Where there is no free agency, there can be no morality. Where there is no temptation, there can be little claim to virtue. Where the routine is rigorously proscribed by law, the law, and not the man, must have the credit of the conduct.
Interpretation
Morality and virtue require the ability to make choices; without free will, one cannot truly claim moral character.
This quote emphasizes the importance of free agency in defining morality and virtue. It suggests that true moral actions arise from the ability to make choices, and when individuals are restricted by laws or routines, their moral credit is diminished because they are not exercising personal agency. Prescott argues that without the challenge of temptation and the freedom to choose between good and bad, claims to virtue become hollow.
In practice
In a discussion about ethics, one might quote Prescott to highlight the role of choice in moral decision-making.
There is only one perpetrator of evil on the planet: human unconsciousness. That realization is true forgiveness. With forgiveness, your victim identity dissolves, and your true power emerges--the power of Presence. Instead of blaming the darkness, you bring in the light.
In many ways, astrology, numerology and palmistry are corruptions of the occult because they have attempted to make a practice out of something that is essentially imaginative.
We start out a million years ago in a small community on some grassy plain; we hunt animals, have children, and develop a rich social, sexual, and intellectual life, but we know almost nothing about our surroundings.
Everyone underestimates their own life. Funny thing is, in the end, all our stories...they're the same. In fact, no matter where you go in the world, there is only one important story: of youth, loss and yearning for redemption. So we tell the same story, over and over. Only the details are different.
Be confident small immortals. You are not the only voice that all things utter, nor is there eternal silence in the places where you cannot come.
Serious-minded people have few ideas. People with ideas are never serious.
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