Completely off-focus – but I found this quote on another blog, from Robert Ingersoll’s essay on "Why I Am an Agnostic", & it had a great deal of meaning for me. Too good not to share, in fact.
Let us be true to ourselves — true to the facts we know, and let us, above all things, preserve the veracity of our souls.
If there be gods we cannot help them, but we can assist our fellow-men. We cannot love the inconceivable, but we can love wife and child and friend.
We can be as honest as we are ignorant. If we are, when asked what is beyond the horizon of the known, we must say that we do not know. We can tell the truth, and we can enjoy the blessed freedom that the brave have won. We can destroy the monsters of superstition, the hissing snakes of ignorance and fear. We can drive from our minds the frightful things that tear and wound with beak and fang. We can civilize our fellow-men. We can fill our lives with generous deeds, with loving words, with art and song, and all the ecstasies of love. We can flood our years with sunshine — with the divine climate of kindness, and we can drain to the last drop the golden cup of joy.
You can find Ingersoll’s work at http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/robert_ingersoll/ if you’d like to delve further into his writing. Enjoy!
Dale Campbell says:
very off topic indeed! 🙂
Alison Campbell says:
What’s that saying – variety is the spice of life? I would hate to be 100% predictable!
Dale Campbell says:
Well, variety may not be ‘the’ spice of life, but ‘amen’ to viva la difference… 🙂
I just (perhaps annoyingly) thought it was interesting to see that metaphysical/motivational piece featured on a bio-blog? But hey, you did say it was a bit off topic!
-d-
Alison Campbell says:
Yes, well, while it’s primarily a blog on things biological, like Orac & PZ & many others I reserve the right to comment on whatever I find interesting at the time 🙂