Life After Peak Oil: Response

Tonight I attended a lecture entitled "Life After Peak Oil", given by James Howard Kunstler, an author and social critic who predicts that life as we know it will be radically different when we run out of oil. Going into how much oil has impacted the way we live could fill books -- and has, in all likelihood. Because society in the United States is structured on the availability of easy energy, society will have to be restructured when that energy is no longer available.

Kunstler began the lecture by discussing what "peak oil" meant. "Peak oil" is that moment when the world is producing and refining as much oil as it possibly can -- with production declining from there. Kunstler maintains that just as society was changed as oil production rose -- industrialization, urbanization, post-industrialization, suburbanization, etc -- it will change again as oil production declines and we exhaust our resources. He said that no one energy source and no collection of energy sources -- natural gas, coal, biofuel, nuclear energy, etc -- were going to allow us to maintain "normalcy". "I'll go so far as to predict that in 37 years, the airline industry will no longer exist as we know it." was one quotation.

We are facing a crisis, he says, a long emergency, one that will require hard work and determination if we are to come through it all right in the end. He stated that while most people acknowledged the need for change, what they wanted was minor changes that did not require much of an effort on their part -- changes that did not disturb the feeling of normalcy. He gave two obstacles to being able to change: wishful thinking and the religion of 'free money' -- the idea of getting something for nothing.

His predictions for what will happen are interesting. Intriguing in some ways, horrifying in others. Suburbia -- masses of people living in great fields of subdivisions, connected to their job only by the freeway system, engaged in long commutes, living in a society of sprawl with no real "centers" to create the idea of community -- will die. Kunstler believes that any new suburban developments we see in the near future will be nothing more than the twitching of a corpse.

Kunstler predicts that life will become more local as the automobile's presence in our daily lives fades. Since the vast tracts of farmland that provide our food have to be serviced by oil-using tractors to be of use, and since that food has to be transported from the farmlands to everyone else, the way we grow our food will change. He predicts that more people will become engaged in farming and that draft animals will be used again. The big box stores -- the strip malls, the Wal-Marts -- will die, and local businesses will revive, making the city centers important again. School systems built to taken in students across the county will break down, leading to smaller local schools and homeschooling in some cases. Kunstler said that in the future it's possible that most people won't be able to go beyond an eighth-grade education. He talked about "New Urbanism", a movement that intends to create urban societies built to "human" scale -- not automobile scale. He also predicts that the former middle class will respond with panic and rage at the decline of their livelihoods. In general, the more large-scale organizations will decay, while smaller-scale outfits and cities will be able to cope.

I cannot deny that as I sat there listening, I was both disturbed and perversely attracted to some of what he was saying. I do think people would be happier living in more local communities built to be good places to live in -- but such a society would have massive drawbacks, and I'll return to that in a moment. What he was saying held an almost religious signification, one impossible to ignore. The old order -- built on the empty promise of free energy, built around a lie, destroyed by factual corruption, giving way to a new order -- a restoration of what had once been, what was supposed to be. It's a secular doomsday scenario. While religious scenarios see society destroyed by the corruption of sin, followed by the restoration of proper living and morality, this scenario sees society undermined by a dependence on "free energy" and a return to "simpler" living, to 'sustainability'. And part of me is attracted to the idea of people producing what they need, being able to enjoy their lives more because they're no longer distracted by long commutes and cubicles and all of that.

This return to simpler times, though, is as a friend described it after the lecture -- "nostalgic bullshit". If we run out of oil -- something that is hard to imagine, but something that's a real possibility -- life as we know it will undergo a change, unless we do find some radical new way to maintain normalcy within certain bounds. If our societies undergo collapse, people aren't going to make out all right. They're going to starve, and many of those who remain will lead dismal lives. Exploitation is ubiquitious. The analogy I am tempted to draw (as a student of history) is that of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The Empire did not perish simply as a result of a great battle against the Germans: it decayed over a period of time internally, through economic rot. When it passed away into oblivion, the cities that depended on the Empire for their livelihood -- cities created around Roman garrisons, for instance -- vanished. The only ones that remained were those that had existed before, or were able to be independent of the empire. An empire faded, replaced by hundreds upon hundreds of petty kingdoms -- leaving a new society in place, one profoundly influenced by the old society but one still quite different in its wake. It took centuries for civilization to recover.

Could it be possible that we are living at the beginning of our own society's decay? Will all of our dreams for the future -- global unity, the exploration of space, the dreams of science fiction -- be replaced by a reality reminiscent of pre-oil industrialism? It almost seems like fantasy, and indeed Kunstler has even written a book called A World Made By Hand depicting what life will be like in a world after peak oil. According to the reviews I've read, it is not romantic in nature -- it depicts the rise of petty warlords and crime. Are we really facing another 'dark age'? I like to take social and urban geography classes, and once during a lecture on the Neomalthusians (those who predict food shortages presaging a collapse of our society) and the Technocrats (those who believe technology will continue to create ways of coping), I depicted the two sides as angry men preaching at one another. The Neomalthusian screams "GLOOM! DESTRUCTION!" and the Technocrat yells "SUPER TECHNOLOGY!"

Is Kunstler just preaching gloom as a way of promoting his romantic own vision of the future? I think it's possible that he's just preaching gloom, but if his book is as gritty as the reviews say, then I don't think he's very romantic about what life will be like -- even if some aspects of it are attractive. I don't know what to say about his predictions, but if they are true it will mean drastic change. My own political ideals (public education, universal healthcare, fair treatment of workers, etc) are rather dependent on a large-scale government -- one that would not survive a collaspe like this. My own ideas would have to be rethought if these predictions prove true. Then again, it may be possible that the decline of oil will be slow enough that we do find ways of maintaing normalcy within a given range -- for better or for worse.

Here's a 20-minute lecture by Kunstler on YouTube. It's on "The Tragedy of Suburbia".

Èmilie Carles, Humanist

Recently I had the occasion to read A Life of Her Own, the memoirs of a French woman born into a nearly medieval world -- an agricultural village in the southern French Alps called Val-des-Prés. She was born as the 19th century gave way to the 20th, but her world had not changed its social structure since the days of Charlemagne. For most in her village, the village itself is all they know. The world outside is distant, far removed the affairs of the villagers' lives. Their lives are not their own -- subject to the fickleness of the weather and the actions of their governing mayor, who is "elected" again and again because there is no one to run against him. The people of Val-des-Prés distrust education and look on book-reading as something foreign as suspicious.

Èmilie Carles is different, however. From an early age she realizes a love for books that is unmatched by anyone else in her village. She reads anything she can acess, and develops a sharp mind that does not escape the attention of her teachers -- who reccommend to her father that Èmilie be allowed to continue her education and fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher. Her father, while strictly medieval himself, is reluctant until she is offered a scholarship. While Èmilie continues to learn from schoolbooks, she also learns from the affairs of life. The Great War comes to France in 1914, and she witnesses its horrors. Conversations with her soldiering brothers and anarchist cousin force her to think about the inhumanity of the war, and she begins to develop her own worldview. Her worldview develops apart from religion, for she explains that her faith in God is lost in the aftermath of the Great War. She freely describes herself as an atheist later in the book -- hard to imagine for a young woman born in a mountain village without electricity or library access!

Her worldview develops throughout the book, and becomes one I can safely describe as humanist. Èmilie values arriving at the truth for herself, by reasoning things out. So committed to this is she that she encourages her own students to do this, even allowing them to question her. She also instructs them to love life, and to deal with one another more kindly. She sees her job as a teacher as a duty to mold young minds that can be happy and live freely -- free from being told what to think, free to enjoy their lives their own way.

Teaching youngsters to read and write is one thing, it is important but not sufficient. I have always had a loftier notion of school -- the role of the school and teacher. In my view, children take stock of the world and society in the communal school: Later on, whatever their trade, whatever direction their lives take, it is too late, the mold is already set. If it is good, so much the better. If not, nothing further can be done.

