Monday, April 21, 2025
Why do some people leave such an impression in the world? We all have this impressive quality. My grandmother, for example, was as unassuming as you could imagine, but she made an impression upon me. I can feel that impression even though she’s been gone now for more than 20 years. Perhaps it’s easy for a grandmother to have an impressive effect on a small child, but what about Jesus, The Buddha, J.S. Bach, and others? The list of impressive beings is impressive!
Why would anyone want to leave a legacy? Legacy has roots in Latin from legatus and means “person delegated.” It seems some people on earth have a certain demonstrative ability. One of the definitions of demonstrate is to clearly show the existence or truth of (something) by giving proof or evidence. What are we demonstrating, especially those who have had an enormous impact in the world?
From Latin, demonstrat– means ‘pointed out.’ The word demonstrate also contains the word “demon” which means deity or genius. Those who have made an enormous impact have demonstrated genius or deistic impressions. They have pointed out the power of Intelligence. But why would Intelligence want to show itself? What does it have to prove, unless it was purposely hiding in a quasi-false intelligence called ignorance?
Ignorance is a form of intelligence. To ignore comes from Latin ignorare ‘not know’, from in- ‘not’ + gno-, a base meaning ‘know.’ “Gnostic” comes from the Greek word gnôsis, which means “knowledge” or “insight”. There is no lack of knowledge but a gateway from sight to insight, where one develops “eyes” behind their own head. This is what bridges paranoia and paradise, where enemy lines vanish. We have just failed to see the value of deep insight, the invisible synonymy between intelligence and ignorance. Most of us think with animosity’s tone. Those with insight have passed into the gates of paradise – all things being equal.