To you I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition

To you I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the Loyal Opposition.
(Για εσένα είμαι ένας άθεος· για τον Θεό, είμαι η αξιωματική αντιπολίτευση.)
Woody Allen

Those who make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities

Those who make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
(Si nous croyons les absurdités, nous allons commettre des atrocités)
Voltaire

The highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Discovers that the source is within him

A man who as a physical being is always turned toward the outside, thinking that his happiness lies outside him, finally turns inward and discovers that the source is within him.
Soren Kierkegaard

All great, all beautiful things can never be common property: pulchrum est paucorum hominum

The entire system of higher education in Germany has lost what matters most: the end as well as the means to the end. That education, that Bildting, is itself an end-and not "the Reich"-and that educators are needed to that end, and not secondary- school teachers and university scholars-that has been forgotten. Educators are needed who have themselves been educated, superior, noble spirits, proved at every moment, proved by words and silence, representing culture that has grown ripe and sweet-not the learned louts whom secondaryschools and universities today offer our youth as "higher wet nurses". Educators are lacking, not counting the most exceptional of exceptions, the very first condition of education: hence the decline of German culture.

What the "higher schools" in Germany really achieve is a brutal training, designed to prepare huge numbers of young men, with as little loss of time as possible, to become usable, abusable, in government service. "Higher Education" and huge numbers-that is a contradiction to start with. All higher education belongs only to the exception: one must be privileged to have a right to so high a privilege. All great, all beautiful things can never be common property: pulchrum est paucorum hominum. What conditions the decline of German culture? That "higher education" is no longer a privilege-the the democratism of Bildung, which has become "common"-too common. Let it not be forgotten that military privileges really compel an all-too-great attendance in the higher schools, and thus their downfall.

In present day Germany no one is any longer free to give his children a noble education: our "higher schools" are all set up for the most ambiguous mediocrity, with their teachers, curricula, and teaching aims. And everywhere an$ indecent haste prevails, as if something would be lost if the young man of twenty-three were not yet "finished", or if he did not yet know the answer to the "main question": which calling? . . . Our overcrowded secondary schools, our overworked, stupified second ary-school teachers, are a scandal: for one to defend such conditions, as the professors at Heidelberg did recently, there may be perhaps causesreasons there are none.

... If one wants an end, one must also want the means: if one wants slaves, then one is a fool if one educates them to be masters.
Nietzsche's Theory of Education, VII. Theory of Opportunity
http://www.newfoundations.com/GALLERY/Nietzsche.html

An atheist’s call to arms

[Transcript]

That splendid music, the coming in music- the elephant march from Aida- is the music I've chosen for my funeral. And- you can see why. It's triumphal. I am- I will, I won't feel anything. but If I could, I would feel triumphal at having lived at all, and at having lived on this splendid planet, and having been given the opportunity to understand something about why I was here in the first place, before not being here.

Can you understand my quaint English accent?

Like everybody else, I was entranced yesterday by the animal session. Robert Full and Frans Lanting, and others- the beauty of the things that they showed. The only slight jarring note was when Jeffrey Katzenberg said of the mustang "the most splendid creatures that God put on this earth." Now of course we know he didn't really mean that- but in this country at the moment you can't be too careful.

I'm a biologist, and the central theorem of our subject- the theory of design- Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection- in professional circles everywhere, it's of course, universally accepted. In non-professional circles outside America, it's largely ignored. But in non-professional circles within America,

(slide, from anti-evolution website: "Handy Dandy evolution Refuter")

it arouses so much hostility that it's fair to say that American biologists are in a state of war.

The war is so worrying at present, with court cases coming up in one state after another, that I felt I had to say something about it. If you want to know what I have to say about Darwinism itself, I'm afraid you're going to have to look at my books, which you won't find in the bookstore outside. (laughter)

Contemporary court cases often concern an allegedly new version of creationism, called intelligent design, or ID. Don't be fooled. There's nothing new about ID. It's just creationism under another name. Re-christened- I choose the word advisedly (laughter)- for tactical political reasons. The arguments of so-called ID theorists are the same old arguments that have been refuted again and again since Darwin down to the present day.

