Daily Quotes

[Tamrin]

2 of 2:

If you want to reason about faith, and offer a reasoned (and reason- responsive) defense of faith
as an extra category of belief worthy of special consideration, I'm eager to play. I certainly grant
the existence of the phenomenon of faith; what I want to see is a reasoned ground for taking faith
seriously as a way of getting to the truth, and not, say, just as a way people comfort themselves
and each other (a worthy function that I do take seriously). But you must not expect me to go
along with your defence of faith as a path to truth if at any point you appeal to the very dispen-
sation you are supposedly trying to justify. Before you appeal to faith when reason has you backed
into a corner, think about whether you really want to abandon reason when reason is on your side


If you can approach the world's complexities, both its glories and its horrors, with an attitude
of humble curiosity, acknowledging that however deeply you have seen, you have only
scratched the surface, you will find worlds within worlds, beauties you could not heretofore
imagine, and your own mundane preoccupations will shrink to proper size, not all that import-
ant in the greater scheme of things. Keeping that awestruck vision of the world ready to hand
while dealing with the demands of daily living is no easy exercise, but it is definitely worth the
effort, for if you can stay centered , and engaged , you will find the hard choices easier, the
right words will come to you when you need them, and you will indeed be a better person. That, I
propose, is the secret to spirituality, and it has nothing at all to do with believing in an immortal soul


Human consciousness is just about the last surviving mystery. A mystery is a phenol-
menon that people don't know how to think about — yet. There have been other great
mysteries: the mystery of the origin of the universe, the mystery of life and reproduction,
the mystery of the design to be found in nature, the mysteries of time, space, and gravity.
These were not just areas of scientific ignorance, but of utter bafflement and wonder


We do not yet have all the answers to any of the questions of cosmology and particle
physics, molecular genetics and evolutionary theory, but we do know how to think about
them... With consciousness, however, we are still in a terrible muddle. Consciousness
stands alone today as a topic that often leaves even the most sophisticated thinkers
tongue-tied and confused. And, as with all of the earlier mysteries, there are many
who insist — and hope — that there will never be a demystification of consciousness


But if it is true that human minds are themselves to a very great degree
the creations of memes, then we cannot sustain the polarity of vision we
considered earlier; it cannot be "memes versus us," because earlier infestations
of memes have already played a major role in determining who or what we are


The "independent" mind struggling to protect itself from alien and dangerous memes is a
myth. There is a persisting tension between the biological imperative of our genes on the
one hand and the cultural imperatives of our memes on the other, but we would be foolish
to "side with" our genes; that would be to commit the most egregious error of pop socio-
biology. Besides, as we have already noted, what makes us special is that we, alone among
species, can rise above the imperatives of our genes— thanks to the lifting cranes of our memes


The juvenile sea squirt wanders through the sea searching for a suitable rock or hunk of coral to cling
to and make its home for life. For this task, it has a rudimentary nervous system. When it finds its
spot and takes root, it doesn't need its brain anymore, so it eats it! It's rather like getting tenure


Daniel Clement "Dan" Dennett III
(Born this day 1942)



There's nothing I like less than bad arguments for a view I hold dear

[Tamrin]

Often, what you see in the media is driven by economic forces


Almost all people have this potential for evil, which would be
unleashed only under certain dangerous social circumstances


It's much more difficult to work on a broad subject than on a specific one, because
even if it's hard to find the information, if you look hard enough for something specific
you will find it, and you will discover things that you wouldn't have thought of before


There isn't much discussion of ruling class in America even in Boston,
probably one of the most class-conscious cities in the country


Racism is always there underneath, but usually it is exploited in these times
of economic crisis, and it's hard to find out when one slides into another


Some quirk in human nature allows even the most unspeakable acts of evil to become
banal within minutes, provided that they occur far enough away to pose no personal threat


When you believe you have a future, you think in terms of generations and
years. When you do not, you live not just by the day — but by the minute


Iris Chang
Chinese-American historian and journalist
(Born this day 1968)



Whatever is not commonly seen is condemned as alien

[Tamrin]

It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question


That's not it. That's not it at all. You always have a tendency to add. But one must
be able to subtract too. It's not enough to integrate, you must also disintegrate.
That's the way life is. That's philosophy. That's science. That's progress, civilization


