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Mescaline
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 Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 9:22 pm Post subject: Bertrand Russell |
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| Quote: | "The life of Man, viewed outwardly, is but a small thing in comparison with the forces of Nature. The slave is doomed to worship Time and Fate and Death, because they are greater than anything he finds in himself, and because all his thoughts are of things which they devour. But, great as they are, to think of them greatly, to feel their passionless splendour, is greater still. And such thought makes us free men; we no longer bow before the inevitable in Oriental subjection, but we absorb it, and make it a part of ourselves. To abandon the struggle for private happiness, to expel all eagerness of temporary desire, to burn with passion for eternal things--this is emancipation, and this is the free man's worship. And this liberation is effected by a contemplation of Fate; for Fate itself is subdued by the mind which leaves nothing to be purged by the purifying fire of Time.
United with his fellow-men by the strongest of all ties, the tie of a common doom, the free man finds that a new vision is with him always, shedding over every daily task the light of love. The life of Man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach, and where none may tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent Death. Very brief is the time in which we can help them, in which their happiness or misery is decided. Be it ours to shed sunshine on their path, to lighten their sorrows by the balm of sympathy, to give them the pure joy of a never-tiring affection, to strengthen failing courage, to instil faith in hours of despair. Let us not weigh in grudging scales their merits and demerits, but let us think only of their need--of the sorrows, the difficulties, perhaps the blindnesses, that make the misery of their lives; let us remember that they are fellow-sufferers in the same darkness, actors in the same tragedy as ourselves. And so, when their day is over, when their good and their evil have become eternal by the immortality of the past, be it ours to feel that, where they suffered, where they failed, no deed of ours was the cause; but wherever a spark of the divine fire kindled in their hearts, we were ready with encouragement, with sympathy, with brave words in which high courage glowed.
Brief and powerless is Man's life; on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way; for Man, condemned to-day to lose his dearest, to-morrow himself to pass through the gate of darkness, it remains only to cherish, ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his little day; disdaining the coward terrors of the slave of Fate, to worship at the shrine that his own hands have built; undismayed by the empire of chance, to preserve a mind free from the wanton tyranny that rules his outward life; proudly defiant of the irresistible forces that tolerate, for a moment, his knowledge and his condemnation, to sustain alone, a weary but unyielding Atlas, the world that his own ideals have fashioned despite the trampling march of unconscious power. " |
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nonentropic
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Mescaline
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| Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 11:23 pm Post subject: |
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| nonentropic wrote: | wordy ain't he?  |
you've been bested by the past! 
just kidding |
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nonentropic
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| Posted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 11:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Mescaline wrote: | | nonentropic wrote: | | wordy ain't he? :) |
you've been bested by the past! :lol:
just kidding |
don't get me started...please :)
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Fathergia
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| Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 12:31 am Post subject: |
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| nonentropic wrote: | | Mescaline wrote: | | nonentropic wrote: | | wordy ain't he? |
you've been bested by the past!
just kidding |
don't get me started...please |
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nonentropic
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| Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 12:36 am Post subject: Re: Bertrand Russell |
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now what is he trying to convey here? what is it saying/meaning to you? did this come from a larger work of his? yeah, i think he's bright and i've read some of his works and i've quoted him before in the past too. sometimes he does say things very well. still, what is going on here (below..italics are my words)?
| Mescaline wrote: | | Quote: | "The life of Man, viewed outwardly, is but a small thing in comparison with the forces of Nature. The slave is doomed to worship Time and Fate and Death, because they are greater than anything he finds in himself, and because all his thoughts are of things which they devour. But, great as they are, to think of them greatly, to feel their passionless splendour, is greater still. And such thought makes us free men; we no longer bow before the inevitable in Oriental subjection, but we absorb it, and make it a part of ourselves. To abandon the struggle for private happiness, to expel all eagerness of temporary desire, to burn with passion for eternal things--this is emancipation, and this is the free man's worship. And this liberation is effected by a contemplation of Fate; for Fate itself is subdued by the mind which leaves nothing to be purged by the purifying fire of Time.
yes, a bit flowery, over-wordy and confused i think. we are part of nature and one with it and yet, we experience this world and our life as an individual. we can become the directing force of this lifeverse. "Fate"? "Time"? all is moving, in a larger sense, as one always with direction. the how, what and why of it all is what concerns and interests me. through consciousness and awareness that i can conrtrol and direct myself to a high degree...i have the ability change things (regarding both myself and things external) for my own benefit at least. the "eternal things" are ideals i believe. my ideals guide me. i am them. the ideas and things we create can long out-live us. this is the eternal connection/thread that runs throughout our species...along with our genetic progeny of course.
United with his fellow-men by the strongest of all ties, the tie of a common doom, the free man finds that a new vision is with him always, shedding over every daily task the light of love. The life of Man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach, and where none may tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent Death. Very brief is the time in which we can help them, in which their happiness or misery is decided. Be it ours to shed sunshine on their path, to lighten their sorrows by the balm of sympathy, to give them the pure joy of a never-tiring affection, to strengthen failing courage, to instil faith in hours of despair. Let us not weigh in grudging scales their merits and demerits, but let us think only of their need--of the sorrows, the difficulties, perhaps the blindnesses, that make the misery of their lives; let us remember that they are fellow-sufferers in the same darkness, actors in the same tragedy as ourselves. And so, when their day is over, when their good and their evil have become eternal by the immortality of the past, be it ours to feel that, where they suffered, where they failed, no deed of ours was the cause; but wherever a spark of the divine fire kindled in their hearts, we were ready with encouragement, with sympathy, with brave words in which high courage glowed.
