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).
To kill time is not murder, it's suicide.
The future of India lies in its villages
Fundamentalism as it is called is not confined to the Muslim world. It is something that we have seen in different parts of the world. Let us hope that a dialogue between the followers of the three great monotheistic religions could help in putting an end to this.
Coffee is a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to your older self.
Our grandfathers were less well-housed, well-fed, well-clothed than we are. The strivings by which they bettered their lot are also those which deprived us of [Passenger] pigeons. Perhaps we now grieve because we are not sure, in our hearts, that we have gained by the exchange. The gadgets of industry bring us more comforts than the pigeons did, but do they add as much to the glory of the spring?
There is no perfect virtue-none that bears fruit- unless it is exercised by means of our neighbor.
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