CoPhi: Questions Apr 22

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Questions Apr 22

FL 43-44

Do you agree with Tolkien that reason and fantasy can coexist, but only so long as people can still distinguish the latter from facts? 393-4
In the future do you think Virtual Reality will be "ridiculous, sublime, wonderful, or awful"? Or all of the above? Will it make us even more fantasy-prone, and less capable of discerning facts and reality? 395
Is there a danger that "MilSim" players will forget that they're playing, or become desensitized to violence? 399
Does the prevalence of adults without children at Disney (and other) theme parks say something important or disturbing about our society? 403
What does Celebration, FLA say about the American tendency to indulge in nostalgia for an idealized past?406
Do too many adults cling to childlike beliefs about religion, and pass them along to their children?408

SSHM ch3-4

Does the goal of "being somebody" make it more difficult to be happy? 69
What does "Success" mean to you? How does it relate to discovering your "real me"? 70
Do you "realize how soon [you] will become [a] mere walking bundle of habits"? Do you manage your habits effectively? 76
What do you think of the James-Lange theory of emotion? 87
Do you practice yoga? Does it help you summon "deeper levels of will power"? 91\
Do you experience your consciousness as a "stream"? 100
Was Thoreau "woke"? 102 Are you?
Can nitrous oxide or other chemicals really provide a "revelation"? 111 Or help you "change your mind" in a good way? 115
Have you read or heard of Henry Bugbee? 118 Have you ever "abandoned yourself to the swamp"? 120
Do you know any "wild American country" like James's Chocorua? Do you experience the "mysteriousness of existence" there? 121
Do you (like Kaag) disagree with Wittgenstein? 124

31 comments:

Marim SameerApril 21, 2021 at 1:57 PM
Marim Sameer (4/20)
Section 7
Discussion answer/ weekly essay
Does the goal of "being somebody" make it more difficult to be happy? 69
Personally, I do think it makes it more difficult to be happy. There are endless possibilities that you can make out of your future. It Is so hard, especially for me, to decide what it is I want to make of myself. What If I make the wrong decision and I do not like the way I am living day to day? It Is hard to make a lifetime decision and in top of that being a brown immigrant whose parents came here specially for my education it makes it 10x harder because you do not want to upset them and you want to make them proud and that sometimes gets in the way of you trying to find yourself because I feel pressured to do what I think what makes them happy.
What does "Success" mean to you? How does it relate to discovering your "real me"? 70
Success is not measured by money, but more of self-satisfaction and happiness. A rich business man can be unhappy while someone who is working a minimum wage job is happier. I feel like you have to find yourself and do what makes you happy. With that comes goes. You must set goes and strive to achieve them no matter how it gets. With success comes hard work.
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Austin DuncanApril 21, 2021 at 3:14 PM
Section 7.

I think VR is a great thing. It is insanely cool and it increases the immersion. I don't think it will be widespread for a while, but in the future I think I could see it being all 4. You'll have those people that do VR Nascar games, VR baseball, or VR plays/theater. I think that is a good step. I feel also that over time, as people get more exposed to it, it'll mellow out, just as any other gaming system. Overall, the gap between real life and VR is still significant, and it'll need some serious immersion technology to begin to confuse us.
Forget "MilSim," heck even normal video games desensitize people. Video games and movies to their credit. We go to theaters and watch a slasher movie and have a good time and not think twice. Same with video games, we get on Call of Duty and be apart of WWII and not think anything of it, but subconsciously we are numbing ourselves to the violence we experience. The numbing is nowhere near what we'd experience in real life, but it is enough to see a violent video, one where the average person would be disgusted, and common video game players think nothing of it. Again, it's that overall level of immersion.
In some ways, by trying to be "somebody," it does get in the way of a normal stream of happiness. "Comparison is the thief of joy," is a famous quote. However, if you DON'T compare yourself to that "somebody" and simply set a boundary between you and a goal, you won't compare yourself. To me, that part is all about discipline.
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Jacob MaluginApril 21, 2021 at 3:36 PM
Do you agree with Tolkien that reason and fantasy can coexist, but only so long as people can still distinguish the latter from facts?