hmm, too gloomy an outlook for me. i do judge. call this the decision making process...how i choose between the many options, individuals, and things around and within me. good and bad valuations of things and actions exist because of the effects they have upon us. the valuation and judgement comes from gauging what things mean to us. knowing that each is likely to die at some point makes the interactions with the ones we care about that much more important. realizing that anyone of us could be gone tomorrow (forever) motivates me...tends to make me more determined to live my life fully now...and as well as possible from the constant ever-present "now" experience of life that we have. death is just part of the life-cycle...it comes with being alive. still, as a species, the human adventure can perhaps continue for as long as it is perhaps potentially capable of...given that it does not destroy itself nor become the victim of another part of the lifeverse at sometime. death for one is not death for all and it is certainly not the death nor end of this lifeverse which is actually one living unified organism (conceptually) of which we are a part and also at least part of it's consciousness/awareness of itself as well. to ideals and the best way!
Brief and powerless is Man's life; on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way; for Man, condemned to-day to lose his dearest, to-morrow himself to pass through the gate of darkness, it remains only to cherish, ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his little day; disdaining the coward terrors of the slave of Fate, to worship at the shrine that his own hands have built; undismayed by the empire of chance, to preserve a mind free from the wanton tyranny that rules his outward life; proudly defiant of the irresistible forces that tolerate, for a moment, his knowledge and his condemnation, to sustain alone, a weary but unyielding Atlas, the world that his own ideals have fashioned despite the trampling march of unconscious power. " |
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too bad he had to put such a negative/rather hopeless spin to things...to the experience of what living a human life is/amounts to. he was smart enough not to have done this. alas, he seems to me a bitter man. perhaps, he felt unfulfilled. i will likely never know. i surmise it. even so, this is ok...for i have my own view of things and it works for me much better than his does. for this i am thankful. i am thankful that i have chosen to be myself, keep my beliefs and values...and to follow and seek to make real my ideals. success to the good!
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Last edited by nonentropic on Fri Dec 26, 2008 12:48 am; edited 2 times in total |
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Mayflow
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| Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 12:43 am Post subject: Re: Bertrand Russell |
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| Mescaline wrote: | | Quote: | "The life of Man, viewed outwardly, is but a small thing in comparison with the forces of Nature. The slave is doomed to worship Time and Fate and Death, because they are greater than anything he finds in himself, and because all his thoughts are of things which they devour. But, great as they are, to think of them greatly, to feel their passionless splendour, is greater still. And such thought makes us free men; we no longer bow before the inevitable in Oriental subjection, but we absorb it, and make it a part of ourselves. To abandon the struggle for private happiness, to expel all eagerness of temporary desire, to burn with passion for eternal things--this is emancipation, and this is the free man's worship. And this liberation is effected by a contemplation of Fate; for Fate itself is subdued by the mind which leaves nothing to be purged by the purifying fire of Time.
United with his fellow-men by the strongest of all ties, the tie of a common doom, the free man finds that a new vision is with him always, shedding over every daily task the light of love. The life of Man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach, and where none may tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent Death. Very brief is the time in which we can help them, in which their happiness or misery is decided. Be it ours to shed sunshine on their path, to lighten their sorrows by the balm of sympathy, to give them the pure joy of a never-tiring affection, to strengthen failing courage, to instil faith in hours of despair. Let us not weigh in grudging scales their merits and demerits, but let us think only of their need--of the sorrows, the difficulties, perhaps the blindnesses, that make the misery of their lives; let us remember that they are fellow-sufferers in the same darkness, actors in the same tragedy as ourselves. And so, when their day is over, when their good and their evil have become eternal by the immortality of the past, be it ours to feel that, where they suffered, where they failed, no deed of ours was the cause; but wherever a spark of the divine fire kindled in their hearts, we were ready with encouragement, with sympathy, with brave words in which high courage glowed.
Brief and powerless is Man's life; on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way; for Man, condemned to-day to lose his dearest, to-morrow himself to pass through the gate of darkness, it remains only to cherish, ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his little day; disdaining the coward terrors of the slave of Fate, to worship at the shrine that his own hands have built; undismayed by the empire of chance, to preserve a mind free from the wanton tyranny that rules his outward life; proudly defiant of the irresistible forces that tolerate, for a moment, his knowledge and his condemnation, to sustain alone, a weary but unyielding Atlas, the world that his own ideals have fashioned despite the trampling march of unconscious power. " |
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Wow. That's f'ing good. 
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nonentropic
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Mayflow
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| Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 1:04 am Post subject: |
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Because as I see it, he is comparing the ordinary life as we may live it
against the grandiosity of nature and natural forces and saying it is
weak and temporal in that respect_ - but then also saying that something
within us has the ability to realize this and that this ability to realize
(again as I read it) is an even greater thing than even the natural
forces are.
It reminds me of how people think that Buddha was pessimistic,
when he wasn't at all, but just comparing the unthoughtul mundane
life against the enlightening forces that are there for our exploration
and taking by thinking, meditating, questioning, challenging - and Mr.
Russell appears here to have a great compassion for the human race
wishing us all to live up to these higher levels of interior realizations.
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If a human dreams it is an Angel; How sure is it, that it isn't an Angel dreaming that it's human? - Blue Angel http://exploringyourmind.forumotion.com/index.htm |
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nonentropic
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| Posted: Fri Dec 26, 2008 1:12 am Post subject: |
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we are part of/one with these natural forces as well...plus, we are it's consciousness. he misses this entirely. still, it is too wordy, muddled and negative toned for my liking. ok, i accept others interpretations also...no problem.
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