound wisdom in proverbs, sayings and quotes and I marvel at the way they are so succinct in communicating messages to the reader. Mostly anonymous, they come to us from past generations and from across cultures. They speak of the experiences of lives lived and lessons learned. Quotes, like proverbs, make us think more deeply about something.
Each Friday, I post a Proverb or Saying and a Quote that I find thought-provoking.
I hope you will too.
There are many paths to the top of the mountain, but the view is still the same.
– Chinese proverb
This Chinese proverb is reassuring to those who sit outside the box, to those who don’t fit the mold, non-conformists who are so often cast aside from the mainstream, as being less valued.
We all, every single one of us, ends up in the very same place There is no immortal life on earth. Death is a leveling experience. The thought that we are racing headlong towards the end of life has slipped the mind of some, has run past many others, whilst a few appear hell bent on getting there before anyone else.
To paraphrase a song lyric: “The race is long, but in the end, it is only with yourself.”
“How abundantly do spiritual beings display the powers that belong to them! We look for them, but do not see them; we listen to, but do not hear them; yet they enter into all things, and there is nothing without them.”
― Confucius
Confucius has many profound things to say, and this strikes me as pertinent, both from a religious and secular angle. The human race is not convinced about the existence of supernatural beings or extra terrestrials, strange metaphysical happenings, ESP, intuition, citing the need for tangible evidence before any acknowledgement is publicly given, yet religion heavily relies on intangible belief and imagination from the flock.
Something to Ponder About this Friday
Something to Ponder About 
Yes, the view is the same from the top, but the proverb doesn’t touch on how different the paths might be and the hardships to be encountered. Maybe those somehow alter the view?
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Hmm. That is such a good point, Peggy. Something that shots holes in the proverb! It is the journey that can be terribly important. Even more so than the destination itself. Your thought that the view is altered by the different paths is accurate, as it pertains to the potential for contrary perspectives or ‘views.’ This might give rise to conflict. Someone exposed to a marginal lifestyle might see the view in different terms than another. They might value it much less than others who have most of their basic needs fulfilled in life and as such have more time to appreciate esthetics that the former person looks upon as frivolous. The arts and music are so important in a rounded education but the focus by some might sometimes be too much on stem subjects that could lead to better job prospects. I could take this proverb and your comment in a million different ways but essentially it depends if we are talking about the destination, or view itself, in isolation or the whole process of getting to that point?
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With these one line proverbs from Confucius, it probably helps not to read too much into the exact words. On face value it’s true and rather obvious. At deeper levels it has the million aspects you so rightly mention.
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Some might well say; It is the path or journey to the top that counts. A nice view might be seen as a reward after the climb up. I might well now just go half way, take a good rest and go down again.
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Imagination and experience can paint a pretty picture in one’s mind, Gerard. We do not always have to over extend ourselves just to see the view. If we are content with expending our energy on half of the exercise quotient up the mountain, we might feel that is enough for our age and stage of life. It does not matter, as we still reached a personal “peak” or goal.
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Many paths to the top. That proverb was to remind all that you can find success in many ways and different “careers”.Success is still success. How you got there could be different. So it is not a reference to the journey.
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