I completely agree as to often to people tend to confuse what is real life and fantasy. However, I enjoy fantasy and it lets your mind wander to what could have been or to an idea that is impossible in reality. But when you mix up fantasy with reality you no longer have a good grasp on either and instead walk in a middle plane that is neither here or there. So enjoy fantasy, I encourage it, but always remember to come back to reality.
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Caitlin WarnerApril 21, 2021 at 4:14 PM
Section 7

FL 43-44

1. Does the prevalence of adults without children at Disney (and other) theme parks say something -important or disturbing about our society? 403
- This is definitely not a question I had thought of before, and as someone who went to Disney for the first time at 22, I don’t think it says anything important about our society. The individuals without kids visiting could be like me, first timers, or they could simply just love Disney. I personally love that when you see adults in the theme park, usually they’re having just as much fun as the children (if not more).

2. Do too many adults cling to childlike beliefs about religion, and pass them along to their children?408
- I don’t think nearly as many adults have a childlike beliefs about religion. Those who do definitely pass those beliefs along to their children and hopefully they won’t continue in their parents’ footsteps.

SSHM ch3-4

1. Does the goal of "being somebody" make it more difficult to be happy? 69
- I think the strive to “be somebody” effects many Americans in a negative way. This goal sometimes causes them to not follow their true passions and they end up being unhappy with where they are in life. I know this is something I struggle with personally.

2. What does "Success" mean to you? How does it relate to discovering your "real me"? 70
- Success and being successful to me is simply being true to yourself and loving what you do every day. There isn’t a minimum salary required to obtain “success”, it’s a personal goal you set with yourself, and whatever is (as long as it isn’t hurting you or someone around you) is great.

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Aalayis SuggsApril 21, 2021 at 8:29 PM
Section 8

In the future do you think Virtual Reality will be "ridiculous, sublime, wonderful, or awful"? Or all of the above? Will it make us even more fantasy-prone, and less capable of discerning facts and reality? 395
--- I think virtual reality will be amazing. I think what is already available is amazing. I don’t think it’ll make us less capable of discerning facts and reality. I’m always aware that I’m in virtual reality when I’m in it, and I feel like the author is insulting people when he suggests that we won’t be able to tell what’s reality.

Does the prevalence of adults without children at Disney (and other) theme parks say something important or disturbing about our society? 403
--- No, it’s not telling anything that isn’t obvious, and it doesn’t disturb me.

Do you "realize how soon [you] will become [a] mere walking bundle of habits"? Do you manage your habits effectively? 76
--- I try to manage my habits effectively, but my biggest habit is breaking habits. It’s difficult to imagine myself becoming a “walking bundle of habits” because I’ve been trying to stick to a morning and night routine and be consistent with school and my hobbies for years, but they keep changing. My thoughts and beliefs are also changing around.

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Joshua FlowersApril 21, 2021 at 9:11 PM
What does "Success" mean to you? How does it relate to discovering your "real me"? 70

Success to me means walking in the purpose that God has given and experiencing freedom. Success to me would look like financial freedom and stability. Success would mean that I'm working as a full-time film composer and artist. Success would also mean having a platform and being able to inspire others through my career in film composition and music. Success would mean being able to provide for my family and freely give to others in need.

Success does tie closely into discovering my "real me." It is important for me to know who I am, know what my standard of excellence is, know what my goals are etc...If you don't know your "why" then you won't know the reason for doing what you're doing. I know my "why." I know my reasons for pursuing what I am pursuing, and the only way I know this is because I know the man I am meant to be. I know who I am and who I am not. In all honesty, I discovered these things in 2020 when I got a lot of time to myself and time to pray. It was here that I discovered more who I am and more of who God is. So for me the two go hand in hand.

