Monday, November 17, 2008

A Placid Island of Ignorance

Today's quote comes from Howard Phillips Lovecraft best known for his Cthuhlu series HP Lovecraft books ask us to consider the world around us a realize that we've barely scratched the surface.

"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."

I agree with Lovecraft that most of us live on a island of ignorance most people are happy to do so and live their entire lives not caring. So while I think this black sea of infinity is temporary I do think that we are the stewards of it and that exploring it will only reveal more of God's nature and I see no harm in that.

I think it's sad indeed that Lovecraft didn't realize that this placid island is only temporary and that beyond it there is an eternity waiting for us that is so much better.

1 comment:

Hope said...

I think it's quite possible to overload the human mind. Frankly, I think all the news that we are subjected to today is exhausting for our minds and makes us more stressed than we ought to be. I'm not sure if ignorance is a good thing, but I think knowledge CAN be overdone.