My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone, but agnosticism about everything.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
...when dogma enters the brain, all intellectual activity ceases.
Interpretation
The quote warns against the dangers of rigid beliefs that stifle critical thinking.
Robert Anton Wilson's quote emphasizes that when one becomes entrenched in dogmatic beliefs, the ability to think critically or engage in intellectual discourse is severely diminished. It serves as a cautionary reminder to be open-minded and critical of oneβs beliefs, as dogma can inhibit exploration and understanding, leading to stagnation in thought and intellectual growth.
In practice
This quote can be used during a debate to highlight the importance of questioning beliefs.
My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone, but agnosticism about everything.
There is no governor anywhere. You are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped. If anybody could go into dhyana at will, nobody could be controlled - by fear of prison, by fear of whips or electroshock, by fear of death, even. All existing society is based on keeping those fears alive, to control the masses. Ten people who know would be more dangerous than a million armed anarchists.
I see anarchism as the theoretical ideal to which we are all gradually evolving to a point where everybody can tell the truth to everybody else and nobody can get punished for it. That can only happen without hierarchy and without people having the authority to punish other people.
To work for libertarianism - to oppose the growth of government and aid the liberation of the individual - used to be an idealistic choice taken for purely idealistic reasons. Now it is an act of intelligent and almost desperate self-defense.
The abandoned infant's cry is rage, not fear.
The only way to stave off boredom, in a complex domesticated primate like humankind, is to increase one's intelligence. This is not appealing to the average primate, who instead invents emotional games (soap opera and grand opera dramatics).
A great fortune is a great slavery.
The future of religion is connected with the possibility of developing a faith in the possibilities of human experience and human relationships that will create a vital sense of the solidarity of human interests and inspire action to make that sense a reality.
Perspective [is] a luxury when your head [is] constantly buzzing with a swarm of demons.
Action without a name, a who attached to it, is meaningless.
He look'd in years, yet in his years were seen A youthful vigor, and autumnal green.
It is remarkable, that persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most perfect quietude to the external regulations of society. The thoughts alone suffice them, without investing itself in the flesh and blood of action.
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