Do you "realize how soon [you] will become [a] mere walking bundle of habits"? Do you manage your habits effectively? 76

I don't want to think that I am a mere bundle of habits, but I know to certain a degree this is true. I find myself waking up and checking my email first thing without even thinking about it now. I find myself doing homework and then almost uncontrollably checking Instagram and twitter as my "study break." I hit snooze multiple times in the morning with zero conviction in the moment, so these are habits that I currently don't manage well and I'm trying to change them. I am trying not to hit snooze and to not mindlessly check social media. I am trying to give myself more time, especially in the morning to just be. There are also a handful of other habits I'm trying to be better about, but these are a few.
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Keylee CrutcherApril 22, 2021 at 10:48 AM
Keylee Crutcher Section 8

Does the goal of "being somebody" make it more difficult to be happy? 69
--Yes, which is why I try not to have that as my goal. My goal is happiness itself. Even though being somebody may be what makes me happy eventually, my goals to make myself happy are easier and more attainable at the moment.

What does "Success" mean to you? How does it relate to discovering your "real me"? 70
--Firstly, success to me is being happy and content with my life and what I’m doing. I don’t need to find a “real me” I just need to do what makes me happy.

Do you experience your consciousness as a "stream"? 100
--No, it feels more like a nonstop virtual reality screen stuck to my face.

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Nicholas SellersApril 22, 2021 at 1:37 PM
Section 7

"Do you agree with Tolkien that reason and fantasy can coexist, but only so long as people can still distinguish the latter from facts?"

I absolutely agree with this. I think it is important to fanaticize about things. A lot of times people fanaticize about making better situations when they are in bad ones and often i think it can help people get through rough times. I also think it is good to follow reason. You can fanaticize about being a robbing a bank and being a millionaire to get out of a bad situation but logically, and with reason, you have to know that it is not a great idea and you have to know it is not safe.

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William TurnerApril 22, 2021 at 1:53 PM
Section 8

In the future do you think Virtual Reality will be "ridiculous, sublime, wonderful, or awful"? Or all of the above? Will it make us even more fantasy-prone, and less capable of discerning facts and reality?

I think virtual reality will be amazing in the future. Virtual reality is already a pretty interesting thing so it advancing more in the future will be exciting. I'm sure some people will try to use virtual reality to escape from their own reality and potentially make it their new reality, but I think the vast majority will still be able to understand what is real and not real.

Does the goal of "being somebody" make it more difficult to be happy?

Does the goal of "being somebody" make it more difficult to be happy?

I think having that desire to "be somebody" will make it harder to be happy. To me, it sounds like you'll try to find any way possible to be known and remembered in history. Doesn't seem like you'll find what you actually enjoy in life.
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Chloe GuzowskiApril 22, 2021 at 2:40 PM
Section 4

Do too many adults cling to childlike beliefs about religion, and pass them along to their children?

I do believe this is true. When we are children we pick up the beliefs of our parents because that is how we are taught. But once many of us become older we form our own beliefs, others do not. They stand by the views they were told as a child and refuse to be properly educated. I see this trend in politics too where people take a stand but have no knowledge of it.

Does the goal of "being somebody" make it more difficult to be happy?

I think that if you have a constant goal to be somebody then you never truly get to enjoy the person you are. And what if you never truly reach that "somebody" you were trying to be! Then you just wasted your life on an unreachable goal. We are stuck with who we are whether that is a good or bad thing and we can't change ourselves so we just have to make the best of it.
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James CurrieApril 22, 2021 at 4:02 PM
Section 8

In the future do you think Virtual Reality will be "ridiculous, sublime, wonderful, or awful"? Or all of the above? Will it make us even more fantasy-prone, and less capable of discerning facts and reality? 395

I think it will be sublime. I don’t think it will make it difficult to tell the difference between fantasy and reality but fantasy will just be more normal. Like today a lot of the time people are on their phones but they still know the difference between that and reality. It is just more of a social norm. I think virtual reality would be cool and could make some occasions more fun. I mage being able to be apart of a movie, actively, instead of only watching.

