10 MAR 2017 by ideonexus
1937 Description of Lightspeed Travel
After a while I noticed that the sun and all the stars in his neighborhood were ruddy. Those at the opposite pole of the heaven were of an icy blue. The explanation of this strange phenomenon flashed upon me. I was still traveling, and traveling so fast that light itself was not wholly indifferent to my passage. The overtaking undulations took long to catch me. They therefore affected me as slower pulsations than they normally were, and I saw them therefore as red. Those that met me on my hea... 1 
notes
notes29 MAY 2014 by ideonexus
The New Sinai
And as of old from Sinai's top
God said that God is one.
By Science strict so speaks he now
To tell us there is None.
Earth goes by chemic forces; Heaven's
A Mecanique Celeste.
And heart and mind of human kind
A watch-work as the rest. 
1 The mechanical view of the cosmos.
11 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
Jesus was a Revolutionary
The doctrine of the Kingdom of Heaven, which was the main teaching of Jesus, is certainly one of the most revolutionary doctrines that ever stirred and changed human thought. It is small wonder if the world of that time failed to grasp its full significance, and recoiled in dismay from even a half apprehension of its tremendous challenges to the established habits and institutions of mankind. For the doctrine of the Kingdom of Heaven, as Jesus seems to have preached it, was no less than a bol... 1 notes
notesHG Wells goes point by point through Jesus' teachings, illustrating how he challenged tradition, the establishment, and even traditional family values.
17 MAR 2013 by ideonexus
There is No "Up" and "Down"
This flat conceptioning is manifest right up to the present in such every¬ day expressions as "the wide, wide world" and "the four comers of the Earth." As mentioned before, "up" and "down" are the parallel perpendicu¬ lars impinging upon this flat-out world. Only a flat-out world could have a Heaven to which to ascend and a Hell into which to descend. Both Christ and Mohammed, their followers said, ascended into Heaven from Jerusalem.
Scientifically speaking (which is truthfully speaking...There is only "in" and "out." The Sun does not go "down," but rather the Earth revolves us away from it.
21 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
The Universe is Just Right Intellectually
For myself, I like a universe that, includes much that is unknown and, at the same time, much that is knowable. A universe in which everything is known would be static and dull, as boring as the heaven of some weak-minded theologians. A universe that is unknowable is no fit place for a thinking being. The ideal universe for us is one very much like the universe we inhabit. And I would guess that this is not really much of a coincidence. Not too easy to understand, not to impossible to understand.
07 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
Unweave a Rainbow
Do not all charms fly
At the mere touch of cold philosophy?
There was an awful rainbow once in heaven:
We know her woof, her texture; she is given
In the dull catalogue of common things.
Philosophy will clip an Angel's wings,
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,
Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine
Unweave a rainbow. 1 notes
notesPoem about how science robs life of wonder.
16 MAY 2012 by ideonexus
The State of Mind of Man in Olden Days
We find it hard to picture to ourselves the state of mind of a man of older days who firmly believed that the Earth was the centre of the Universe, and that all the heavenly bodies revolved around it. He could feel beneath his feet the writhings of the damned amid the flames; very likely he had seen with his own eyes and smelt with his own nostrils the sulphurous fumes of Hell escaping from some fissure in the rocks. Looking upwards, he beheld ... the incorruptible firmament, wherein the star... 1 notes
notesWhere he could detect the fires of hell beneath his feet and see the splendor of heaven in the night sky above.
28 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Encourage a Child to Think Well
Encourage a child to think well, then trust her to do so. Removing religion by no means guarantees kids will think independently and well. Consider religion itself: Kids growing up in a secular home are at the same risk of making uninformed decisions about religion as are those in deeply religious homes. In order to really think for themselves about religion, kids must learn as much as possible about religion as a human cultural expression while being kept free of the sickening idea that they... 1 notes
notesAnd trust them to do so.
31 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Science Demands Reliable Instruments
Men can construct a science with very few instruments, or with very plain instruments; but no one on earth could construct a science with unreliable instruments. A man might work out the whole of mathematics with a handful of pebbles, but not with a handful of clay which was always falling apart into new fragments, and falling together into new combinations. A man might measure heaven and earth with a reed, but not with a growing reed. Folksonomies: measurement
Folksonomies: measurement
1 notes
notesOne can measure with a stick, but not with a growing reed.
30 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Hatred is Hell, Love is Heaven
When our thoughts—which bring actions—are filled with hate against anyone, Negro or white, we are in a living hell. That is as real as hell will ever be.
While hate for our fellow man puts us in a living hell, holding good thoughts for them brings us an opposite state of living, one of happiness, success, peace. We are then in heaven. Folksonomies: humanism
Folksonomies: humanism
1 notes
notesAn important humanist statement on how to think about others and how we can be slaves to our own thoughts. Quote by George Washington Carver.
