In the same sense that every thing may be said to be a mystery, so also may it be said that every thing is a miracle, and that no one thing is a greater miracle than another. The elephant, though larger, is not a greater miracle than a mite; nor a mountain a greater miracle [...]
Monthly Archives: September 2006
On the Current Dialog Between World Religions
Monday, September 25, 2006
The whole religious complexion of the modern world is due to the absence from Jerusalem of a lunatic asylum.
Jerusalem is the focal point of three of the greatest religions of the world, and the source of the world’s greatest conflict.
Thomas Paine made no secret of his disdain of organized religion. Of all the striking changes [...]
On Making Sense of the Absurd
Friday, September 22, 2006
“The sublime and ridiculous are often so nearly related that it is difficult to class them separately. One step below the sublime makes the ridiculous and one step above the ridiculous makes the sublime again.”
There is little more that needs to be added.
thomas paine age of reason
On a Nation of Laws
Friday, September 22, 2006
“A Constitution is not the act of a Government, but of a people constituting a Government; and Government without a Constitution is power without a right”
From a prisoner on death row to the President of the United States, all legal authority and protection derives from the Constitution. Tom Paine expressed the idea in Rights [...]
On Facing a Global Problem Together
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
“I call not upon a few, but upon all; not on THIS state or THAT state, but on EVERY state; up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake.”
Al Gore calls for a freeze on carbon emission and [...]
On Writing History Through Docudrama and Finding Reality in Spite of It
Monday, September 18, 2006
And however our eyes may be dazzled by show, or our ears deceived by sound; however prejudice may warp our wills, or interest darken our understanding, the simple voice of nature and of reason will say, it is right.
It knows no particular political persuasion; from Oliver Stone’s JFK to the 9/11 docudrama aired last week. [...]
The Chicken or the Egg and the Right for Governments to Exist
Saturday, September 16, 2006
“It has been thought a considerable advance towards establishing the principals of Freedom to say that Government is a compact between those who govern and those who are governed; but this cannot be true, because it is putting the effect before the cause; for as man must have existed before Governments existed, there necessarily was [...]
The Golden Rule
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
“The duty of man is not a wilderness of turnpike gates, through which he must pass by tickets from on to the other. It is plain and simple, and consists but of two points. His duty to God, which every man must feel; and with respect to his neighbour, to do as he would be [...]
On the Five Year Anniversary of the Terrorist Attacks in New York and Washington
Monday, September 11, 2006
“These are the times that try men’s souls”
On this anniversay of 9/11, the words from Thomas Paine’s The Crisis are especially appropriate.
In the face of such hatred and determination, it is difficult to know how best to repsond, even five years later. It is an open dialog we should continually have, but one that has [...]
On Entropy
Thursday, September 7, 2006
“the more simple anything is, the less liable it is to be disordered, and the easier disordered repaired when disordered”
A simple truth from Thomas Paine’s Common Sense?
With ever increasing complexity in the modern world, we tend to forget the inescapable law of entropy. The more complex we make our world, the more disordered it will [...]