The Examined Lives
This Guy is Amazing
Sophia: Harriet, Jack, I’ve been reflecting on instinct, observation, and wonder. Harriet, you wrote, “Most mothers are instinctive philosophers.” Jack, you remarked, “My witness is the empty sky.” How do instinct and observation shape our sense of amazement?
Stowe: Sophia, instinct is a form of wisdom often overlooked. Mothers — or anyone attuned to care — perceive patterns, anticipate needs, and navigate complexity without formal training. Philosophy, in its truest sense, is not only reasoned argument but attentive, lived understanding.
Kerouac: And yet, Sophia, sometimes the greatest lessons are silent, unstructured. The sky, the road, the vast emptiness — these bear witness to our smallness and our wonder. One must see, feel, and absorb, letting experience speak before thought frames it.
Most mothers are instinctive philosophers.
— Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896)
Sophia: So philosophy and witness are complementary. One is the active cultivation of insight; the other, an openness to the world’s testimony. Both allow us to recognize extraordinary qualities in the ordinary — and, yes, in people.
Stowe: Precisely. The mother’s instinct, like the philosopher’s gaze, discerns truth and significance in moments often overlooked. To call someone “amazing” is to honor the subtle, the perceptive, the unseen labor of care and understanding.
Kerouac: And the sky reminds us of perspective. When we look upward, unbounded, we see not only the individual’s acts but the vastness they exist within. Awe is as much about scale as it is about character.
Sophia: Then amazement arises from the meeting of attentiveness and openness. To notice, to witness, to honor — these are acts of wisdom. And those we call “amazing” often teach us, through instinct or silence, lessons we cannot forget.
My witness is the empty sky.
— Jack Kerouac (1922-1969)
Stowe: And perhaps we are all capable of this — noticing, witnessing, embodying care, and perceiving wonder in the ordinary.
Kerouac: Indeed. The road, the sky, the everyday — all testify. And in that witness, one finds amazement.
Sophia: Then let us celebrate the amazing — in people, in acts, and in the quiet marvels that surround us — for wisdom thrives where perception and admiration meet.
They stand together under an imagined vast sky, marveling at the ordinary and extraordinary alike, recognizing that instinct, observation, and witness reveal the brilliance in everyday life.
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Heraclitus
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