REFLECTIONS

"Scultpture is like a journey. You have a different view
when you return.
The three-dimensional world is full of surprises."
Henry Moore
@Nasher Museum of Art
at Duke University

"Atheists are not very well-thought-of in America," says John Green, a
senior
fellow with the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. "It's still
acceptable to criticize atheists in a way that's not polite. People
may harbor
negative views about Jews, Catholics, Muslims and evangelicals, but
they know
they're not supposed to voice those views, so they don't. But it's
still OK to say
anything bad you want about atheists."

"I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it."
-- Edith Sitwell 1887 - 1964 English poet

"Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training."

- Anna Freud

"Anyone who has begun to think places some portion of the world in jeopardy."

- John Dewey

"A sketch of the progress of Geology is the history
of a constant and violent stuggle between new opinions
and ancient doctrines, sanctioned by the implicit faith
of many generations, and supposed to rest on scriptural
authority."
-Charles Lyell- Principals of Geology 1830-p.30 Vol.1

"One does not inhabit a country; one inhabits a language. That is our
country, our fatherland---and no other."
- Emile Cioran

It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the
shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood,
more vengeance, more desolation.
- General William Tecumseh Sherman

UU GA Theme ~ Towards Right Relations

We will communicate openly, honestly and espectfully,

We will listen carefully with open minds and open
hearts.
We will assume good intentions, practice tolerance and
resist the temptation to become offended.
We will take responsibility for our speech, actions
and feelings, and we will be sensitive to possible
conflicts and willing to work toward solutions.
We will consider other perspectives and will strive
not for unanimity but for mutual respect.
We will honour our own boundaries and the boundaries
of others.
We will respect and support diversity within our
Association and work to foster a welcoming
environment.

"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: It
is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively
assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science."
-- Charles Darwin 1809-1882

Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness;
it is generally the by-product of other activities.
-Aldous Huxley, Vendeta for the Western World, 1945

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
-William Butler Yeats

Well, we know how to use our book knowledge, the stuff we get tested
on, as far as it goes. But what are we to do in the realm of our
not-knowing? Knowledge is the stuff of an education, but wisdom also
requires knowing how little we know. And the stores of our not-knowing
are limitless.
-Marvin Bell. Commencement Address, Alfred University, 2002

The great Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon, in his sermon ‘Hideous Discovery’, preached on July 25, 1886, made the following comment on evolution:

‘In its bearing upon religion this vain notion is, however, no theme for mirth, for it is not only deceptive, but it threatens to be mischievous in a high degree. There is not a hair of truth upon this dog from its head to its tail, but it rends and tears the simple ones. In all its bearing upon scriptural truth, the evolution theory is in direct opposition to it. If God’s Word be true, evolution is a lie. I will not mince the matter: this is not the time for soft speaking.’

The Principal Doctrines of Epicurus

The four-fold cure for anxiety:
Don't fear the gods; Nor death; Goods are easy to obtain; Evils are easy to endure

1) A blessed and imperishable being neither has trouble itself nor does it cause trouble for anyone else; therefore, it does not experience feelings of anger or indebtedness, for such feelings signify weakness.

2) Death is nothing to us, because a body that has been dispersed into elements experiences no sensations, and the absence of sensation is nothing to us.

3) Pleasure reaches its maximum limit at the removal of all sources of pain. When such pleasure is present, for as long as it lasts, there is no cause of physical nor mental pain present – nor of both together.

4) Continuous physical pain does not last long. Instead, extreme pain lasts only a very short time, and even less-extreme pain does not last for many days at once. Even protracted diseases allow periods of physical comfort that exceed feelings of pain

H.L. Mencken's Creed

I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind - that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.
I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious.
I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily make war upon liberty...
I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect.
I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech...
I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run.
I believe in the reality of progress.
I - But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.

"If everyone in the world sat quietly at the same time, closed their eyes and concentrated as hard as they could on peace and goodwill, all the killing and cruelty in the world would continue. And probably increase."
-George Carlin, "When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?"

http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1213940

"The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as to find a friend worth dying for."

-- Homer

When I Heard the Learned Astronomer
Walt Whitman

When I heard the learned astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure
them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much
applause in the lecture-room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wandered off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Looked up in perfect silence at the stars.