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Every day things happen in the world that cannot be explained by any law of things we know. Every day they're mentioned and forgotten, and the same mystery that brought them takes them away, transforming their secret into oblivion. Such is the law by which things that can't be explained must be forgotten. The visible world goes on as usual in the broad daylight. Otherness watches us from the shadows.

Fernando Pessoa#21

RealityNatureMemoryWorldMysteryUnknown

About this quote

What does it mean?
Unexplainable events happen daily but fade into memory, while the ordinary world continues unchanged.
In plain terms
Strange things happen but get forgotten quickly.
What can you take from it?
Accept that mystery fades into normalcy.

Where it applies

  • unexplained events
  • daily life
  • paranormal claims

Putting it to work

  • document the unexplained
  • notice daily mysteries
  • accept forgetting

Questions to consider

  • What mystery did you forget?
  • How much is truly explained?

Another view

Some unexplained events may have known causes eventually.

More from Fernando Pessoa

  1. I think of life as an inn where I have to stay until the abyss coach arrives. I don't know where it will take me, for I know nothing.

    Permalink to quote #20
  2. Having touched Christ's feet is not an excuse for punctuation mistakes.

    Permalink to quote #22
  3. ... And I, who timidly hate life, fear death with fascination. I fear this nothingness that could be something else, and I fear it as nothing and as something …

    Permalink to quote #19

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