Ideologies separate us. Dreams and anguish bring us together


The absence of ideology in a work does not mean
an absence of ideas; on the contrary it fertilizes them


I didn't mean you were stupid. It's just that you're not logical, which isn't the same thing at all


My work has been essentially a dialogue with death, asking him,
Why? Why?” So only death can silence me. Only death can close my lips


We are all Victims of Duty


Eugène Ionesco
Romanian-French playwright and dramatist (Theatre of the Absurd)
(Died this day 1994)



God is dead. Marx is dead. And I don’t feel so well myself

[Tamrin]

[Tamrin]

Saturday’s Quotes:

First of all it must be known who the God of heaven is,
since upon that all the other things depend


The Divine of the Lord in heaven is love, for the reason that love is receptive
of all things of heaven, such as peace, intelligence, wisdom and happiness


Love consists in desiring to give what is our own to another and feeling his delight as our own


To will and not to do when there is opportunity is in reality not to will; and to
love what is good and not to do it, when it is possible, is in reality not to love it


Kindness is an inner desire that makes us want to do good things even if we do not
get anything in return. It is the joy of our life to do them. When we do good things
from this inner desire, there is kindness in everything we think, say, want and do


The quality of the Lord's church on earth, cannot be seen by any man, so long as he lives
in the world, still less how the church in process of time has turned aside from good to evil


He who is in evil, is also in the punishment of evil


Emanuel Swedenborg
(eponym of Swedenborgian Rite)
Swedish scientist, philosopher and mystic
(Died this day 1772)



I am well aware that many will say that no one can possibly speak with spirits and
angels so long as he lives in the body; and many will say that it is all fancy, others
that I relate such things in order to gain credence, and others will make other objections

[Tamrin]

Let it, then, be henceforth proclaimed to the world, that man's con-
science was created free; that he is no longer accountable to his fellow
man for his religious opinions, being responsible therefore only to his God


Wealth can only be accumulated by the earnings of industry and the savings of frugality


Popularity, I have always thought, may aptly be compared to a coquette
— the more you woo her, the more apt is she to elude your embrace


I can never consent to being dictated to as to what I shall or shall not do. I, as Pres-
ident, shall be responsible for my administration. I hope to have your hearty co-op-
eration in carrying out its measures. So long as you see fit to do this, I shall be glad
to have you with me. When you think otherwise, your resignations will be accepted


So far as it depends on the course of this government, our relations of
good will and friendship will be sedulously cultivated with all nations


Patronage is the sword and cannon by which war may be made on the liberty of the human race


In 1840 I was called from my farm to undertake the administration of public affairs
and I foresaw that I was called to a bed of thorns. I now leave that bed which has
afforded me little rest, and eagerly seek repose in the quiet enjoyments of rural life


John Tyler
American President (1841-1845)
(Born this day 1790)



If the tide of defamation and abuse shall turn, and my administration come
to be praised, future Vice-Presidents who may succeed to the Presidency
may feel some slight encouragement to pursue an independent course

[Tamrin]

The fate of man resembles the fate of nature. It is similarly dependent on natural laws, and it obeys with-
out exception the same stringent and inexorable necessity which governs all that exists. It lies in the
nature of every living being that it should be born and die; none has ever escaped that law; death is
the surest calculation that can be made, and the unavoidable keystone of every individual existence


In the flow [of time] the individual is nothing, the species is everything; and history, just
as nature, marks each of its steps forward, even the smallest, with innumerable piles of corpses


A spirit without body is as unimaginable as electricity or magnetism without metallic or other
substances on which these forces act. We have equally shown that the animal soul does not
come into the world with any innate intuitions, that it does not represent an ens per se, but is
a product of external influences, without which it would never have been called into existence


The conduct and actions of every individual are dependent upon the character, manners,
and modes of thought of the nation to which he belongs. These again are, to a certain extent,
the necessary product of external circumstances under which they live and have grown up


We have the fullest right, and are scientifically correct, in asserting there is
no such thing as a miracle; everything that happens does so in a natural way


To despise matter and our own body, because it is material — to consider nature and
the world as dust which we must endeavor to shake off — nay, to torment our own
body, can only arise from a confusion of notions, the result of ignorance or fanaticism