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Haley FlanaganApril 23, 2021 at 1:40 AM
section 7
Do you agree with Tolkien that reason and fantasy can coexist, but only so long as people can still distinguish the latter from facts? 393-4
I do agree with this. The best part of Tolkien's fantasy stories are the themes he intertwines into his fantasy worlds. It can't really be defined as pure escapism because he includes themes of struggle against evil and can be very dark at times. The best fantasy stories are timeless because of their themes that are always relatable. Keeping a shred of reality in fantasy allows me to keep connected to the world while still being immersed in a good story.
In the future do you think Virtual Reality will be "ridiculous, sublime, wonderful, or awful"? Or all of the above? Will it make us even more fantasy-prone, and less capable of discerning facts and reality? 395
I think VR has potential to have all of these elements in the future. As most games are, they have the potential to be a wonderful source of entertainment and escapism. They can also be sort of addictive for some people. I don't think that people will become so immersed in VR that they forget reality, because VR doesn't seem to be realistic enough. If it does become indistinguishable from reality, maybe it will alter society and make a mass movement of shut-ins. I really hope not. I find this idea to be very post-apocalyptic in the sense that VR would be an ultimate escape from real life. As long as life in our reality remains to be enjoyable, I don't think this will happen.

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Janai BlakemoreApril 24, 2021 at 2:05 AM
Section 7
Does the goal of "being somebody" make it more difficult to be happy? 69
I think it can be difficult to be happy if you're constantly trying to be something for other people. It is impossible to make everyone happy so the constant pressure to impress people can make you unhappy. I do believe however, that when your goals begin to focus on the things that are most important to you that you also begin to tap in to your best self. In order to remain happy while becoming a public figure or a person of influence is to make sure that you are always "somebody" to yourself regardless of what other believe or think about you.
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Koltin McCraryApril 27, 2021 at 1:31 AM
Section 7
Do too many adults cling to childlike beliefs about religion, and pass them along to their children?408

Most of the time when you are introduced to religion as a kid, that is the religion you stick with the rest of your life because people are not really open to new religions because they are not open to change, because they feel it almost as cheating on the religion they already have their belief in since they identify themselves with that group.
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Vernon CooperApril 29, 2021 at 2:53 PM
Does the prevalence of adults without children at Disney (and other) theme parks say something important or disturbing about our society?

Arguably these cartoons are never truly geared towards children although they are the illusive target audience. The messages and hidden themes in these animations are definitely created and understood by adults. There are a very mass amount of adult humor in these animations to pose the question, “is this really aimed to target children or adults”? Some could even argue this is a form or grooming who knows. One things is for sure, growing up a lot of the content in Disney movies weren’t really understood until I was older and more experienced so that alone says a lot about the influence these movies have n children. In short yes it is disturbing, but for reason being that these adults allow children to watch animations with levels of adult content in it even if they don’t understand because regardless if they do the children are going to mimic their favorite characters.

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Rebecca Kumar- Section 8May 1, 2021 at 12:02 AM
Is there a danger that "MilSim" players will forget that they're playing, or become desensitized to violence? 399

Yes, I believe that violent video games are dangerous to a person. They are damaging to a person's psyche, and I feel like if a person is repeatedly playing those games, they would become desensitized to acts of violence.

Do you practice yoga? Does it help you summon "deeper levels of will power"? 91\

No, I don't practice yoga. I know that to some people that is a form of meditation and relaxation. But for me, I'm not a person who likes to sit still for long. I don't think it summons deeper levels of will power, as I said I don't really do yoga and I can't sit still for a while. My form of relaxation is to read or watch T.V.

Does the prevalence of adults without children at Disney (and other) theme parks say something important or disturbing about our society? 403
I don't think it is disturbing, I think it is kind of cute. The world is a difficult place and most people look at their childhood fondly when they think of the movies and tv shows that they watched. Some people want to relive some of their happiest moments when everything was exciting to them. I'm not a fan of going to amusement parks but I'm not going to hate on adults who want to enjoy their childhood again.