There is an effective evolution lobby coordinating the fight on behalf of science, and I try to do what I can to help them, but they get quite upset when people like me dare to mention that we happen to be atheists, as well as evolutionists. They see us as rocking the boat. You can understand why.

Creationists, lacking any coherent scientific argument for their case, fall back on the popular phobia against atheism. Teach your children evolution in biology class, and they'll soon move on to drugs, grand larceny, and sexual 'preversion' (sic).

(slide: website for National Center for Science Education)

(slide: book cover, Kenneth R. Miller's Finding Darwin's God, caption: "Educated Christians are Evolutionists too")

In fact, of course, educated theologians from the Pope down are firm in their support of evolution. This book, Finding Darwin's God, by Kenneth Miller, is one of the most effective attacks on intelligent design that I know, and it's all the more effective because it's written by a devout Christian. People like Kenneth Miller could be called a 'godsend' to the evolution lobby (laughter)- because they expose the lie that evolutionism is, as a matter of fact, tantamount to atheism. People like me, on the other hand, rock the boat.

But here I want to say something nice about creationists. It's not a thing I often do, so listen carefully. (laughter) I think they're right about one thing- I think they're right that evolution is fundamentally hostile to religion. I've already said that many individual evolutionists, like the Pope, are also religious, but I think they're deluding themselves. I believe a true understanding of Darwinism is deeply corrosive to religious faith.

Now it may sound as though I'm about to preach atheism, and I want to reassure you that that's not what I'm going to do. In an audience as sophisticated as that- as this one- that would be preaching to the choir. No, what I want to urge upon you- (laughter)- Instead, what I want to urge upon you, is militant atheism. (loud laughter & applause)

But that's putting it too negatively. If I wanted to- If I was a person who was interested in preserving religious faith, I would be very afraid of the positive power of evolutionary science, and indeed science generally, but evolution in particular, to inspire and enthrall precisely because it is atheistic.

Now, the difficult problem for any theory of biological design is to explain the massive statistical improbability of living things. Statistical improbability in the direction of good design. Complexity is another word for this. The standard creationist argument- there is only one, they all reduce to this one- takes off from statistical improbability. Living creatures are too complex to have come about by chance, therefore they must have had a designer.

This argument, of course, shoots itself in the foot- any designer capable of designing something really complex has to be even more complex Himself. And that's before we even start on the other things He's expected to do, like forgive sins, bless marriages, listen to prayers, favor our side in a war, disapprove of our sex lives, and so on. Complexity is the problem that any theory of biology has to solve. And you can't solve it by postulating an agent that is even more complex thereby simply compounding the problem.

Darwinian natural selection is so stunningly elegant because it solves the problem of explaining complexity in terms of nothing but simplicity. Essentially it does it by providing a smooth ramp of gradual step by step increment. But here I only want to make the point that the elegance of Darwinism is corrosive to religion precisely because it is so elegant. So parsimonious. So powerful. So economically powerful. It has the sinewy economy of a beautiful suspension bridge. The "God theory" is not just a bad theory, it turns out to be in principle incapable of doing the job required of it.

So returning to tactics and the evolution lobby, I want to argue that "rocking the boat" may be just the right thing to do. My approach to attacking creationism is- unlike the evolution lobby- my approach to attacking creationism is to attack religion as a whole. And at this point I need to acknowledge the remarkable taboo against speaking ill of religion. And I'm going to do so, in the words of the late Douglas Adams, a dear friend who, if he never came to TED, certainly should have been invited.
(voice offstage: "He was.")
He was- good. I thought he must have been.

