The only thing that consoles us for our miseries is diversion. And yet it is the greatest of our miseries. For it is that above all which prevents us thinking about ourselves and leads us imperceptibly to destruction. But for that we should be bored, and boredom would drive us to seek some more solid means of escape, but diversion passes our time and brings us imperceptibly to our death.
- Pensees no. 414, Blaise Pascal
We say a statement (and the person who said it) is profound when we find it deep, almost inconceivable. We tend to see the limitation of our thoughts as compared to the person who said that profound statement. Silence is the only ready answer we'd choose. Silence, as they say, could only mean two things after a profound statement; it's either one really understands what has been said and opts to ponder on it in silence or one, this is the case most of the time, did not understand what has been said and would rather not show ignorance.
As for the profound person or just those who sound profound, we have two ways of proving or two ways to validate if they really are. First is that they know the difference between 'knowing' and 'believing'. Mere knowledge of something is quite easy, it's as simple as knowing an information after reading a book. Knowing how to say them may make a little difference, as to show that he is an intelligent person, that he is capable of saying 'profound' things. Believing is quite far from knowing, it's when after reading a book, the person looks for more out of thirst and hunger for wisdom and tries to apply what he has read out of deep understanding. Believing is knowing and having a deep understanding of what the person knows.
The second way to see if a person is really profound is when the profound statement is a product of what he practices, of how he lives his life. Being profound is beyond mere words, people as rational beings would look for those words in the person's action and character. Being profound is more than just speaking wise words or expressing deep thoughts, it is when we act out of wisdom and when we practice the different virtues to mould character.
Let us be not like the pharisees, do what they say but don't imitate what they do.
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