In a backward region like ours, considering the life I had led, what seemed indispensable to me was opening their minds to life, shattering the barriers that shut them in, making them understand that the earth is round, finite, and varied, and that each individual, white, black, yellow, has the right -- and the duty -- to think and decide for himself. I myself had learned as much through life as through study. That is why I could not judge my pupils solely on the basis of their schoolwork, and why I also took into account they way they behaved in their daily lives. For example, I never hid the fact that every last one of them would have to face social reality, and that when all was said and done, they would have to work for a living. But at the same time, I put them on their guard against abuses. I told them that a man must defend himself against exploitation and the stultifying effect of work. I also told them:

'The most important thing for a young person is to choose a trade he likes and enjoys, otherwise he will be a slave, unhappy and consumed with rage."

To conclude this line of argument, I always spoke to them about liberty, repeating that our famous Liberty should not simply be a word inscribed on pediments along with Equality and Fraternity -- those basic Rights of Man, an abstract and illusory liberty -- but rather that it should be a reality for each one of them.

'Beware of politicians, beware of silver-tongued orators, do your utmost to judge for yourself, and above all, take advantage of the beauty life offers."

Èmilie eventually marries another free-thinking individual, and they are careful not to become hypocrites. Èmilie describes her husband Jean Carles as an idealist who doesn't tolerate any gap between what he says and what he does -- and so they are careful as parents not to become hypocrites. They allow their children to think and decide for themselves. As the book wears on, her worldview continues to develop. She is a pacifist, certainly, and by our standards a humanist. She also has socialist 'leanings' by which I mean she is an internationalist, a sharp critic of consumerism, and someone who believes in equality. The beauty of her ideas, especially her humanist ones, is that she developed them without much input from outside. She had no humanist teachers, read no books on the subject. So natural are the ideas of humanism -- love for humanity, recognition of the importance of reason and compassion -- that she came into them largely on her own. Her story was superbly written and I enjoyed every moment of it. Here are a selection of quotations from the book -- do enjoy.
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I believe it is splendid to leave life with the thought that you have done the maximum possible to defend the ideas you believe just and human, and to help those who need to be helped without discrimination. For me, that is a wonderful feeling.

With a work day of five or four hours, unemployment would be eliminated and everyone could have a job. Let us learn to live simply; [...] Let us learn to make use of our leisure time, get as close to nature as possible. Let us learn to read, because reading means strengthening our minds through the minds of others, steeping our hearts with feelings that please, and struggling with an author according to whether our ideas and feelings agree with his or diverge. Learn to live by knowing how to live and let live. Never take anything in life but flowers, and from flowers, only the perfume: drop the religion that has the largest numbers of followers; I am talking about the religion of money. A Belgian writer has said: Power of goodness and gentleness, it is you who should rule the Earth. Alas, that currency is altogether too ideal to circulate on our planet..." That is not true: fortunately, there are people for whom it is real. I know couples and families where it is the only currency in circulation, and it is beautiful, it is splendid, and we must all reach toward it for so long as we shall live.

I know perfectly well I'll be called a Utopian. It's true! And I say: why not? We must have utopias so that one day they may become realities. Less than a century ago, social security, unemployment benefits, and paid vacations were utopias: today we have them and everyone takes it for granted. The same is true for everything: what for the moment seems unattainable will be tomorrow's reality. With less selfishness, less indifference, we are bound to achieve greater justice, greater equality among people. But we must fall two work immediately, expecting nothing from our elite bureaucrats."

No to violence. no to injustice. Yes to pacifism and all that is Human. Too bad if that sounds like a slogan: for me is is a slogan of love. I have believed in it, and believe in it still and always, until the last breath of my life.

A Thought or Two for Consideration

I recently read these two thoughts from Seneca the Younger, a Stoic whose works I am interested in reading.

We are mad, not only individually, but nationally. We check manslaughter and isolated murders; but what of war and the much-vaunted crime of slaughtering whole peoples? There are no limits to our greed, none to our cruelty. And as long as such crimes are committed by stealth and by individuals, they are less harmful and less portentous; but cruelties are practised in accordance with acts of senate and popular assembly, and the public is bidden to do that which is forbidden to the individual. Deeds that would be punished by loss of life when committed in secret, are praised by us because uniformed generals have carried them out. Man, naturally the gentlest class of being, is not ashamed to revel in the blood of others, to wage war, and to entrust the waging of war to his sons, when even dumb beasts and wild beasts keep the peace with one another. Against this overmastering and widespread madness philosophy has become a matter of greater effort, and has taken on strength in proportion to the strength which is gained by the opposition forces.

We are all chained to fortune: the chain of one is made of gold, and wide, while that of another is short and rusty. But what difference does it make? The same prison surrounds all of us, and even those who have bound others are bound themselves; unless perchance you think that a chain on the left side is lighter. Honors bind one man, wealth another; nobility oppresses some, humility others; some are held in subjection by an external power, while others obey the tyrant within; banishments keep some in one place, the priesthood others. All life is slavery. Therefore each one must accustom himself to his own condition and complain about it as little as possible, and lay hold of whatever good is to be found near him. Nothing is so bitter that a calm mind cannot find comfort in it. Small tablets, because of the writer's skill, have often served for many purposes, and a clever arrangement has often made a very narrow piece of land habitable. Apply reason to difficulties; harsh circumstances can be softened, narrow limits can be widened, and burdensome things can be made to press less severely on those who bear them cleverly.

Superstition

I recently read The Loss of the S.S. Titanic, the titular disaster being one of my pet interests, and was startled to read the following passage:

Sailors are proverbially superstitious; far too many people are prone to follow their lead, or, indeed, the lead of any one who asserts a statement with an air of conviction and the opportunity of constant repetition; the sense of mystery that shrouds a prophetic utterance, particularly if it be an ominous one (for so constituted apparently is the human mind that it will receive the impress of an evil prophecy far more readily than it will that of a beneficent one, possibly through subservient fear to the thing it dreads, possibly through the degraded, morbid attraction which the sense of evil has for the innate evil in the human mind) leads many people to pay a certain respect to superstitious theories. Not that they wholly believe in them or would wish their dearest friends to know they ever gave them a second thought; but the feeling that other people do so and the half-conviction that there "may be something in it, after all" sways them into tacit obedience to the mostly absurd and childish theories.

This book was published in 1912 (the year of the disaster) by a science teacher, Lawrence Beesely. You can read it online for free at Project Gutenberg.

Washington's Rules of Civility

Recently I read through George Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation. The book is quite small and contains a list of 110 rules. Most are common table manners (don't clean your teeth at the table, for instance) and many are holdovers from a now-dead era and deal with how to treat one's social inferiors and betters. I don't consider the people in the Social Register to be my betters by any stretch of the imagination -- and I don't see myself as better than people living under bridges and overpasses. I enjoyed reading some of the rules, though, and I wrote them down.
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• Show not yourself glad at the misfortune of another, though he were your enemy.
• When you see a crime punished, you may outwardly pleased, but always show pity toward the suffering offender.
• Be no flatterer; neither play with any that delights not to be played with.
• Use no reproachful language against any one; neither curse nor revile.
• Be not hasty to believe flying reports to the disparagement of any.
• Associate yourself with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.
• Let your conversation be without malice or envy, for it is a sign of a tractable and commendable nature; and in all cases of passion admit reason to govern.
• Speak not injurious words, neither in jest or in earnest scoff at none though they give occasion.
• Speak not evil of the absent, for it is unjust.
• Labour to keep alive in your breast that little celestial fire called conscience.

McCain, Palin, Opportunism, and Democracy

Until recently, I wasn't paying much attention to the upcoming presidential election. I've become increasingly more cynical about the state of democracy and liberty in the United States, and remain unconvinced that either candidate can or will turn things around. I wasn't even sure who I was going to vote for, since until recently I couldn't honestly support one candidate over the other. I was thinking of writing in Mike Gravel, myself, or Marcus Aurelius. But recent events have compelled me to make a decision, and I'll probably be enabling the two-party system again this November.

Until recently, I was pretty much OK with John McCain. He was far from ideal, but considering what the Republican party gives us to work with, he looked like a bastion of integrity, civility, and reasonableness by comparison. I wouldn't mind if he lost to Obama, but my world wouldn't fall apart if he became the president. It's not as if I'm entirely comfortable with the idea of Obama being president, either. As said, until recently I was pretty much "eh" on the election. When it came to my decision of whether I should vote my conscious (Marcus Aurelius) or vote for Obama came down to one question: how far will McCain go to appease the religious right -- the supporters of Pat Robertson, the happily late Jerry Falwell, and the rest of that gang who decry every scientific advance since Galileo as "Satanic" and who think homosexuals are demon-possessed?

