If in the beginning there was neither Being nor Non-Being, neither air nor sky, what was there? Who or what oversaw it? What was it when there was no darkness, light, life, or death? We can only say that there was the One, that which breathed of itself deep in the void, that which was…
I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on…
Dante, I think, committed a crude blunder when, with a terror-inspiring ingenuity, he placed above the gateway of his hell the inscription, ‘I too was created by eternal love’- at any rate, there would be more justification for placing above the gateway to the Christian Paradise …the inscription ‘I too was created by eternal hate’……
People today don’t want to hear the truth. They’re really afraid of tranquility and silence – they’re afraid they might begin to understand their own motivations too well. They keep a steady stream of noise going to protect themselves, to build a wall against the truth. Like African natives, beating on their drums, rattling their…
But why did he rebel against his maker? It was, as he himself informs us, because he saw no sufficient reason, for that extreme inequality of rank and power, which the creator assumed. It was because prescription and precedent form no adequate ground for implicit faith. After his fall, why did he still cherish the…
When power becomes gracious and descends into the visible — such descent I call beauty. And there is nobody from whom I want beauty as much as from you who are powerful: let your kindness be your final self-conquest. Of all evil I deem you capable: therefore I want the good from you. Verily, I…
Imagine then a ship or a fleet in which there is a captain who is taller and stronger than any of the crew, but who is a little deaf and has a similar infirmity in sight, and whose knowledge of navigation is not much better. The sailors are quarreling with one another about the steering—every…
“Look there, Sancho Panza, my friend, and see those thirty or so wild giants, with whom I intend to do battle and kill each and all of them, so with their stolen booty we can begin to enrich ourselves….” “What giants?” Asked Sancho Panza. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote How often do we notice…
I think when you begin to think of yourself as having achieved something, then there’s nothing left for you to work towards. I want to believe that there is a mountain so high that I will spend my entire life striving to reach the top of it. – Cicely Tyson Humankind seems to have an…
Up the mountain I trudged, knee-deep in snow. The blistering wind, when it came, came in gusts. I did not know if the snow fell from the sky or was merely being blown around by the wind. It felt as though I had been climbing forever. Perhaps I had. I looked up toward the peak,…
The topic of reciting a prayer, or “invocation”, at city council or other government meetings has been surfacing frequently of late. I simply must ask: what is the point? Setting aside the invitation it sends to various organizations for litigation, what is the goal? (Let us be honest: it is mostly Christians who do this.…
It must be completely obvious to anyone who’s grown up with the “War On Terror” that the first thing you do in such situations is paint the other guys – and their Gods – as evil, blood-thirsty war mongers, because by demonizing them you can justify any inhumanity you might subsequently commit. – Michael Smith…
