”Supposing there was no intelligence behind the universe, no creative mind. In that case, nobody designed my brain for the purpose of thinking. It is merely that when the atoms inside my skull happen, for physical or chemical reasons, to arrange themselves in a certain way, this gives me, as a by-product, the sensation I … Continue reading A By-Product?
Category: Good thinking
The Slavery of the Mind
What I mean by the slavery of the mind is that state in which men do not know of the alternative. It is something which clogs the imagination, like a drug or a mesmeric sleep, so that a person cannot possibly think of certain things at all. It is not the state in which he … Continue reading The Slavery of the Mind
A Rational Explanation of the Universe
“Orthodox Christianity doesn’t set out to be merely a code of ethics, or merely a set of suggestions for leading a beautiful life. It purports to be a rational explanation of the universe. All the stuff about faith being opposed to reason is misleading: Christianity is rooted in reason, and the first thing it requires … Continue reading A Rational Explanation of the Universe
Free the Mind
In the midst of prosperity the mind is elated; and in prosperity a man forgets himself. In hardship, he is forced to reflect on himself; even though he be unwilling. – King Alfred
The Thought of a Thinker
The letters he has left behind him, have waked but poor ideas in poor minds; for words, if they seem to mean anything, must always seem to mean something within the scope of the mind hearing them. Words cannot convey the thought of a thinker to a no-thinker; of a largely aspiring and self-discontented soul, … Continue reading The Thought of a Thinker
On Mr. Chesterton’s Destructive Criticism
"WE are in some danger today of underestimating our debt to Mr. Chesterton, and of forgetting the impact which his books made on the minds of young men who were infected by the fallacy of Victorian rationalism. In those distant days many people still cherished the futile hope of reconstructing a positive ethical system on … Continue reading On Mr. Chesterton’s Destructive Criticism
A Plain and Defiant Shape
Let us, then, go upon a long journey and enter on a dreadful search. Let us, at least, dig and seek till we have discovered our own opinions. The dogmas we really hold are far more fantastic, and, perhaps, far more beautiful than we think… Truths turn into dogmas the instant that they are disputed. … Continue reading A Plain and Defiant Shape
A-This-and-That
Hasty deductions from highly abstract conceptions of Art, formed by leaving out all the concrete characters of all the poems and pictures we know, are one of the prime sources of critical error. Is not surprising that "Art" should be amoral, alogical, a-this and a-that, when you have arrived at art by sheer subtraction. -CS … Continue reading A-This-and-That
Self-government for Men
The things we vote on are very seldom the things we see and smell and eat and drink and do. These are more and more controlled by vast and vague central forces, at once autocratic and anonymous. This is the real modern problem, which has nothing to do with utopias; and until it is solved … Continue reading Self-government for Men
On Enjoyment, With GK Chesterton
It is always wiser to consider not so much why thing is not enjoyable, as why we ourselves do not enjoy it. GK Chesterton
Following A Star 