In recent decades, this group has become a political force to be reckoned with. As a result of decades of pandering to this group of uninformed peasants, it is now impossible to be elected without payng lip-service to the state god. This situation is a violation of Article VI of the Constitution, but who cares about that quaint little document? I realized that if McCain wanted to be elected, he had to pander to this group. I know that referring to these people as uninformed peasants sounds snobbish and elitist, and it is -- and with good reason. I want my broken bones set by doctors who know what they're doing; I want criminals pursued by police officers who know what they're doing; and I want my laws passed by people who know what they're doing -- and I do not think for one moment that people who think the Earth is six thousand years old can be trusted to choose the people who will deliberate on education standards. These people believe sickness and homosexuality are the result of demonic forces and they want to elect people who are in charge of health and medicine? Call me elitist if you will, but I do not want my politicians elected by people whose political opinions are solely informed by commercial television. Yet I see no solution to this problem, which is the reason I've become so cynical about the future of liberty and democracy: its fate is to be decided by mass hysteria.

You can see now why I was apathetic when it came to the election and why my only concern was with John McCain's relationship to the religious right, these lovable peasants whose fathers stopped the Freedom Riders and set their buses on fire and who think that the hypothetical Creator of the universe, with its billions of stars and solar systems, cares about the welfare of a political abstraction on one small continent of one small planet in a backwater galaxy -- and cares about it because It wants worship. Not only are these people wrong, they're insufferably arrogant. To think that Deity would care about the worship of primates!

So a week or so ago, John McCain answered my question and in so doing made an enemy out of me. I don't like being McCain's enemy, but I have no choice. He chose Sarah Palin to be his running mate, and in so doing told me how far he'll go: he will happily bend over and take it in the bum from Ted Haggard. That's how far he'll go. Sarah Palin is inexperienced, and is sure to alienate half the nation and all of the world -- but McCain wants to ensure his victory, so he'll risk her becoming President to get himself elected. It doesn't bother me that he's being a cynical opportunist -- that's American "democracy". Reagan made his bones by being a witch-hunter, after all. What bothers me is that he's so brazen about it. Other cynical politicians at least try to HIDE their opportunism. This guy is brazen about it. His contempt for the American people and reality is impressively massive. What is he going to next? Start flinging Mexican immigrants into "internment camps" to await deportation? What will McCain do to stay in power? I don't want to learn the answer. If he wins, I do not see good things in store for the future of human rights, informed democracy, and liberty -- those liberal values his party despises so much.

It's Been a Good Life: Asimovian Reflections

Last week I read It's Been a Good Life, written by Isaac Asimov (late author and American Humanist Association honorary president). It was a sheer delight, and I'd like to share some of it.
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"To those who are not bookworms, it must be a curious thought that someone would read and read, letting life with all its glory pass by unnoticed, wasting the carefree days of youth, missing the wonderful interplay of muscle and sinew. Thee must seem something sad and even tragic about it, and one might wonder what impels a youngster to do it. But life is glorious when it is happy; days are carefree when they are happy; the interplay of thought and imagination is far superior to that of muscle and sinew. Let me tell you, if you don't it from your own experience, that reading a good book, losing yourself in the interest of words and thoughts, is for some people (me, for instance) an incredibly intensity of happiness." - p. 18

"I have never, not for one moment, been tempted toward religion of any kind. The fact is that I feel no spiritual avoid. I have my philosophy of life, which does not include any aspect of the supernatural and which I find totally satisfying. I am, in short, a rationalist and believe only that which reason tells me is so." - p. 20

"History is the best thing to reread -- and to write. I know history so well that Earth's past is like a rich rapestry to me...in history, everything's one peice. YOu pick up history by any strand and the whole thing comes up." - p. 165

"To learn is to broaden, to experience more, to snatch new aspects of life for yourself. To refuse to learn or to be relieved at not having to learn is to committ a form of suicide; in the long urun, a more meaningful type of suicide than the mere ending of physical life." p. -165

"Knowledge is not only power, it is happiness, and being taught is the intellectual analog of being loved." - p. 165

This I Believe

I wrote this essay a little over a year ago. It was an attempt to articulate to my friends in the Pentecostal church that I had been raised in what I believed now, without the messy details of deconversion: this essay was to be positive, not negative. I think the essay reflects "me" quite well, and because I am somewhat proud of my accomplishment in being able to articulate my complex worldview in just a few paragraphs, I post it here. I take the name of this essay ("This I Believe") from the NPR program that invites ordinary people to talk about their own personal philosophies.

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If someone had asked me what I believed in a few years ago, I would have been hard-pressed to give a sensible and sincere answer. A couple of years ago, however, I began to evaluate myself and life. I began to think on who I was as a person and what I wanted to do with my life. Up until that point in my life, all of the big questions had been answered by the religion I was raised in. Despite my embracing the faith of my parents, I found that I was deeply unhappy and sought the reasons why; and I sought the remedy to my discouragement and weariness. I am happy to report that I did realize why I was unhappy, and I did find the answer to my problems. In the process, I established a new worldview -- one built upon lessons learned in childhood and supported throughout a lifetime of experience.

I believe that the only thing that ever has or ever will matter to us is the needs of humanity. For this reason, I have no sympathy for gods who demand worship and threaten torture. If they are real, then I pity them -- because they are lesser beings than we have grown to be. I have never been attracted to the idea of streets of gold and walls of jasper, but I have longed for Heaven on Earth. It is my heart’s desire to see people united in love for one another -- overcoming the boundaries of language, ethnicity, religion, and nationality. I spurn any idea that promotes divisiveness. Is a united and healthy Earth an impossible ideal? Perhaps, but think how wonderful just realizing part of that ideal would be. It is this idealism, born of love for humanity, that drives me. Because this idealism has served me so well, I give no quarter to ideas that would rob me or other people of that idealism by telling us that we are worthless and depraved or dependent upon anything but ourselves to effect the changes we need to see. That idea is worthless and depraved. I believe in the power of idealism: I believe we can be better than we are, and that we should set goals for ourselves. Even if we don’t reach them, we are made better by our struggle to overcome our failings. To lose faith in ourselves is to die -- as individuals, as a society.

As I see that there is no difference between the needs of myself and the needs of my neighbors -- whether they be next door or across the oceans -- I live my life in the sprit of empathy. I strive to live in love -- to be compassionate and understand the needs of those around me. After all, that’s all that really matters. I want someone’s life to have been improved in some miniscule way by my existence here. This is done in recognition of the fact that ordinary kindnesses from other people have helped me, and I want to improve other people’s lives in the same way that mine has been improved.

Because I recognize that life is fleeting and that regret is rarely satiated, I strive to live my best life now and to realize the potential of each moment; to be as happy sitting at a red-light as I am driving through the countryside on a sunny autumn day. I recognize that I will have good days and I will have bad days -- but I deserve neither. All I can do is appreciate and make the most of each. I do not live in the past or future, but in the present; and I make the most of it. I am in awe of the world that I live in. When I gaze out of my bedroom window and see the lush green of the trees set against the unbroken blue sky, I understand worship. I am delighted by the pursuit of knowledge, because being able to understand the world that I live in enables me to appreciate it all the more.

I see reason as a flaming sword -- not one that keeps us from paradise, but one that allows us to do away with the choking brambles of ignorance and superstition to make paradise. I recognize that the scientific method, that uncompromising search for real answers, is what has helped humanity rise “from the swamp to the stars”. Inspired by what science has achieved, I adopted the principles of freethought in my life and have found my life to be all the better because of this. I recognize that science and reason must be tempered with empathy , because as Paul Johnson once said, “The worst of all despotisms is the heartless tyranny of ideas.” The only thing that matters is people -- and that is what I believe.

My Worldview in Quotations

I like to collect quotations and will often jot down inspiring thoughts as I read through book. Recently, as in the case of Marcus Aurelius' Meditations and Kurt Vonnegut's A Man Without a Country, I have shared those quotations here. Recently, I encountered the quotations blog Think Humanist and remembered that for some time I have thought about posting my collection of particularly inspiring quotations here. Seeing that blog as prompted me to do so.

