There's the constant concern with what happens to you when you die. Every society thinks about that and makes things to deal with that.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on how societies universally contemplate death and create ways to address the fear and uncertainty surrounding it.
Neil Macgregor's quote emphasizes the universal human concern regarding death and the afterlife. It suggests that all societies, throughout history, have grappled with the implications of mortality, leading them to develop rituals, beliefs, and practices designed to manage the fear and mystery associated with dying. This concern not only reflects our mortality but also speaks to the cultural significance of how we honor and remember the dead.
In practice
During a memorial service, one might quote this to acknowledge the shared human experience of dealing with death.
Google the name Prometheus, and see how often it has been given to innovations in many different fields, notably science, medicine and space exploration. The fire he stole can be seen, too, as the spark generating all artistic creativity.
In the world of the Middle East at the moment, the debates are shrill. But ... the wisest voice of all of them may well be the voice of this mute thing, the Cyrus cylinder.
The deciphering of ancient scripts changed forever the way Europeans were able to imagine the story of humanity, destroying centuries of received authority about the past with repercussions as important for our understanding of time and history as the geological studies of the same period.
The distinction between a gallery and a museum is enormous. The gallery is about looking at a thing of beauty; the purpose of the activity is an aesthetic response. The museum is actually about the object that lets you get into somebody else's life.
A peace that was truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war.
Let us work without desire for name or fame or rule over others. Let us be free from the triple bonds of lust, greed of gain, and anger. And this truth is with us!
If a man or woman is born ten years sooner or later, their whole aspect and performance shall be different.
Until a few months ago we had a code of honor, and even the worst ruffians behaved with decency. You could leave your gold in a tent with no guard and no one would touch it, but now all that has changed. The law of the jungle rules, the only ideology is greed. Don't let yourself be parted from your weapons, and always travel in pairs or groups, because this is a land of thieves.
God the Father, the supreme Architect, had already built this cosmic home we behold, the most sacred temple of His godhead, by the laws of His mysterious wisdom.
The most thought-provoking thing in our thought-provoking time is that we are still not thinking.
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