Imagine matter without force, and the minute particles of which a body consists, without
that system of mutual attraction and repulsion which holds them together and gives form
and shape to the body; imagine the molecular forces of cohesion and affinity removed, what
then would be the consequence? The matter must instantly break up into a shapeless nothing


Ludwig Büchner
German philosopher, physiologist and physician
(Born this day 1824)



No force without matter — no matter without force! Neither can
be thought of per se; separated, they become empty abstractions

[Tamrin]

Although I am an anarch, I am not anti-authoritarian. Quite the opposite: I need
authority, although I do not believe in it. My critical faculties are sharpened by the
absence of the credibility that I ask for. As a historian, I know what can be offered


The anarch differs from the anarchist in that he has a very pronounced sense of the rules


Law and custom are becoming the subjects of a new field of learning. The anarch endeavors to
judge them ethnographically, historically, and also – I will probably come back to this – morally


The partisan wants to change the law, the criminal break it; the anarch wants
neither. He is not for or against the law. While not acknowledging the law,
he does try to recognize it like the laws of nature, and he adjusts accordingly


A basic theme for the anarch is how man, left to his own devices, can defy superior forces —
whether state, society, or the elements – by making use of their rules without submitting to them


The anarch knows the rules. He has studied them as a historian and
goes along with them as a contemporary. Wherever possible, he plays
his own game within their framework; this makes the fewest waves


One error of the anarchists is their belief that human nature is intrinsically good.
They thereby castrate society, just as the theologians ("God is goodness") castrate the Good Lord


Ernst Jünger
German writer (Storm of Steel)
(Born this day 1895)



I would like to repeat that I do not fancy myself as anything special for being
an anarch. My emotions are no different from those of the average man

[Tamrin]

As one looks across the barren stretches of the pack, it is sometimes
difficult to realise what teeming life exists immediately beneath its surface


Every day some new fact comes to light — some new obstacle which threatens the gravest
obstruction. I suppose this is the reason which makes the game so well worth playing


We are weak, writing is difficult, but for my own sake I do not regret this
journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, help
one another, and meet death with as great a fortitude as ever in the past


We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker of
course and the end cannot be far. It seems a pity, but I do not
think I can write more. For God's sake, look after our people


We are very near the end, but have not and will not lose our good cheer


But if we have been willing to give our lives to this enterprise, which is for the honour of our
country, I appeal to our countrymen to see that those who depend on us are properly cared for


Had we lived I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance
and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of
every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale


Bro. Capt. Robert Falcon Scott
British Antarctic explorer
(Perished this day 1912)



Each man in his way is a treasure

[Tamrin]

I have been all men known to history, wondering at the world and at time passing;
I have seen evil, and the light blessing innocent love under a spring sky


I have been Merlin wandering in the woods of a far country, where the winds waken
unnatural voices, my mind broken by a sudden acquaintance with man’s rage


I have known exile and a wild passion of longing changing to a cold ache. King, beggar
and fool, I have been all by turns, knowing the body’s sweetness, the mind’s treason;
Taliesin still, I show you a new world, risen, stubborn with beauty, out of the heart’s need


You cannot find the centre where we dance, where we play, where life
is still asleep under the closed flower, under the smooth shell of eggs
in the cupped nest that mock the faded blue of your remoter heaven


It seems wrong that out of this bird, black, bold, a suggestion of dark
places about it, there yet should come such rich music, as though the
notes’ ore were changed to a rare metal at one touch of that bright bill


A slow singer, but loading each phrase with history’s overtones, love, joy
and grief learned by his dark tribe in other orchards and passed on
instinctively as they are now, But fresh always with new tears


As long as I was a priest of the Church, I felt an obligation to try to present the
Bible message in a more or less orthodox way. I never felt that I was employed by
the Church to preach my own beliefs and doubts and questionings. Some people
were curious to know whether I did not feel some conflict between my two vocations.
But I always replied that Christ was a poet, that the New Testament was poetry,
and that I had no difficulty preaching the New Testament in its poetic context


R.S. Thomas, Welsh poet
(Born this day 1913)



All right, I was Welsh. Does it matter? I spoke a tongue that was passed on to me in the
place I happened to be, a place huddled between grey walls of cloud for at least half the year