These come from a variety of sources. I can personally vouch for many, having copied them from direct sources myself. Others were gleaned from other sources. If I know the authenticity of a quotation is in question, I have made a note of it after the quotation. A number of these are recent additions from Think Humanist's collection.

This list is by no means complete. There are many quotations that I have not yet inserted in here. I continually draw inspiration from humanity.

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Asimov, Isaac:
"Miracles don't happen. Sweat happens."

Aurelius, Marcus:
"A man should be upright, not kept upright."

"Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones."

"Men exist for the sake of one another. "

"To live happily is an inward power of the soul. "

"Very little is needed to make a happy life."

"When thou art above measure angry, bethink thee how momentary is man's life. "

"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love. "

"Death hangs over thee: whilst yet thou livest, whilst thou mayest, be good."

Ba Jin:
" Loving truth and living honestly is my attitude to life. Be true to yourself and be true to others, thus you can be the judge of your behavior."

Barker, Dan:
"You are an intelligent human being. Your life is valuable for its own sake. You are not second-class in the universe, deriving meaning and purpose from some other mind. You are not inherently evil - you are inherently human, possessing the positive rational potential to help make this a world of morality, peace, and joy. Trust yourself."

Buddha, Gautama:
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason."

"Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love. This is the eternal rule."

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned."

"There is no way to Happiness. Happiness is the way."

"There is no wealth like knowledge, and no poverty like ignorance."

"No one saves us but ourselves, no one can and no one may."

Carson, Rachel:
"Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life."

Cicero:
"Let your desires be governed by reason." / "Reason should direct and appetite obey." (Probably two different translations of the same Latin.)

"We are obliged to respect, defend and maintain the common bonds of union and fellowship that exist among all members of the human race."

"The wise are instructed by reason; ordinary minds by experience; the stupid, by necessity; and brutes by instinct."

"The first duty of a man is the seeking after and the investigation of truth."



Confucius:
"Until you have learned to serve men, how can you serve spirits?"

Darrow, Clarence:
"You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free."

"The purpose of life is living. Men and women should get the most they can out of their lives."

Darwin, Charles:
"A republic cannot succeed till it contains a certain body of men imbued with the principles of justice and honour."

"There is a grandeur in this view of life, in which endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."

Dawkins, Richard:
"There's real poetry in the real world. Science is the poetry of reality."

"We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Sahara. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively outnumbers the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here."

"The world and the universe is an extremely beautiful place, and the more we understand about it the more beautiful does it appear. It is an immensely exciting experience to be born in the world, born in the universe, and look around you and realise that before you die you have the opportunity of understanding an immense amount about that world and about that universe and about life and about why we're here. We have the opportunity of understanding far, far more than any of our predecessors ever. That is such an exciting possibility, it would be such a shame to blow it and end your life not having understood what there is to understand."

"You could give Aristotle a tutorial. And you could thrill him to the core of his being. Aristotle was an encyclopedic polymath, an all time intellect. Yet not only can you know more than him about the world. You also can have a deeper understanding of how everything works. Such is the privilege of living after Newton, Darwin, Einstein, Planck, Watson, Crick and their colleagues."


Einstein, Albert:
"A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death."

Epictetus:
"The good or ill of man lies within his own will."

"Only the educated are free."

"Shall I show you the sinews of a philosopher? 'What sinews are those?' - A will undisappointed; evils avoided; powers daily exercised, careful resolutions; unerring decisions."

"What is the first business of one who practices philosophy? To get rid of self-conceit. For it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows."

"Try to enjoy the great festival of life with other men."

Epicurus:
"There is nothing to fear from the gods; there is no pain in death. Good can be attained, evil can be endured."

"It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and honorably and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and honorably and justly without living pleasantly"

Emerson, Ralph Waldo:
"Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy."

Ford, Gerald R:
"You must realize that on the road of life, there will be disappointments, and that the best way to avoid another is to plan better and work harder."

Frank, Anne:
"Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy."

"I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery, and death...and yet...I think...this cruelty will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again."

"I've found that there is always some beauty left —in nature, sunshine, freedom, in yourself; these can help you. Look at these things, then find yourself again, [...] and then you regain your balance."

Gandhi:
"We need to be the change we wish to see in the world."

"Man's nature is not essentially evil. Brute nature has been known to yield to the influence of love. You must never despair of human nature."

"Speak only if it improves upon the silence."

"You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty."

Gibran, Khalil:
"Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being."

"I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers."

"Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children."

"Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgement wage war against your passion and your appetite. Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody. But how shall I, unless you yourselves be also the peacemakers, nay, the lovers all of your elements?"

"Your reason and your passion are the rudder and sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas. For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction. Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing. And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily ressurection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes."

von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang:
"One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words."

Heinlein, Robert:
"Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other 'sins' are invented nonsense."

Hubbard, Elbert Green:
"Do you say that religion is still needed? Then I answer that Work, Study, Health and Love constitute religion. . . . Most formal religions have pronounced the love of man for woman and woman for man an evil thing. . . . They have said that sickness was sent from God. . . . Now we deny it all, and again proclaim that these will bring you all the good there is: Health, Work, Study – Love!"

Hume, David:
"A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence."

Ingersoll, Robert:
"I do not believe in forgiveness as it is preached by the church. We do not need the forgiveness of God, but of each other and of ourselves."

"While I am opposed to all orthodox creeds, I have a creed myself. And my creed is this. Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so. "

"Humanity is the grand religion, and no God can put a man in hell in another world, who has made a little heaven in this. God cannot make a man miserable if that man has made somebody else happy. God cannot hate anybody who is capable of loving anybody. Humanity — that word embraces all there is."

"How long, O how long will [hu]mankind worship a book? How long will they grovel in the dust before the ignorant legends of the barbaric past? How long, O how long will they pursue phantoms in a darkness deeper than death?"

"For thousands of years people have been trying to force other people to think their way. Did they succeed? No. Will they succeed? No. Why? Because brute force is not an argument."

"The closer I'm bound in love to you, the closer I am to free."

"Intelligence, guided by kindness, is the highest wisdom."

"Nothing discloses character like the use of power."

" Above all creeds, above all religions, after all, is that divine thing, — Humanity."

"Love is the only bow on Life's dark cloud. It is the morning and the evening star. It shines upon the babe, and sheds its radiance on the quiet tomb. It is the mother of art, inspirer of poet, patriot and philosopher. It is the air and light of every heart — builder of every home, kindler of every fire on every hearth. It was the first to dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody — for music is the voice of love. Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to Joy, and makes royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven, and we are gods."

"If abuses are destroyed, man must destroy them. If slaves are freed, man must free them. If new truths are discovered, man must discover them. If the naked are clothed; if the hungry are fed; if justice is done; if labor is rewarded; if superstition is driven from the mind; if the defenseless are protected and if the right finally triumphs, all must be the work of man. The grand victories of the future must be won by man, and by man alone."

"As people become more intelligent they care less for preachers and more for teachers."

Ignorance being darkness, what we need is intellectual light. The most important things to teach, as the basis of all progress, are that the universe is natural; that man must be the providence of man;

Out on the intellectual sea there is room enough for every sail. In the intellectual air there is space enough for every wing. The man who does not do his own thinking is a slave, and is a traitor to himself and to his fellow men.


King, Martin Luther (Jr.):
"Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated."

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

"I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind's problems. And I'm going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn't popular to talk about it in some circles today. I'm not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love, I'm talking about a strong, demanding love. [...] I have seen too much hate."

Kurtz, Paul:
"The beginning of wisdom is the awareness that there is insufficient evidence that a god or gods have created us and the recognition that we are responsible in part for our own destiny. Human beings can achieve this good life, but it is by the cultivation of the virtues of intelligence and courage, not faith and obedience, that we will most likely be able to do so."

Letterman, David:
"As I understand it - and my understanding of this is vague, at best - another smaller group of people stole some airplanes and crashed them into buildings. And we're told that they were zealots fueled by religious fervor, religious fervor. And if you live to be a thousand years old, will that make any sense to you? Will that make any goddamned sense?"

de Montaigne, Michel:
"Nothing is so firmly believed as that which is least known."

