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An Inuit hunter asked the local missionary priest: If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell? No, said the priest, not if you did not know. Then why, asked the Inuit earnestly, did you tell me?
Annie Dillard
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote questions the moral implications of knowledge and responsibility.

This quote highlights a deep philosophical inquiry about the nature of sin and morality in relation to knowledge. The Inuit hunter's question implies that knowledge can lead to a burden of responsibility and that the act of imparting knowledge about God and sin may inadvertently affect one's moral standing. It challenges the notion of whether ignorance can indeed be a form of bliss, and what it means to know something that could condemn one to hell.

Themes

KnowledgeSinMoralityResponsibilityFaith

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion about ethics and the implications of belief systems among friends.

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To crank myself up I stood on a jack and ran myself up. I tightened myself like a bolt. I inserted myself in a vise-clamp and wound the handle till the pressure built. I drank coffee in titrated doses. It was a tricky business, requiring the finely tuned judgment of a skilled anesthesiologist. There was a tiny range within which coffee was effective, short of which it was useless, and beyond which, fatal.
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