He begins this speech, which was tape recorded in Cambridge shortly before he died- he begins by explaining how science works, through the testing of hypotheses that are framed to be vulnerable to disproof. And then he goes on. I quote-

"Religion doesn't seem to work like that. It has certain ideas at the heart of it which we call sacred or holy. What it means is- here is an idea or emotion that you are not allowed to say anything bad about. You're just not. Why not? Because you're not." (laughter) Why should it be that it's perfectly legitimate to support the Republicans or Democrats, this model of economics versus that, Macintosh instead of Windows, but to have an opinion about how the universe began, about who created the universe- no, that's holy. So we're used to not challenging religious ideas. And it's very interesting how much of a furore Richard creates when he does it." He meant me, not that one. "Everybody gets absolutely frantic about it. Because you're not allowed to say these things. Yet when you look at it rationally, there is no reason why those ideas shouldn't be as open to debate as any other. Except that we've agreed somehow between us that they shouldn't be."

That's the end of the quote from Douglas.

In my view, not only is science corrosive to religion, religion is corrosive to science. It teaches people to be satisfied with trivial, supernatural, non-explanations, and blinds them to the wonderful real explanations that we have within our grasp. It teaches them to accept authority, revelation, and faith, instead of always insisting on evidence.

(photo of Douglas Adams)

There's Douglas Adams, magnificent picture from his book Last Chance to See.

(photo, cover shot of The Quarterly Review of Biology)

Now there's a typical scientific journal, The Quarterly Review of Biology, and I'm going to put together as guest editor a special issue on the question "Did an Asteroid Kill the Dinosaurs?" And the first paper is a standard scientific paper presenting evidence (reading list of paper descriptions from a fake "Contents" page): "Iridium layer at K/T boundary and potassium argon dated crater in Yucatan indicate that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs." Perfectly ordinary scientific paper. Now the next one: "The president of the royal society has been vouchsafed a strong inner conviction that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs." (laughter) "It has been privately revealed to professor Huckstain (sp?) that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs." (laughter) "Professor Haldley was brought up to have total and unquestioning faith that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs." (laughter) "Professor Hawkins has promulgated an official dogma, binding on all loyal Hawkinsians, that an asteroid killed the dinosaurs." (laughter)

That's inconceivable, of course. But suppose-

(photo of George Bush Sr., w/ caption "Supporters of the Asteroid Theory cannot be patriotic citizens")

(laughter & applause)

In 1987, a reporter asked George Bush, Sr. whether he recognized the equal citizenship and patriotism of Americans who were atheists. Mr. Bush's reply has become infamous- "No, I don't know that atheists should be considered citizens. Nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation, under God."

Bush's bigotry was not an isolated mistake, blurted out in the heat of the moment, and later retracted. He stood by it in the face of repeated calls for clarification or withdrawal. He really meant it. More to the point, he knew it posed no threat to his election. Quite the contrary. Democrats, as well as Republicans, parade their religiousness if they want to get elected. Both parties invoke "One Nation, Under God." What would Thomas Jefferson have said?

(photo of engraving of Jefferson, caption: "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty"-Thomas Jefferson)

Incidentally, I'm not usually very proud of being British-

(photo: backs of English pound and US dollar, Darwin's picture highlighted on the pound, "In God We Trust" highlighted on the dollar)

-but you can't help making the comparison.

(laughter and applause)

In practice, what is an atheist? An atheist is just somebody who feels about Yahweh the way any decent Christian feels about Thor, or Baal, or the golden calf. As has been said before, we are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one God further.

(laughter and applause, cheers)

And however we define atheism, it's surely the kind of academic belief that a person is entitled to hold without being vilified as an unpatriotic, unelectable non-citizen. Nevertheless, it's an undeniable fact that to own up to being an atheist is tantamount to introducing yourself as "Mr. Hitler" or "Miss Beelzebub." And that all stems from the perception of atheists as some kind of weird, way-out minority. Natalie Angier wrote a rather sad piece in the New Yorker, saying how lonely she felt as an atheist. She clearly feels in a beleaguered minority.

But actually, how do American atheists stack up numerically? The latest survey makes surprisingly encouraging reading. Christianity, of course, takes a massive lion's share of the population, with nearly 160 million. But what would you think was the second largest group? Convincingly outnumbering Jews, with 2.8 million, Muslims with 1.1 million, Hindus, Buddhists and all other religions put together? The second largest group, with nearly 30 million, is the one described as 'non-religious' or 'secular'.