"There is no passion so contagious as that of fear."

"He who establishes his argument by noise and command shows that his reason is weak."

"Of all our infirmities, the most savage is to despise our being."

"The value of life lies not in its length, but in the use we make of it."

Pindar:
"Strive not thou to become a god; the things of mortals best befit mortality."

Plato:
"Until philosophers are kings, or the kings and princes of this world have the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils."

Rayner, Claire:
"I believe in living, the enjoyment of being, the fulfilment of our powers, the wonders of nature, the marvels of the cosmos. We don’t have to bother ourselves too much about what lies behind it all. It’s there. We are here. What is is. Our job is to get on with things, trying to make life better as we go."

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano:
"These dark days, my friends, will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto, but to minister to ourselves, to our fellow men."

Russell, Bertrand:
"To save the world requires faith and courage: faith in reason, and courage to proclaim what reason shows to be true."

"The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge."

"A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men."

"The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt."

"If all our happiness is bound up entirely in our personal circumstances it is difficult not to demand of life more than it has to give."

"As soon as we abandon our own reason, and are content to rely upon authority, there is no end to our troubles."

"There lies before us, if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot forget our quarrels? We appeal as human beings to human beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. "

"Those who forget good and evil and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires."

Sagan, Carl:
"Every one of us is precious in the cosmic perspective. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another."

"Science is more than a body of knowledge. It's a way of thinking. It is a way of skeptically interogating the universe with an eye for human fallibility."

"Human history can be viewed as a slowly dawning awareness that we are members of a larger group. [...] If we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth."

Sinatra, Frank:
"What I do with my life is of my own doing. I live it the best way I can."

"I'm for decency — period. I'm for anything and everything that bodes love and consideration for my fellow man."

"I would like to be remembered as a man who had a wonderful time living his life, and who had good friends, a fine family. I don't think I could ask for anything more than that, actually."

"Fear is the enemy of logic."

"You gotta love livin', baby, 'cause dyin's a pain in the ass!"

Socrates, attributed to him by others:
"I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world." (Plutarch)

"The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being." (Plato)

Shakespeare, William:
"Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings." (Cassius, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar)

Steinbeck, John:
"And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for it is the one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost."

"It seems to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death brings no pleasure on the world."

Tecumseh:
"Show respect to all people and grovel to none. When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision."

Thoreau, Henry David:
"An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day."

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost. There is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.”

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler."

Unknown:
"Only when people love one another as much as they love their gods will we have peace."

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore! Dream! Discover!" (This is often attributed to Mark Twain, but I have not been able to find a source. In any case, it doesn't sound cynical enough to be Twain's, so I doubt it.)

Vonnegut, Kurt:
"I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is."

"Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of — 'God damn it, you've got to be kind.'"

"I still believe that peace and plenty and happiness can be worked out some way. I am a fool."

"About belief or lack of belief in an afterlife: Some of you may know that I am neither Christian nor Jewish nor Buddist, nor a conventionally religious person of any sort. I am a humanist, which mean, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without any expectation of rewards or punishments after I'm dead. " -

Wilson, Woodrow:
"There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed."

Fire Aim Ready

Earlier in the week, I received a video entitled "Creation, the Universe, & the Evolution to a funky beat". The song is "Be Mine", and is by "Fire Aim Ready". The song describes the beginning of the universe (as far as we know it) and the evolution of life leading up to us. Strangely enough, this is a love song.



First verse:

14 billion years ago, time and space were born;
filled with homogeneous, nearly uniform
quark and lepton plasma that led to you and me
through the interplay of chance and necessity.
The plasma later cooled to make mostly hydrogen fueling fusion in the stars' generation one .

I looked the band up on MySpace and found a number of other songs, although sadly the rest are not songs about science. Another song, entitled "The Decline and Fall", offers political commentary about the United States through comparison to Rome.

"The Decline and Fall", last three verses:


All Iraq’s divided into three parts
Even Kurds are getting in our way
Barbarians are blowing up the legions
Seems that they’d prefer us not to stay
It’s carved there in plain Latin, the inscription on the wall:

“Welcome one and all to the decline and fall.”

Hadrian builds his fence along the border
While he fills the Army with the Picts;
It’s hard to tell Centurions from Vandals
The fall of Rome is not hard to predict
It’s carved there in plain Latin, the inscription on the wall:

“Welcome one and all to the decline and fall.”

Lead poisons our wine and makes us stupid
Gladiators keep us entertained
More votes cast for idols than for Caesar
The end of empire’s easily explained.
It’s carved there in plain Latin, the inscription on the wall:

“Welcome one and all to the decline and fall.”

And if your Latin's rusty, here's the writing on the wall:

“Welcome one and all to the decline and fall.”


If you would rather listen to songs about science and that sort, Prometheus Music produces music focusing on "the history and future of space exploration". Five songs are available for free on the website: I recommend "Suprise!", "Fire in the Sky", and "Others Standing By". "Fire in the Sky" is easily my favorite, and I suspect that I've shared it in the past here. If I have not, I'll remedy that now.

Mark Twain and Robert Ingersoll

I had the pleasure of reading "Mark Twain and Robert Ingersoll: the Freethought Connection" this afternoon. The article, written by Thomas J. Schwartz and published in 1976, was cited by William Phipps in his Mark Twain’s Religion. I found the article online by using JSTOR to search for it, and you can read it yourself by clicking here.

Dr. Schwartz attempts to demonstrate the influence of Robert G. Ingersoll’s works on Samuel Clemens, writing as Mark Twain. While Clemens never proclaimed his beliefs or lack thereof to the world, his treatment of religion in his works indicates that he was a freethinker. Take for instance the following passage from Letters from the Earth:

“[The Bible] is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.” [1]

Dr. Schwartz holds this same opinion, but holds the further idea that Mark Twain drew continual inspiration from the works of Robert Ingersoll.

From Innocents Abroad, in which Christianity is indicted for having impeded the progress of civilization, to The Mysterious Stranger, in which the concepts of special providence, immortality, heaven, hell, and supernatural beings are reduced to 'empty dreams', Clements relentlessly wove Ingersoll-inspired arguments against Christianity into the fabric of his literary work. His emphasis on the goodness of the present world, his anticlericalism, criticism of the Scriptures, and contempt for the concepts of hell and the atonement, his admiration of Thomas Paine, his belief in human progress and antipathy toward the social conservatism of organized religion, his insistence on religious toleration and separation of church and state, -- all these tendencies reflect his commitment to what he called Ingersoll's "'gospel of free thought' [2]

Schwartz promotes the idea that Ingersoll’s ideas influenced Clemens heavily in two of his better-known works, The Prince and the Pauper and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. He does this by citing passages from both men’s works -- and then drawing connections between the two of them. More of the more obvious examples is quoted below:

There is in The Prince and the Pauper a specific instance of borrowing from "Ghosts". Clemens apparently read Ingersoll's lecture in January of 1880. He incorporated into the novel an incident in British history which Ingersoll had recorded. In 1716, according to Ingersoll, a woman and her nine-year-old daughter were hanged for 'selling their souls to the Devil' and for 'raising a storm by pulling off their stockings'. During Tom Canty's brief reign as King of England, a mother and her nine-year old daughter are brought before him. They have been condemned to be hanged for selling 'themselves to the Devil'. Tom is informed that they exerted the power thus obtained to bring about a storm. They did this by 'pulling off their stockings'. [3]

Schwartz demonstrates similarities in a number of Ingersoll’s and Clemen’s works, showing that Clemens was very much influenced by Ingersoll and that he espoused most of Ingersoll’s ideas himself. He then addresses the fact that Clemens never did a proclamation of disbelief as others were wont to do in the “Golden Age of Freethought”, and explores probable reasons why. Schwartz believes that Clemens refrained from doing so out of “an insurmountable fear of public disfavor.” [4]

I found the article to be quite interesting. Robert G. Ingersoll represents the very best of humanity to me, and I have enjoyed a lifelong habit of reading Clemen’s works. I think Dr. Schwartz’s article (available at JSTOR) will be of interest to anyone who is fascinated by either Ingersoll or Clemens -- as many freethinkers are.
=============================
[1] Samuel Clemens, Letters from the Earth. Letter III.
[2] Schwartz, Thomas. “Mark Twain and Robert Ingersoll: the Freethought Connection”. American Literature, Vol. 48, No. 2, p. 184.
[3] Schwartz p. 187
[4] Schwartz p. 191

We Were Warned

"I have always thought that the reason we're called humanists is that we are involved with human beings as opposed to the supernatural -- the existence of which is dubious at best." - Isaac Asimov, speech to the The Humanist Institute, 14 January 1989.

