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.
Showing posts with label Exploration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exploration. Show all posts
Monday, November 17, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Exploration of Self
My quote today is from T.S. Elliot, a poet during the early 1900's Elliot's best known poems include The Waste Land, The Hollow Man, and Ash Wednesday.
"We must never cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time."
I think one of the biggest failings of evangelicals today is their fear of philosophers and a refusal to study them. Evaluating our beliefs and gleaning truth and wisdom from philosopher does not, as is commonly believed by most evangelicals, weaken our beliefs but strengthen them. By questioning our beliefs and searching for the truth we arrive back at our foundational beliefs and know what we truly believe for the first time.
"We must never cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time."
I think one of the biggest failings of evangelicals today is their fear of philosophers and a refusal to study them. Evaluating our beliefs and gleaning truth and wisdom from philosopher does not, as is commonly believed by most evangelicals, weaken our beliefs but strengthen them. By questioning our beliefs and searching for the truth we arrive back at our foundational beliefs and know what we truly believe for the first time.
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