A mind so blind and sick, so base and ill-mannered

“A mind so blind and sick, so base and ill-mannered” is a saying Reeder recalls to Annon while discussing why people resist the truth. Its paradoxical image captures the difference between wanting knowledge and accepting what knowledge reveals about oneself.

Context and Attribution

Reeder invokes the saying during a late conversation with Annon, whose judgment has been unsettled by conflicting accounts from Drosta, his uncle, the Arch-Rike, and the order that trained him. Reeder does not resolve which account is true. Instead, he distinguishes truth from competing claims and admits that he lacks the knowledge to determine whether Annon’s uncle is telling the truth.

The saying is attributed to one of the Thirteen, whom Reeder quotes while explaining that people often conceal their own motives and judgments even as they demand that nothing be hidden from them. Its appearance is part of a mentor’s practical counsel, not an abstract pronouncement detached from Annon’s immediate uncertainty.

The Saying’s Paradox

The quoted mind is described as blind and sick, base and ill-mannered, yet it wants to see what others might hide. The contradiction turns on concealment: a person may resent obscurity when it limits access to the world, while preferring obscurity when the truth would expose that person’s own deception or poor judgment.

Reeder develops the point through a broader contrast. People welcome truth when it benefits them and condemn it when it rebukes them; they love it when it reveals itself, but hate it when it reveals them. The saying gives that contrast a compact, memorable form. Its severity lies not simply in accusing people of ignorance, but in describing ignorance as something the mind may actively preserve to protect its self-image.

Reeder’s Counsel to Annon

Reeder links the saying to Annon’s difficulty in deciding whom to believe. He argues that people resist being convinced they have been deceived because admitting deception would impugn their judgment and stain their character. Yet he also observes that lies cannot satisfy the mind’s deeper hunger for truth. The passage therefore holds two tendencies together: the desire for truth persists, while self-love obstructs its acceptance.

Rather than claiming authority he does not possess, Reeder marks the limits of his own knowledge and offers Annon a way to seek further evidence. He plans to defend a part of Silvandom where the Thirteen believe a Dryad is hidden and invites Annon to come with him. The Dryad may know where the oracle Basilides can be found and whether Annon’s uncle has told the truth. The saying thus frames a question the conversation cannot settle: seeking knowledge matters, but the seeker must also face what the answer may reveal.