I found two Asimov videos that were recently uploaded (within the past month). Dr. Asimov was asked to speak on the most important scientific issue of 1988. He chose the growing greenhouse effect -- global warming. This reminds of me of a 1988 interview between Ted Turner and Carl Sagan that I've linked to on this blog in the past -- humanity's ignorance of and indifference to its mortality is staggering. The speech is titled "Threats to Humanity".

"I'm not anymore idealistic than anyone else. I don't go around saying that human beings are going to love each other so much that they're going to set up a utopia, no. What I say is, that if human beings have any sanity, enough sanity to fear the consequences of not [coming together to stop global warming], and enough sanity to hope for the consequences of doing it, they will do it. But I can't guarantee that the human species will be sane. And if they are not, then we will probably destroy ourselves. We will certainly destroy civilization; we may destroy ourselves as a species. And...who is going to fight that? Who is going to lead in the direction? Well, I hope lots of people -- but I'm sure that among them will be the humanists. Because by their very name, they celebrate humanity. They want humanity to survive. And, they recognize that if they do survive, it will be by its own efforts. never can we sit back and wait for miracles to save us! Miracles don't happen. Sweat happens. Efforts happen. Thoughts happen. And it's us to help to have all that happen."

What I Want For Christmas

What I Want For Christmas
- Robert G. Ingersoll

If I had the power to produce exactly what I want for next
Christmas, I would have all the kings and emperors resign and allow
the people to govern themselves.

I would have all the nobility crop their titles and give their
lands back to the people. I would have the Pope throw away his
tiara, take off his sacred vestments, and admit that he is not
acting for God -- is not infallible -- but is just an ordinary
Italian. I would have all the cardinals, archbishops, bishops,
priests and clergymen admit that they know nothing about theology,
nothing about hell or heaven, nothing about the destiny of the
human race, nothing about devils or ghosts, gods or angels. I would
have them tell all their "flocks" to think for themselves, to be
manly men and womanly women, and to do all in their power to
increase the sum of human happiness.

I would have all the professors in colleges, all the teachers
in schools of every kind, including those in Sunday schools, agree
that they would teach only what they know, that they would not palm
off guesses as demonstrated truths.

I would like to see all the politicians changed to statesmen,
-- to men who long to make their country great and free, -- to men
who care more for public good than private gain -- men who long to
be of use.

I would like to see all the editors of papers and magazines
agree to print the truth and nothing but the truth, to avoid all
slander and misrepresentation, and to let the private affairs of
the people alone.

I would like to see drunkenness and prohibition both
abolished.

I would like to see corporal punishment done away with in
every home, in every school, in every asylum, reformatory, and
prison. Cruelty hardens and degrades, kindness reforms and
ennobles.

I would like to see the millionaires unite and form a trust
for the public good.

I would like to see a fair division of profits between capital
and labor, so that the toiler could save enough to mingle a little
June with the December of his life.

I would like to see an international court established in
which to settle disputes between nations, so that armies could be
disbanded and the great navies allowed to rust and rot in perfect
peace.

I would like to see the whole world free -- free from
injustice -- free from superstition.

This will do for next Christmas. The following Christmas, I
may want more.

The Arena, Boston, December 1897.

The Reflections of an Emperor

Over the thanksgiving holiday, I was able to read Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. Aurelius, Emperor of the Roman Empire, wrote the book to himself as form of self-encouragement. Aurelius is the last of the "five good Emperors" according to British historian Edward Gibbon. Aurelius' Stoicism is part of the Humanist tradition, and so I enjoyed reading the book immensely. Here are a few passages from the book: you can find the full text online if you wish to read more.
--------------------------------------------------
"Waste not the remainder of your life in thoughts about others, except when you are concerned with some unselfish purpose. For you are losing an opportunity to do something else, when you have thoughts such as: 'What is such a person doing, and why, and what is he saying, and what is he thinking, and what is he contriving' -- and whatever else of the kind makes us forget to observe our own ruling principle. We ought to check in the course of our thoughts everything that is without purpose and useless, but of all most meddling and malicious. A man should train himself to think only of those things about which if you were suddenly asked, "'What have you now in your thoughts?' - with perfect openness you might immediately answer, This or That, so that from your words it should be plain that everything in you is sincere and kindly, and befitting a social animal, and one that cares not for thoughts of pleasure or sensual enjoyment or any rivalry or envy or suspicion, or anything else for which you would blush if you were say it was on your mind." - Book III, s. 4

"If the faculty of understanding is common to us all, the reason also, through which we are rational beings, is common. If this is so, common also is that reason which tells us what to do, and what not to do. If this is so, there is a law common to all men also. If this is so, we are fellow citizens and members of some political community, and thus the world is in a way one commonwealth." - Book IV, s. 4

"Do not have the opinion of things that he has who does you wrong, or that he wishes you to have, but look at them as they are in truth." - Book IV, s.11

"A man should always have these two rules in readiness: first, to do only what the reason of your ruling and legislating faculty suggests for the service of men; second, to change your opinion, whenever anyone at hand sets you right and unsettles you in an opinion. But this change of opinion should come only when you are persuaded that something is just or to the public advantage, and the like, not because it appears pleasant or increases your reputation." - s. 12

"Have you reason? 'I have'. Why, then, do you not use it? For if it does its proper work, what else do you wish?" - s. 13

"Do not act as if you would live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good." - s. 17

"Whatever is any way beautiful is beautiful in itself, and has its end in itself, and praise is no part of it. Neither worse then nor better is a thing made by being praised. I say this too of things called beautiful by the vulgar, for example, material things and works of art. That which is really beautiful has no need of anything, no more than law, no more than truth, no more than generosity or modesty. Which of these things is made beautiful by being praised, or spoiled by being blamed? Is a jewel like an emerald damaged if it is not praised? Or gold, ivory, purple, a lyre, a dagger, a flower, a shrub?"- s. 20

"Examine men's ruling principles, especially of the wise, what kind of things they avoid, and what kind that they pursue." - s. 38

"Be like the cliff against which the waves continually break; but it stands firm and tames the fury of the water around it." - s. 49

"When in the morning you rise unwillingly, let this thought be with you: 'I am rising to the work of a human being. Why then am I dissatisfied if I am about to do the things for which I was brought into the world? Or was I made to lie under the bedclothes and keep myself warm? ' 'But that is more pleasant', you say. Do you live then to take your pleasure, and not at all for action and exertion? Do you not see the little plants, the little birds, the ants, the spiders, the bees, working together to set in order their several parts of the universe? And are you unwilling to do the work of a human being, not eager to do what belongs to do your nature? 'But I must have rest also.' You must; nature, however, has fixed bounds to this. She has fixed bounds too to both eating and drinking, yet you go beyond these bounds, beyond what is enough; yet in your work it is not so, and you stop short of what you can do. So you love not yourself, for if you did, you would love your nature and her will. " - Book V, s. 1

"Be not unhappy, or discouraged, or dissatisfied, if you do not succeed in acting always by the right principles; but when you have failed, try again, and be content if most of your acts are consistent with man's nature. Love that to which you return; do not return to philosophy as if she were a schoolmaster, but behave like those who have sore eyes and apply a bit of sponge or an egg, or like another who applied a plaster of a water lotion. For thus you will not fail to obey reason, and will find rest in it. And remember that philosophy requires only the things which your nature requires." - s. 9

"Reason and the reasoning art -- philosophy -- are powers sufficient to themselves and for their own work. They start from a first principle, which is their own, and make their way to the end which they set before them, and this is why reasonable acts are called right acts, for they proceed by the right road." - s. 14

"Honor what is best in the universe; this is what controls all things and direct all things. In like manner, honor also what is best in yourself; and this is akin to the other. For in yourself, also, it is that which controls everything and your life is directed by it." - s. 21