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Karter SchlegelMay 4, 2021 at 9:10 PM
Section 4
In the future do you think Virtual Reality will be "ridiculous, sublime, wonderful, or awful"? Or all of the above? Will it make us even more fantasy-prone, and less capable of discerning facts and reality?
I feel like virtual reality will be wonderful as it will create an escape from everyday life and the struggles that are in it. However I do believe that it will have consequences like some people may be more prone to just continue to be in virtual reality and make it harder for them to realize what's virtual and what's real.
Does the goal of "being somebody" make it more difficult to be happy?
Personally I think that it does make it harder to be happy when you try to be somebody to people. Mainly because if your trying to be somebody to everyone you know it makes it harder on yourself to be the person that they want.
What does "Success" mean to you? How does it relate to discovering your "real me"?
Success for me would probably be being happy in what I do in life or have done. Personally I think it relates to the real me cause if I enjoy what I do or have done then that is the real me.
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Manifest Destiny: The Belief that Changed Western HistoryMay 4, 2021 at 9:40 PM
Ash Warner Section 7
Does the goal of "being somebody" make it more difficult to be happy?
I don’t think it makes it more difficult but I think to be anything in this world you’re going to have to set some amount of happiness to the side and have to work through a little bit of tough times whether that’ds a lot of schooling or rigorous training schedule to become a better athlete you’re going to have to trade pleasure for success a few times in your life in order to achieve greatness
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KirolosMay 5, 2021 at 2:54 PM
Do you practice yoga? Does it help you summon "deeper levels of will power"?
I personally do not practice yoga, but I do consistently workout to stay healthy. I do not think yoga exactly helps you summon "deeper levels of will power" but rather helps you to stop and reflect. Controlling your breathing and calming your mind can actually help someone do what they previously thought was impossible because they tune out everything else around and can then just focus on that one thing which is now made a little easier because now 100% of their focus can be directed at one task. For example when lifting a heavier weight than normal, it is better to take a minute to control your breathing, get comfortable, and only focus on what is in front of you which can make it feel like a new level of will power.
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Texts Fall 2024

REQUIRED: Nigel Warburton, LITTLE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY (LHP) (etext linked below)... Susan Neiman, WHY GROW UP (WGU)... John Kaag, SICK SOULS, HEALTHY MINDS: How William James Can Save Your Life (SS)... Eric Weiner, THE SOCRATES EXPRESS: In Search of Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers (Weiner_)... RECOMMENDED (and available for 3-day checkout at the library): Mariana Allesandri, NIGHT VISION: seeing ourselves through dark moods... Kurt Andersen, FANTASYLAND: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt Andersen (FL) ... Julian Baggini, HOW THE WORLD THINKS (HWT)... Kaag & J. van Belle, BE NOT AFRAID OF LIFE: In the Words of William James... Robert Richardson, THREE ROADS BACK: How Emerson, Thoreau, and William James Responded to the Greatest Losses of Their Lives... Kieran Setiya, LIFE IS HARD (LH)

JPO bio

The author of "William James's Springs of Delight: The Return to Life, (VU Press, 2001) " Phil Oliver specializes in the American philosophical tradition with supporting interests in applied ethics (particularly Bioethics and Environmental Ethics), Anglo-American literature, history, humanism, naturalism, science and exploration, peripatetic ("walking & talking") philosophy, baseball, cycling, swimming, the pursuit of happiness, and the perpetual dawn of day. One of his favorite MTSU courses is The Philosophy of Happiness. He is academic advisor for minors in American Culture (American Studies), and a founding board member and current Vice-President of the William James Society. You can follow him on Threads, Instagram (@OSOPHER), Substack (philoliver.substack.com) and on his blogsite Up@dawn (jposopher.blogspot.com) but of course, as Immanuel Kant and Monty Python's Brian Cohen agreed: You don't have to follow anybody. "Sapere aude," have the courage to think for yourself. But not by yourself. Good philosophy collaborates and converses.

