#mental-model #philosophy A learned man once went to visit a Zen teacher to inquire about Zen. As the Zen teacher talked, the learned man frequently interrupted to express his own opinion about this or that. Finally, the Zen teacher stopped talking and began to serve tea to the learned man. He poured the cup full, then kept pouring until the cup overflowed. “Stop,” said the learned man. “The cup is full, no more can be poured in.” “Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions,” replied the Zen teacher. “If you do not first empty your cup, how can you taste my cup of tea?” --- *Those who know don’t talk. Those who talk don’t know.* ~ [[Lao Tze]] --- *True words aren’t eloquent; eloquent words aren’t true. Wise men don’t need to prove their point; men who need to prove their point aren’t wise.* ~ [[Lao Tze]] --- *To free one’s self from preconceived notions, prejudices, and conditioned responses is essential to understanding truth and reality.* ~ [[Bruce Lee]] --- *I submit that the world would be much happier, if men were as fully able to keep silence as they are to speak.* ~ [[Spinoza]] --- *Most of all, he learned from it to listen, to pay close attention with a quiet heart, with a waiting, opened soul, without passion, without a wish, without judgement, without an opinion.* ~ [[Hermann Hesse]]