"Let that part of your soul which leads and governs be undisturbed by motions of the flesh, whether of pleasure or pain; let it not mingle with them, but let it set a wall around itself and keep those emotions in their place. But when the emotions rise up to the mind by virtue of the sympathy that naturally exists in a body which is all one, then you must not strive to resist the feeling, for it is natural; but let not your ruling part add to the feeling the opinion that is is either good or bad." - s. 26

"If any man can convince and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek truth, by which no man was ever injured. But he is injured who abides in his error and ignorance." - Book VI, s. 21

"Take care that you turn not into a Caesar, that you are not dyed with that dye; for such things happen. Keep yourself simple, good, pure, serious, free of affectations, a friend of justice, [...] kind, affectionate, strenuous in all right acts. Strive to advance toward what philosophy tried to make you. [...] Help men. Life is short. There is only one fruit of this earthly life, a pious disposition and social acts. Do everything as a disciple of Antoninus. Remember his constancy in rational behavior, his even temper in all things, [...] the serenity of his countenance, his sweetness, his disregard of empty fame, and his effort to understand things; how he would never let anything pass without having first carefully examined it and understood it; how he bore with those who blamed him unjustly without blaming them in return; how he did nothing in a hurry; how he refused to listen to calumnies; how exact an examiner of manners and actions he was, not given to reproach people, nor timid, nor suspicion, nor pedantic; [...] his firmness and steadiness in friendship; how he tolerated freedom of speech in those who opposed his opinions; the pleasure he had when any man showed him anything better; and how religious he was without superstition. Imitate all this and you may have as good a conscience as he had when your last hour comes." - s. 30

"Accustom yourself to listen carefully to another man's words, and as much as possible be in the speaker's mind." - s. 53

"Let not the future disturb you. You will face it with the same reason which you now use for present things." - . Book VII, p. 8

"Whatever anyone else does or says, my duty is to be good; just as gold, or an emerald, or purple always says: 'Whatever anyone else does or says, I must be an emerald and keep my color.'" - s. 15

"It is peculiar to man to love even those who do him wrong. This happens, if when they do wrong you remember they are kinsmen, and wrong you through ignorance and unintentionally, and soon both of you will die; above all, that the wrongdoer has done you no harm, for he has not made your mind worse than it was before." - s. 22

"When a man has done you any wrong, immediately consider with what notions of good and evil he acted in doing wrong. When you have seen this, you will pity him and will neither wonder not be angry. For either you think the same thing to be good that he does or something of the same kind; it is your duty then to pardon him; but if you do not hold the same notions of good or evil, you will more readily be charitable to him who is in error." - s. 26

"Think less of what you have not than of what you have; of the things you have select the best; then reflect how eagerly you would have labored for them, if you had them not. At the same time, however, take care you do not through being pleased with them accustom yourself to do overvalue them aas to be distressed if ever you should lose them." - s. 27

"Retire into yourself. The nature of the rational principle that rules us is to be content with itself when it does what is just, and so secures tranquility." - s. 28

"Subdue the imagination. Check the drives of impulse. Confine your care to the present. Understand well what happens to you and to others. [...] Think of your last hour. Let the harm done by another man stay where the harm was done." - s. 29

"Pay attention to what is being said. Let your understanding keep pace with what is being done and the causes of it." - s. 30

"Dig within. Within is the fountain of good, and it will ever bubble up, if you will ever dig." - s. 59

"Life is more like wrestling than dancing, in that it should stand ready and firm to meet onsets, however unexpected." - s. 61

"Receive wealth or prosperity without arrogance; and be ready to let it go cheerfully." - s. 33

"Men exist for the sake of one another. Teach them then or bear with them." - s. 59

"Do not despise death, but be well content with it, since this too is one of those things which nature wills." - Book IX, s. 3

"Wipe out fancy; check desire; extinguish appetite; keep your ruling faculty in control." - s. 7

"Epicurus says, 'In sickness my conversation was not about my bodily sufferings, nor did I talk on such subjects to those who visited m; but I continued to discourse on the nature of things as before, keeping to the main point, how the mind, while participating in such movementgs as go on in the poor flesh, shall be free from disturbance and maintain its proper good. Nor did I', he adds, 'give the physicians an opportunity of putting on solemn looks, as if they were doing something great, but my life went on well and happily.' Do, then, the same that he did[...]". - s. 41

"No longer talk about the kind of man a good man ought to be, but be one." - Book X, s. 16

"When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings [...]. By attending to this you will quickly forget your anger." - s. 30

"How undsound and insincere is he who says 'I have determined to deal with you in a fair way.' What, do you have to give notice of fairness? It will show soon enough in action. Truth will be plainly written on your forehead. A man's character shows itself in his voice and eyes, just as lovers may read everything in each other's eyes. A man who is honest and good ought to be like a man who has a strong odor: anyone who comes near must smell whether he choose or not. " - Book XI, s. 15

"Consider these things: First, what is my relationship to men; we are made for one another. [...] Fourth, consider that you also do many things wrong, that you are man like others; and even if you abstain from certain faults, you still have the disposition to commit them, though either through cowardice, or concern for reputation, or some such mean motive, you refrain from wrongdoing. Fifth, consider that you do not even know whether men are doing wrong or not, for many things are done with a certain reference to circumstances. In short, a man must learn a great deal to enable him to pass a correct judgment on another man's acts. Sixth, consider when you are vexed or grieved that man's life is only a moment, and after a short time we all lie stretched in death. Seventh, that it is not men's acts which disturb us, [...] but it is our own opinions regarding them. [...] Eighth, consider how much more pain is brought on us by the anger and vexation caused by such acts than by the acts themselves, at which we are angry and vexed. Ninth, consider that benevolence is invincible if it be genuine, and not merely an effected smile and playing a part. [...] Remember these nine rules, as if you had received them as a gift from the Muses, and begin at last to be a man so long as you live. But you must equally avoid flattering men and being vexed at them, for both are unsocial and lead to harm." s. 18

"If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it." - Book XII, s. 17

A Man Without a Country

Tonight I read Kurt Vonnegut's A Man Without a Country, and did so within the span of an hour. It was I think one of the most enjoyable hours I've ever spent. The book was very readable, and I read it while listening to "Evening Jazz"; the two blended together to make a lovely evening. Vonnegut wasn't a name I hadn't heard much about until after he died. I was dimly aware of the name, but was clueless otherwise. A few weeks ago I checked out Cat's Cradle but didn't really get into it; it didn't help that my reading list had a lot of other books competing for my attention, and I find it easier to focus on nonfiction. The library had one of his nonfiction works, though, and I decided to read it. I knew I would enjoy it, as I have perused Mr. Vonnegut's WikiQuote page a number of times. Some of the best quotations I've read by him come from that book, and I thought I would share some here for those who haven't read it. I mostly enjoyed the latter half of the book because its essays dealt closely with the subject of idealism in human experience.

"How beautiful it is to get up and go out and do something. We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anybody tell you any different."

"Do you know what a humanist is? My parents and grandparents were humanists, what used to be called Free Thinkers. So as a humanist I am honoring my ancestors, which the Bible says is a good thing to do. We humanists try to behave as decently, as fairly, and as honorable as we can without any expectation of rewards or punishments in an afterlife. My brother and sister didn't think there was one, my parents and grandparents didn't think there was one. It was enough that they were alive. We humanists serve as best we can the only abstraction with which we have any familiarity, which is our community."

"I am, incidentally, Honorary President of the American Humanist Association, having succeeded the late, great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov in that totally functionless capacity. We had a memorial service for Isaac a few years back, and I spoke and said at one point 'Isaac is up in heaven now.' It was the funniest thing I could have said to an audience of humanists. I rolled them in the aisles. It was several minutes before order could be restored. And if I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say 'Kurt is up in heaven now'. That is my favorite joke."

"So be [a wise human] anyway. Save our lives and your lives, too. Be honorable."

"It so happens that idealism enough for anyone is not made of perfumed pink clouds. It is the law! It is the U.S. Constitution."

"While on the subject of burning books, I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength, their powerful political connections or great wealth, who, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and destroyed records rather than to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.