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Gymnasiums of the Mind

"Followers of the Greek Aristotle were known as peripatetics because they passed their days strolling and mind-wrestling through the groves of the Academe. The Romans’ equally high opinion of walking was summed up pithily in the Latin proverb: “It is solved by walking.” Nearly every philosopher-poet worth his salt has voiced similar sentiments. Erasmus recommended a little walk before supper and “after supper do the same.” Thomas Hobbes had an inkwell built into his walking stick to more easily jot down his brainstorms during his rambles. Jean- Jacques Rousseau claimed he could only meditate when walking: “When I stop, I cease to think,” he said. “My mind only works with my legs.” Søren Kierkegaard believed he’d walked himself into his best thoughts. In his brief life Henry David Thoreau walked an estimated 250,000 miles, or ten times the circumference of earth. “I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits,” wrote Thoreau, “unless I spend four hours a day at least – and it is commonly more than that – sauntering through the woods and over the hills and fields absolutely free from worldly engagements.” Thoreau’s landlord and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson characterized walking as “gymnastics for the mind...” Christopher Orlet, Philosophy Now https://philosophynow.org/issues/44/The_Gymnasiums_of_the_Mind

Admirable profession

"...Most of the luxuries, and many of the so called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind. With respect to luxuries and comforts, the wisest have ever lived a more simple and meagre life than the poor. The ancient philosophers, Chinese, Hindoo, Persian, and Greek, were a class than which none has been poorer in outward riches, none so rich in inward. We know not much about them. It is remarkable that we know so much of them as we do. The same is true of the more modern reformers and benefactors of their race. None can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground of what we should call voluntary poverty. Of a life of luxury the fruit is luxury, whether in agriculture, or commerce, or literature, or art. There are nowadays professors of philosophy, but not philosophers. Yet it is admirable to profess because it was once admirable to live..."

"I went to the woods because...

I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion... "

"I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there...

Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one. It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves. I had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond-side; and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct. It is true, I fear that others may have fallen into it, and so helped to keep it open. The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels. How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity! I did not wish to take a cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world, for there I could best see the moonlight amid the mountains. I do not wish to go below now... I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours..."

Where he lived, and what he lived for

"Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downward through the mud and slush of opinion, and prejudice, and tradition, and delusion, and appearance, that alluvion which covers the globe, through Paris and London, through New York and Boston and Concord, through church and state, through poetry and philosophy and religion, till we come to a hard bottom and rocks in place, which we can call reality, and say, This is, and no mistake; and then begin, having a point d’appui, below freshet and frost and fire, a place where you might found a wall or a state, or set a lamp-post safely, or perhaps a gauge, not a Nilometer, but a Realometer, that future ages might know how deep a freshet of shams and appearances had gathered from time to time. If you stand right fronting and face to face to a fact, you will see the sun glimmer on both its surfaces, as if it were a cimeter, and feel its sweet edge dividing you through the heart and marrow, and so you will happily conclude your mortal career. Be it life or death, we crave only reality. If we are really dying, let us hear the rattle in our throats and feel cold in the extremities; if we are alive, let us go about our business."

Vote!

"The 2024 election is going to be decided by people under 30, who have the most at stake, and they need to register to vote in order to make a difference. That’s the answer, simple democracy." -GK... Please visit TennVoterLookup if you would like to check your Tennessee registration status or check RockTheVote.org. TN residents can update or change their information on the TN Government's website. If you're currently registered in another county it may be easier for you to vote here. Register in Rutherford County: https://www.mtsu.edu/amerdem/register-to-vote.php

Thinking is a social activity

"We do not (on Justice Holmes's reasoning) permit the free expression of ideas because some individual may have the right one. No individual alone can have the right one. We permit free expression because we need the resources of the whole group to get us the ideas we need. Thinking is a social activity. I tolerate your thought because it is part of my thought—even when my thought defines itself in opposition to yours." — The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America by Louis Menand https://a.co/8qI6C9a

