“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
________________________
A Fly sat upon the wheel of a chariot for which the Horses were in a full gallop.
It was a dry day and the Fly observed a great dust spreading up into the air behind him. Thinking himself quite powerful and grand, he said to himself, “Look at that, what I dust I do raise!”
Moral of the Story: We are inclined to credit ourselves. We tend to overstate our importance.
________________________
Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Related Articles: Pride; Or, What’s the Point? – No. 102. The Peacock’s Tail – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series; Keep It Real; Or, Delusion of Self – No. 106. The Wolf and His Shadow – The Essential Aesop™ – Back to Basics Abridgment Series
________________________
Why We Loved It: Socrates said that those who knew that they did not know were superior to those who thought they knew. [1] Jesus said that those who knew they were sinners were superior to those who thought they were righteous. [2]
In both cases, the stated truth was in exposing delusion. [3, 4] Exposing delusion in others tends to be dangerous for the speaker, as history teaches. The reason is because—as Nietzsche might say—delusion is the strongest opioid to which any of us can be addicted, yielding great pleasure and satisfaction.
Delusion is heady stuff, and no less than an opiating drug for the mind.
In Aesop’s fable, the Fly deludes himself by thinking that he is the cause of all that dust, as if raising dust is important in the first place. In fact, the Fly is irrelevant as causation.
The Fly’s delusion is a double-vice, being firstly a type of vanity or pride, while secondly being based upon a false or unsupported premise. The Fly’s vainglory would be a single vice if the Fly actually caused the dust, but he did not, making the vice exponentially more potent.
Aesop’s point in this fable is distinct from the points in The Wolf and His Shadow and The Peacock’s Tail. [5, 6] In this fable, there is no per se immediate patent negative effect for the Fly, such as the Lion’s swat of the Wolf, or the Peacock as the Hunter’s prize, respectively, in the other fables.
The genius of Aesop is in his method and creative context. Unlike the direct attack upon us like Socrates and Jesus, Aesop just tells us a little fly story. His lesson flanks us. [7]
In this lesson, Aesop teaches something new: Foolishness is perfected in its own existence.
Aesop suggests that the Fly is made four times the fool: Alas, an immaterial being, who has pride, regarding a false premise of causation, regarding an immaterial effect.
Aesop uses dust conjoined with the itty-bitty Fly to tell his story, portending some subtle irony:
Yes, sooner or later, as to that dust, the Fly will make it or will become it.
“It was prettily devised of Aesop, The fly sat upon the axle-tree of the chariot wheel, and said, ‘What a dust do I raise!’ So are there some vain persons that, whatsoever goeth alone or moveth by others, if they have never so little hand in it, they think it is they that carry it.” ~ Francis Bacon, The Essays
“Victory has 100 fathers and defeat is an orphan.” ~ John F. Kennedy
“Ostentation doesn’t work when it is done out of season. Nor should we show off in an affected way, for ostentation borders on vanity, and vanity on scorn. It should be exercised with moderation, so as not to turn into vulgarity, and among wise men, an excessive display of one’s gifts is not highly thought of. It takes skill not to reveal all of your perfection at once, but to do so little by little, always adding a little more. Let one glorious occasion spur you on to another greater one. You should show the least vanity about your greatest gifts. Content yourself with doing: leave saying to others. Give deeds away, don’t sell them. And don’t rent golden quills so that others can write mud, offending common sense. Try to be heroic rather than merely seem so.” ~ Baltasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom
“He who walks higher shall fall, and he who walks lower shall be the support of all.” ~ grz
[1] Sorry, Socrates. Or, The “Apology” of Socrates [#GRZ_60]
[2] The ONE® LinkedIn Reference Set [GRZ_183]
[3] I Am Not Brainwashed, And Neither Are You. Maybe. But I Might be Wrong. [#GRZ_165]
[4] SQL Nulls, Socrates, and Black Holes. Or, the Great Lawn Chair Debate [#GRZ_72]
[7] Epilogue: On the Wisdom of Aesop [#GRZ_24]
“Qui ambulat superius, corruet; et qui ambulat inferior, adminiculum omnium erit.” (“He who walks higher shall fall, and he who walks lower shall be the support of all.”); “Stultitia perficitur in suo esse.” (“Foolishness is perfected in its own existence.”)
© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn. Arnold Zegarelli can be contacted through Facebook.
http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/delusion-self-importance-112-fly-axle-essential-zegarelli-esq-/
You might like:
The Naked Brain; Or, Deconstructing and Reconstructing the Human Being [#GRZ_132]
GRZ98_112 GRZUID98_112