(pie chart showing statistical breakdown of religions circa 2001)

You can't help wondering why vote-seeking politicians are so proverbially over-awed by the power of, for example, the Jewish lobby- the state of Israel seems to owe its very existence to the American Jewish vote- while at the same time, consigning the 'non-religious' to political oblivion. This secular non-religious vote, if properly mobilized, is 9 times as numerous as the Jewish vote. Why does this far more substantial minority not make a move to exercise its political muscle?

Well, so much for quantity. How about quality? Is there any correlation, positive or negative, between intelligence and tendency to be religious?

(series of photos of George W. Bush, one with balloon saying "Them folks misunderestimated me", caption "Is religion correlated with IQ?")

(laughter)

The survey that I quoted, which is the Eris (sp?) survey, didn't break down its data by socioeconomic class, or education, or IQ, or anything else. But a recent article by Paul G. Bell in the MENSA magazine provides some straws in the wind. MENSA as you know is an international organization for people with very high IQ. And from a meta-analysis of the literature, Bell concludes that, I quote,

(chart: "Is Religion Correlated with Educational Ability?")

"of 43 studies carried out since 1927, on the relationship between religious belief and one's intelligence or educational level, all but four found an inverse connection."

That is, the higher one's intelligence or educational level, the less one is likely to be religious. Well, I haven't seen the original 42 (sic) studies and I can't comment on that meta-analysis, but I would like to see more studies done along those lines. And I know that there are- if I can put a little plug here- there are people in this audience easily capable of financing a massive research survey to settle the question. And I put the suggestion out for what it's worth.

But let me now show you some data that have been properly published and analyzed on one special group, namely top scientists. In 1998, Larson and Witham polled the cream of American scientists, those who'd been honored by election to the National Academy of the Sciences, and among this select group, belief in a personal god -

(chart: NAS religious breakdown, caption: EJ Larson & L Witham (1998) Leading scientists still reject God, Nature 394, 313)

-dropped to a shattering 7 percent. About 20% are agnostic, and the rest could fairly be called atheists. Similar figures obtain for belief in personal immortality. Among biological scientists the figure's even lower, 5.5% only believe in God. Physical scientists it's 7.5%. I've not seen corresponding figures for elite scholars in other fields, such as history or philosophy, but I'd be surprised if they were different.

So we've reached a truly remarkable situation. A grotesque mismatch between the American intelligentsia, and the American electorate. A philosophical opinion about the nature of the universe, which is held by the vast majority of top American scientists, and probably the majority of the intelligentsia generally, is so abhorrent to the American electorate that no candidate for popular election dare affirm it in public. If I'm right, this means that high office in the greatest country in the world is barred to the very people best qualified to hold it. The intelligentsia. Unless they are prepared to lie about their beliefs. To put it bluntly, American political opportunities are heavily loaded against those who are simultaneously intelligent and honest. (applause)

I'm not a citizen of this country, so I hope it won't be thought unbecoming, if i suggest that something needs to be done. (laughter) I've already hinted what that something is. From what I've seen at TED, this may be the ideal place to launch it. Again, I fear it will cost money.

We need a consciousness raising coming out campaign for American atheists. This could be similar to the campaign organized by homosexuals a few years ago, although heaven forbid that we should stoop to public outing of people against their will. In most cases, people who out themselves will help to destroy the myth that there is something wrong with atheists. On the contrary, they'll demonstrate that atheists are often the kinds of people who could serve as decent role models for your children. The kinds of people an advertising agent could use to recommend a product. The kinds of people who are sitting in this room.

There should be a snowball effect, a positive feedback such that the more names that we have, the more we get. there could be non-linearities, threshold effects, when a critical mass is obtained, there's an abrupt acceleration in recruitment. And again, it'll need money.

I suspect that the word atheist itself contains- or remains- a stumbling block, far out of proportion to what it actually means. And a stumbling block to people who otherwise might be willing to out themselves. So what other words might be used to smooth the path? Oil the wheels? Sugar the pill?

