We are here and it is now. Further than that, all human knowledge is moonshine.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of the present moment while questioning the validity of knowledge beyond it.
H. L. Mencken's quote suggests that the only certainty we have is our existence in the present moment, as everything beyond that is uncertain and potentially misleading. It critiques the value we place on accumulated knowledge and posits that true understanding can only be found in the here and now, highlighting a philosophical inquiry into the nature of existence and perception.
In practice
In a meditation workshop, a facilitator might use this quote to encourage participants to focus on their breath and the present moment.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
We offer peace and neighborliness to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Hebrew nation for the common good of all.
I took the other road, all right, but only because it was the easy road for me, the way I wanted to go. If I've encountered some unnecessary resistance that's because most of the traffic is going the other way.
Our desire to conform is greater than our respect for objective facts.
Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together. Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end.
We speak not only to tell other people what we think, but to tell ourselves what we think. Speech is a part of thought.
Either things happen for a reason, or they happen for no reason at all. Either one's life is a thread in a glorious tapestry or humanity is just a hopelessly tangled knot.
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