A proper education

“The complexity of our present trouble suggests as never before that we need to change our present concept of education. Education is not properly an industry, and its proper use is not to serve industries, either by job-training or by industry-subsidized research. It's proper use is to enable citizens to live lives that are economically, politically, socially, and culturally responsible. This cannot be done by gathering or "accessing" what we now call "information" - which is to say facts without context and therefore without priority. A proper education enables young people to put their lives in order, which means knowing what things are more important than other things; it means putting first things first.” ― Wendell Berry

The college project

“The American college may be considered a continuation, at the human level, of the self-education process of the earth itself: universe education, earth education, and human education are stages of development in a single unbroken process...The entire college project can be seen as that of enabling the student to understand the immense story of the universe and the role of the student in creating the next phase of the story.” --Thomas Berry, “The American College in the Ecological Age,” in The Dream of the Earth

Planting seeds

One thing is certain: if our educational system does not honestly and explicitly promote the central tenet of science—that nothing is sacred—then we encourage myth and prejudice to endure. We need to equip our children with tools to avoid the mistakes of the past while constructing a better, and more sustainable, world for themselves and future generations. We won’t do that by dodging inevitable and important questions about facts and faith. Instead of punting on those questions, we owe it to the next generation to plant the seeds of doubt." Lawrence M. Krauss, "Teaching Doubt"-The New Yorker

Enlightened thoughts

“Reason drives your search to make sense of the world by pushing you to ask why things are as they are. For theoretical reason, the outcome of that search becomes science; for practical reason, the outcome is a more just world.”

“A defence of the Enlightenment is a defence of the modern world, along with all its possibilities for self-criticism and transformation. If you’re committed to Enlightenment, you’re committed to understanding the world in order to improve it.”

“Freedom cannot simply mean doing whatever strikes you at the moment: that way you're a slave to any whim or passing fancy. Real freedom involves control over your life as a whole, learning to make plans and promises and decisions, to take responsibility for your actions' consequences.”

“Doing what you can to move your part of the world closer to the way that it should be, while never losing sight of the way that it is, is what being a grown-up comes to.”
― Susan Neiman, Why Grow Up?: Subversive Thoughts for an Infantile Age

The thinkers of the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment saw an urgent need for a secular foundation for morality, because they were haunted by a historical memory of centuries of religious carnage: the Crusades, the Inquisition, witch hunts, the European wars of religion. They laid that foundation in what we now call humanism, which privileges the well-being of individual men, women, and children over the glory of the tribe, race, nation, or religion. It is individuals, not groups, who are sentient—who feel pleasure and pain, fulfillment and anguish. Whether it is framed as the goal of providing the greatest happiness for the greatest number or as a categorical imperative to treat people as ends rather than means, it was the universal capacity of a person to suffer and flourish, they said, that called on our moral concern.”

“The Enlightenment thus translated the ultimate question ‘How can I be saved?’ into the pragmatic ‘How can I be happy?’—thereby heralding a new praxis of personal and social adjustment.”

“The ideals of the Enlightenment are products of human reason, but they always struggle with other strands of human nature: loyalty to tribe, deference to authority, magical thinking, the blaming of misfortune on evildoers.”― Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

“We must cultivate our garden.”

“Think for yourself and let others enjoy the privilege of doing so too.” Voltaire

“Education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company and reflection must finish him.”

“To love truth for truth's sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of all other virtues.” ― John Locke

“One unerring mark of the love of truth is not entertaining any proposition with greater assurance than the proofs it is built upon will warrant.”