Darwin himself preferred 'agnostic', and not only out of loyalty to his friend Huxley, who coined the term.

(slide: caricature of T.H. Huxley (1825-1895), agnostic, caption "I took thought...")

Darwin said, "I have never been an atheist, in the same sense of denying the existence of a god. I think that generally an agnostic would be the most correct description of my state of mind." He even became uncharacteristically touchy with Edward Aveling. Aveling was a militant atheist who failed to persuade Darwin to accept the dedication of his book on atheism.

(photo: Edward Aveling, 1851-1898, caption: "Agnosticism writ aggressive")

-Incidentally giving rise to a fascinating myth that Karl Marx tried to dedicate Das Kapital to Darwin, which he didn't, it was actually Edward Aveling. What happened was Aveling's mistress was Marx's daughter, and when both Darwin and Marx were dead, Marx's papers became muddled up with Aveling's papers, and a letter from Darwin saying "My dear sir, thank you very much but I don't want you to dedicate your book to me" was mistakenly supposed to be addressed to Marx. And that gave rise to this whole myth which you've probably heard- it's sort of urban myth, that Marx tried to dedicate Das Kapital to Darwin.

Anyway, it was Aveling, and when they met, Darwin challenged Aveling- "Why do you call yourselves atheists?" "'Agnostic'," retorted Aveling, "was simply 'atheist' writ respectable, and 'atheist' was simply 'agnostic' writ aggressive." Darwin complained, "but why should you be so aggressive?" Darwin thought that atheism might be well and good for the intelligentsia, but ordinary people were not, quote, "ripe" for it. Which is, of course, our old friend the 'don't rock the boat' argument. It's not recorded whether Aveling told Darwin to come down off his high horse. But in any case, that was more than 100 years ago. You think we might have grown up since then.

Now, a friend, an intelligent lapsed Jew, who incidentally observes the Sabbath for reasons of cultural solidarity,

(slide: drawing of teapot orbiting Mars, with ringed planet in background, caption: "You cannot disprove God. So atheism is exactly as irrational as theism.")

-describes himself as a "tooth fairy agnostic." He won't call himself an atheist because it's in principle impossible to prove a negative. But 'agnostic' on its own might suggest that God's existence was therefore on equal terms of likelihood as His non-existence. So my friend is strictly agnostic about the tooth fairy, but it isn't very likely, is it? Like God. Hence the phrase, "tooth fairy agnostic."

Bertram Russell made the same point using a hypothetical teapot (cut back to drawing above) in orbit about Mars. You strictly have to be agnostic about whether there is a teapot in orbit about Mars, but that doesn't mean you treat the likelihood of its existence as on all fours with its non-existence.

The list of things which we strictly have to be agnostic about doesn't stop at tooth fairies and teapots, it's infinite. If you want to believe one particular one of them, unicorns, or tooth fairies, or teapots, or Yahweh, the onus is on you to say why. The onus is not on the rest of us to say why not. We who are atheists are also "a-fairy-ists," and "a-teapot-ists." (laughter) But we don't bother to say so. And this is why my friend uses "tooth fairy agnostic" as a label for what most people would call atheist.

Nonetheless, if we want to attract deep-down atheists to come out, publicly, we're going to have to find something better to stick on our banner than "tooth fairy" or "teapot agnostic." So how about humanist? This has the advantage of a worldwide network of well organized associations and journals and things already in place, my problem with it is only its apparent anthropocentrism. One of the things we've learned from Darwin is that the human species is only one among millions of cousins, some close, some distant. And there are other possibilities like "naturalist", but that also has problems of confusion because Darwin would have thought "naturalist" - "naturalist" means of course as opposed to "supernaturalist" and it is used sometimes- Darwin would have been confused by the other sense of "naturalist", which he was, of course, and- I suppose- there might be others that would confuse it with "nudism". Such people might be those belonging to the British lynch mob which last year attacked a pediatrician in mistake for a pedophile. (laughter)

I think the best of the available alternatives for "atheist" is simply "non-theist." It lacks the strong connotation that there's definitely no god, and it could therefore easily be embraced by "teapot" or "tooth fairy agnostics." It's completely compatible with the God of the physicists, the- when people like- when atheists like Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein use the word "god" they use it of course as a metaphorical shorthand for that deep mysterious part of physics which we don't yet understand. Non-theist will do for all that, yet unlike "atheist" it doesn't have the same phobic, hysterical responses.

