Learn this Archaic knowledge before it’s too late.
Something strange has happened lately; the universe speaks to me in Latin.
I found Latin aphorisms in the most unusual places: graffiti painted on crosswalks, even tattooed on people, like that waitress with the Latin phrase “Res Non Verba” (actions, not words) on her arm.
So, I started writing them down on a notepad and then looking for their origin and meaning. Every time I did that, I learned to solve some problems I was dealing with.
And I want to share three of the latest Latin sayings that I learned, which would have done me a lot of good in my twenties, to save you some grief on your way.
Let’s start.
Agere sequitur esse
“Acting follows from being.”
I first saw this Latin saying engraved with a razor on a park bench.
In searching for its provenance, I discovered that it is a metaphysical principle of St. Thomas Aquinas with roots in Plato and Aristotle.
After reflecting on it, I realized that this Latin saying meant that one cannot be without doing things.
Doing and being are linked. They are not dissociable.
You are what you do. And whatever you do makes you what you are. Reread it.
This is powerful because we can conclude that I act. Therefore, I am. And thus, the nature of my actions gives nature to my being.
That is, my actions can change my identity, and that is a formidable thing.
Lesson: If you feel like a zero to the left, the only thing you have to do is start behaving differently, even if you don’t believe that you can change. Because believe it or not your actions will change you, they will change who you are, your identity.
Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto
“I am a man, nothing human is alien to me.”
I found this phrase in a train carriage.
Someone had torn out the first page of a yellowed book, put it in an envelope, and left it on a seat. I saw the envelope, opened it, and read the following as I sat down.
Homo sum; nihil humani a me alienum puto, said the Latin writer. And I would rather say: Nullum hominem a me alienum puto; I am a man, to no man do I esteem stranger.
I first tracked down the book. The book was a collection of essays by Don Miguel de Unamuno entitled “Del sentimiento trágico de la vida” (On the Tragic Feeling of Life).
The second thing to look for was the origin of the phrase.
Publius Terentius Africanus wrote the phrase in 165 B.C.
The quote meant a before-and-after in my life.
It allowed me to understand why I do what I do.
Let me explain.
I usually say that I am my subject of study because the things that affect me are the things that mainly concern others.
It is not that I am egocentric, but there comes a time when you realize that your mood is like an emotional thermometer of the collective unconscious.
“Nothing is alien to me” because I am part of the great global village.
And I’ve been walking under the sun long enough to know how we feel on a macro level and empathize with everything people experience on a micro level daily.
I can feel your pain, your existential emptiness, your desire to feel like it, especially on the days you don’t feel like it. You know what I mean, dear reader.
Lesson: you can also feel what I feel, because we are all connected “Homo sum”, we are human. And that relieves the loneliness that sometimes you feel, that bad feeling, that anguish that you often think only you feel; it is not true that only you feel it. We all feel it. You are not alone.
Ubi fumus, ibi ignis
“Where there is smoke, there is fire.”
This Latin phrase is so old that I have not been able to trace its origin. But I read it a few months ago in the secret diaries my grandfather hid in the village.
In one of the diary entries, my grandfather noted the following,
Trust no one. Words are a tool of distraction. People tell you one thing but think another. Watch what they do. And if you don’t see their intentions clearly remember, “Ubi fumus, ibi ignis”.
After searching and not finding the phrase’s origin on the internet, I started to reflect on my grandfather’s words.
And I concluded the following,
Many people try to seduce us with their supposed success, but success is a fire that makes a lot of smoke, and even if you want to hide it, it attracts attention.
People’s lifestyles are that smoke.
Do you want to know someone’s reality? Don’t trust their words; study their smoke: analyze how they live.
In doing so, you will find out if someone is successful or a fraud.
Lesson: Success is a flame that always leaves a trail of smoke, no matter how much you want to hide it.
A virtual hug
AG
Leave a Reply