Reflections

There is a universal need to exercise some kind of power, or to create for one’s self the appearance of some power, if only temporarily, in the form of intoxication.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, 19th Century German Philosopher

It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.
~ Epicurus, 341-270 BC, Greek Philosopher

For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.
~Robert Jastrow (1925-2008), leading astronomer and planetary physicist

Courage, curiosity, kindness … I like people who stay with the process, not stupidly or with a kind of utter stubbornness, but maybe something akin to it with this notion of commitment. I think a lot of people live dull lives, dull meaning, small. They do little with their life other than sustain themselves and perhaps a few people around them. I think of that as insipid. We know life is dangerous, and for the people who are trying to live a safe life period, well, I’m all for safety, But if all you have in your life is a commitment to that small, safe, insipid life, already, I don’t want to be like you. And I think that sense of those who live a small life often live with a level of–I don’t know how to put it more kindly than this– a sort of dogmatic presumption bound into self-righteousness, that they’re right, and the people they don’t agree with, they’re wrong, and whether that’s over a particular view on sanctification for instance, they know what’s right and they are right, and everybody else is pretty much wrong. That is an insipid, self-righteous life, I just want to go ehh.
~ Dan Allender, Psychologist and Author

This Sunday’s readings: Psalm 33:6-22