So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House, the Supreme Court, the Senate, the House of Representatives, or the media. The America I love still exists at the front desk of our public libraries."

"[...]I replied that what made being alive almost worthwhile for me, besides music, was all the saints I met, who could be anywhere. By saints I meant people who behave decently in a strikingly indecent society."

Joe, a young man from Pittsburg, came to me with one request: 'Please tell me it will all be okay.'
'Welcome to Earth, young man," I said, 'It's hot in summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. At the outside, Joe, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of: Goddam it Joe, you've got to be kind!'"

"But I had a good uncle, my late Uncle Alex. He was my father's kid brother, a childless graduate of Harvard who was an honest life-insurance salesman in Indianapolis. He was well-read and wise. And his principal complaint about other human beings was that they so seldom noticed it when they were happy. So when we were drinking lemonade under an apple tree in the summer, say, and talking lazily about this and that, almost buzzing like honeybees, Uncle Alex would suddenly interrupt the agreeable blather to exclaim, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is."

So I do the same now, and so do my kids and grandkids. And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice I don't know what is.'"

All and Enough: Humanist Spirituality

"Let us consider the way in which we live our lives." - Henry David Thoreau

"You gotta love livin', baby, 'cause dyin' is a pain in the ass!" - Frank Sinatra

I was once asked if I thought "humanist spirituality" was a contradiction in terms. As luck would have it, I had been thinking on that subject only a week before. A Google search directed me to Doug Muder's blog, where I found an excellent essay on the subject. It's one I recommend reading. The question posed by my friend seems fair, given the subject of spirituality is thought of as supernatural and that the majority of definitions for humanism include a rejection of the supernatural. Is spirituality truly limited to the supernatural, though? I have read the opinions of many on this subject as I sought to articulate my own thoughts, and the opinion is universally expressed by commentators that spirituality has a far more encompassing definition than the one religious personalities assign to it in their zeal to monopolize its use. I would say that spirituality deals with the essence of things, and that by this definition we can relate spirituality to the natural world as well, which is where it belongs to those of us who think of supernaturalism as farcical.

Spirituality in religious and some philosophical systems deals with realizing and nurturing the growth of the individual essence, or spirit. Jews do this by studying Torah and performing mitzvah; Christians by being born again; Muslims by living in submission to Allah. In some other religious systems, a person's essence is nurtured and grows through reincarnation. Whatever the religion, all of these practices concern themselves with overcoming and improving upon our base nature. We recognize that we are given to some desires and behaviors that can prove destructive. We realize that if these desires and this nature can be overcome or controlled that we can live better lives.

The third Humanist Manifesto declares that the natural universe is "all and enough". Our own minds, then, are all and enough to nurture our "essence". Humanists rely on reason and empathy to live informed and fulfilling lives. Both of these tools require only our brains to use. For the Humanist, fulfillment is an internal affair. We do not need magic rocks to pray over or idols to bow down before. We do not require the sacrifice of animals or any other rituals. We do not need holy books. Our minds are all and enough. I have said before that the subtle beauty of humanism is that it is a philosophy often self-arrived at. If someone makes reason and empathy the bedrock of their worldview, that worldview will be humanistic. The values arrived at will be by and large the same.

How, then, do we use these tools? How do I as a person who believes my mind is all and enough find essential -- spiritual -- fulfillment and growth? How do I use my reason and empathy to effect such a result? Spirituality is so broad a subject that I could scarcely expect to cover any of it in one article. What I attempted to do with this was to explain what the basis for humanist spirituality is. If you're interested in spirituality in nontheistic and naturalistic systems of thought there are of course numerous blogs and books devoted to that subject. To end, though, I'd like to explain what my "spirituality" is like.

I begin with this statement: I study the sciences and humanities, appreciate nature and art, and love humanity. This is the nature of my spirituality. Essentially, spirituality for me can be tied to one word, love. Being a humanist, I love truth and humanity unconditionally. I love them both because they so enrich my life. Being able to revel in the knowledge that I'm alive is all-important to me. When I stopped caring about God in 2005, I said to myself that I was going to enjoy life as best as I could and help other people. That was where I really began to grow spiritually, and that occurred well before I discovered the Ex-Pentecostals and began to deconvert. Being able to appreciate being alive -- to really appreciate it -- is the best gift you or I can ever give to anyone. Even when I'm sick, I'm still happy because my joy isn't based on what happens to me. My joy comes from a deeper source, and that is my appreciation for being alive.

I love learning about science because it allows me to appreciate the world around me more than I could if I were ignorant of it. My love for science has grown as I have grown as a person in the past couple of years, and so to has my appreciation for the universe. I can spend hours sitting outside and enjoying the day. When I look out of my bedroom window and see the lush green trees set against the unbroken blue sky, I understand worship. There are times when I am looking at pictures of nature when I think that my chief pleasure in this world is to appreciate this beauty. Nature can be cruel, but it can also be breathtakingly beautiful. I think it's important to focus on the beauty given that all of this is a beautiful accident.

I also love studying the humanities -- history, literature, art, music -- because these subjects remind me of my humanity. When I listen to instrumental music while contemplating the vastness and beauty of space, I am moved. I delight in reading literature and fiction because they represent a sharing of experiences. I can learn more about my humanity and feel more connected to the people with whom I associate. There are similar subjects -- philosophy and sociology -- that I enjoy for the same reason. I am human; not a god. I want to grow as a human, not as a "saint". Pindar, the last of the Greek aristocrats, said "Strive not thou to become a god; the things of mortals best befit mortality."

The last part of my spirituality is that I attempt to live in love -- in hope for humanity. I set goals for myself and I strive to work toward them. My fondest dream is that of a peaceful and healthy Earth, occupied by humans who are united in their love for one another. This idealism drives me. I want to see this; I want to make it happen. I live each day trying to be the best human I can be. Is a united Earth an unrealistic goal? Perhaps now it is. I think, though, that by setting goals for ourselves -- as individuals and as a race -- we also provide motivation to meet those goals. Even if we don't meet the ideal completely, we can still improve the human condition.

I've grown a lot the past few years -- in knowledge, in confidence, and in my ability to live life in love for it. I anticipate growing even more in the future, as I plan on attending services at a Unitarian Universalist fellowship. I can only imagine how enriching being part of that kind of community will be. I've tried to articulate my feelings on spirituality for a long time now, but I feel like one blind man trying to determine the shape of the Great Pyramid. Spirituality is a colossally broad subject, and books and blogs have been devoted to the idea to do justice to it. In this essay, I explained what I think is the basis for naturalistic spirituality and expressed what some of what spirituality means to me in practice.

In this article, I referenced one quotation from Pindar, a classical personality. I found that quotation in "The Greek Way", by Edith Hamilton. I failed to write down the page number when I initially read it, but Google informs me that Pindar is covered in chapter five of that book. To end, here are my results from a QuizFarm quiz that I found over at GifS; if you dig into that blog's archives you can see how long I've been trying to express my thoughts on this subject.

Here are some essays that I found helpful in forming an idea about what humanist spiritualty was and should be:

"Humanist Spirituality: Oxymoron or Authentic Path to Enlightenment?"
http://freeandresponsible.blogspot.com/2006/03/humanist-spirituality-oxymoron-or.html
- This is my favorite, and I make a point to re-read it every so often.

"Spirituality: What on Earth is It?"
http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentViewArticle.asp?article=1264

"Integral Spirituality, Humanist Spirituality"
http://glitteringstew.com/muse/2006/12/19/integral-spirituality-humanist-spirituality/
- This blog has another post called "Can Atheists Be Spiritual?"

"Why Atheist Spirituality isn't an Oxymoron"
http://members.cox.net/sbcogan/russell.html

"Faith of an Atheist"
http://www.uucpa.org/sermons_02-03/sermon020310.html

You scored as Spiritual Atheist, Ah! Some of the coolest people in the world are Spiritual Atheists. Most of them weren't brought up in an organized religion and have very little baggage. They concentrate on making the world a better place and know that death is just another part of life. What comes after, comes after. Spiritual Atheist 92% Scientific Atheist 92% Apathetic Atheist 75% Angry Atheist 58% Militant Atheist 58% Agnostic 42% Theist 8% What kind of atheist are you? created with QuizFarm.com