“I pretend not to teach, but to inquire; and therefore cannot but confess here again,–that external and internal sensation are the only passages I can find of knowledge to the understanding. These alone, as far as I can discover, are the windows by which light is let into this DARK ROOM. For, methinks, the understanding is not much unlike a closet wholly shut from light, with only some little openings left, to let in external visible resemblances, or ideas of things without: which, would they but stay there, and lie so orderly as to be found upon occasion, it would very much resemble the understanding of a man, in reference to all objects of sight, and the ideas of them.”

― John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

“Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. Those who think themselves the masters of others are indeed greater slaves than they.”

“Why should we build our happiness on the opinons of others, when we can find it in our own hearts?”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract and Discourses

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”

“It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.― Thomas Jefferson, Letters of Thomas Jefferson

Religion. Your reason is now mature enough to examine this object. In the first place, divest yourself of all bias in favor of novelty & singularity of opinion... shake off all the fears & servile prejudices, under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear... ...Do not be frightened from this inquiry by any fear of its consequences. If it ends in a belief that there is no God, you will find incitements to virtue in the comfort and pleasantness you feel in its exercise, and the love of others which it will procure you... In fine, I repeat, you must lay aside all prejudice on both sides, and neither believe nor reject anything, because any other persons, or description of persons, have rejected or believed it... [Jefferson, Letter to his nephew, Peter Carr, advising him in matters of religion, 1787]”

“The true value of a human being can be found in the degree to which he has attained liberation from the self.”― Albert Einstein

“There is strong shadow where there is much light.”
― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Götz von Berlichingen

“How could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?”
― Plato, The Allegory of the Cave

“Enlightenment means taking full responsibility for your life.”
― William Blake

“To live is not to breathe but to act. It is to make use of our organs, our senses, our faculties, of all the parts of ourselves which give us the sentiment of our existence. The man who has lived the most is not he who has counted the most years but he who has most felt life.”
― Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, or On Education

“We owe a huge debt to Galileo for emancipating us all from the stupid belief in an Earth-centered or man-centered (let alone God-centered) system. He quite literally taught us our place and allowed us to go on to make extraordinary advances in knowledge.”
― Christopher Hitchens

“It is not easy to convey, unless one has experienced it, the dramatic feeling of sudden enlightenment that floods the mind when the right idea finally clicks into place. One immediately sees how many previously puzzling facts are neatly explained by the new hypothesis. One could kick oneself for not having the idea earlier, it now seems so obvious. Yet before, everything was in a fog.”
― Francis Crick, What Mad Pursuit

“I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without expectations of rewards or punishments after I am dead.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
==

“For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”

“Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light‐years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. So are our emotions in the presence of great art or music or literature, or acts of exemplary selfless courage such as those of Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.”

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of American life is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”

“We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.”

“If we can't think for ourselves, if we're unwilling to question authority, then we're just putty in the hands of those in power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

==
On the other hand, eastern enlightenment...

“Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen.”
― Bodhidharma, The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma

How to add links, embed videos etc.

Videos: in Blogger, after clicking on "New Post"-- 1. Copy the URL of the video you want to share. 2. Click on "More options" on the far right of the toolbar above, then Insert Video icon (3d from left) 3. Select YouTube 5. Select Search 6. Paste the URL & Select it == To insert links: 1. Highlight a word or phrase in your text 2. Click on the link icon 3. Paste the URL address of the site or passage you want to link to == To insert graphics, either just copy-&-paste... OR, click on the "insert image" icon (to the right of the link icon, to the left of the "insert video" icon) and select the appropriate option == To embed Google Books pages: 1. Find the book you want to embed. 2. Select Preview 3. Select (click on) the page you want to embed. 4. Click More Actions (the three vertical dots in the upper right) 5. Select Embed (unless you just want to link the page) 6. Copy the code 7. In edit mode on blogger, select the pen icon in the upper left and click on HTML view 8. Paste the code == Familiarize yourself with the edit icons in the drop-down menu (link, insert image, insert video, etc.) Always make sure, after you Publish, that the formatting is correct on the blogsite. If not, click More options (the three horizontal dots in the upper right) and then Clear Formatting on the far right (the T with a diagonal slash).

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