08 NOV 2013 by ideonexus

 All Must be Accomplished with Existing Human Material

To the social philosopher and the enlightened social reformer, and best of all to the plain citizen taking thought of these matters, the first step in the right direction, the first basic principle that must underlie an understanding of the present Social Disorder and be imbedded in the foundation of the Social Order to come, should be the real and effective recognition that all that may be accomplished must be accomplished with the existing human material. Not Angels.
Folksonomies: humanism destiny
Folksonomies: humanism destiny
  1  notes

"Not Angels."

10 AUG 2011 by ideonexus

 A Deceptive God

Balthamos said quietly, “The Authority, God, the Creator, the Lord, Yahweh, El, Adonai, the King, the Father, the Almighty, those were all names he gave himself. He was never the creator. He was an angel like ourselves, the first angel, true, the most powerful, but he was formed of Dust as we are, and Dust is only a name for what happens when matter begins to understand itself. Matter loves matter. It seeks to know more about itself, and Dust is formed. The first angels condensed out of Dus...
Folksonomies: atheism god deities deception
Folksonomies: atheism god deities deception
  1  notes

Usually a fake god is described as someone with special powers, but Pullman's god is merely an angel that preceded other angels into existence and lied to them about their origins, when, in fact, we are all products of the natural world.

09 JUN 2011 by ideonexus

 We are Drawn to the Supernatural

WE HAVE, it seems, a fierce attraction for spirits: auras, angels, poltergeists, disembodied souls, out-of-body experiences. Mostly, I think, we are drawn to these things because we intuit—correctly, it turns out—that there must be more to the world than meets the eye. We inherit the spirit world from a time when our ancestors huddled in dark shelters at night and let their imaginations draw up creatures more or less like ourselves although lacking corporeal substance. But why should we c...
  1  notes

But there is so much to wonder at around us in the natural.