But I think actually the alternative is to grasp the nettle, of the word "atheism" itself, precisely because it is a taboo word, carrying frissons of hysterical phobia. Critical mass may be harder to achieve with the word "atheist" than with the word "non-theist," or some other non-confrontational word, but if we did achieve it, with that dread word "atheist" itself, the political impact would be even greater.

Now I said that if I were religious, I'd be very afraid of evolution, I'd go further- I would fear science in general if properly understood. And this is because the scientific world view is so much more exciting, more poetic, more filled with sheer wonder than anything in the poverty stricken arsenals of the religious imagination.

As Carl Sagan, another recently dead hero, put it:

(photo: Carl Sagan, 1934-1996, with quote below):

"How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, 'This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant?" Instead they say, 'No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way." A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths."

Now, this is an elite audience, and i would therefore expect about 10% of you to be religious. Many of you probably subscribe to our polite cultural belief that we should respect religion. But I also suspect that a fair number of those secretly despise religion as much as I do. If you're one of them- and of course many of you may not be- but if you are one of them, I'm asking you to stop being polite- come out and say so. And if you happen to be rich, give some thought to ways in which you might make a difference. The religious lobby in this country is massively financed by foundations- say nothing of the tax benefits- by foundations such as the Templeton Foundation, and the Discovery Institute. We need an anti-Templeton to step forward. If my books sold as well as Stephen Hawking's books, instead of only as well as Richard Dawkins' books, I'd do it myself.

People are always going on about "How did September the 11th change you?" Well, here's how it changed me: Let's all stop being so damned respectful. Thank you very much.

Keep that in mind, and love

Nothing lasts forever
No one lives forever
Keep that in mind, and love

Our life is not the same old burden
Our path is not the same long journey
The flower fades and dies
We must pause to weave perfection into music
Keep that in mind, and love

My beloved, in you I find refuge

Love droops towards its sunset
To be drowned in the golden shadows
Love must be called from its play
And love must be born again to be free
Keep that in mind, and love

My beloved, in you I find refuge
Without seeing my love, I cannot sleep

Let us hurry to gather our flowers
Before they are plundered by the passing winds
It quickens our blood and brightens our eyes
To snatch kisses that would vanish
If we delayed

Our life is eager
Our desires are keen
For time rolls by
Keep that in mind, and love

My beloved, in you I find refuge

Beauty is sweet for a short time
And then it is gone
Knowledge is precious
But we will never have time to complete it
All is done and finished
In eternal heaven
But our life here is eternally fresh
Keep that in mind, and love

(Rabindranath Tagore, 1861-1941)

While the author's wildly swerving train of thought did at one point flirt with coherence

While the author's wildly swerving train of thought did at one point flirt with coherence, this brief encounter was more likely a chance event than a result of even rudimentary lucidity.
Uknown

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
Douglas Adams

Όσο πιο ψηλά πετάει ο αετός, τόσο πιο πολλά βέλη τον σημαδεύουν

Όσο πιο ψηλά πετάει ο αετός, τόσο πιο πολλά βέλη τον σημαδεύουν.

I wish I loved the Human Race

Wishes of an Elderly Man

I wish I loved the Human Race;
I wish I loved its silly face;
I wish I liked the way it walks;
I wish I liked the way it talks;
And when I'm introduced to one
I wish I thought What Jolly Fun!
Sir Walter Raleigh (Greek translation)

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Saint Francis of Assisi

Grasping at things can only yield one of two results

Grasping at things can only yield one of two results:
Either the thing you are grasping at disappears, or you yourself disappear.
It is only a matter of which occurs first.
Goenka

Perhaps it does not matter so very much what it is one loves in this world

Perhaps it does not matter so very much what it is one loves in this world. But love something one must.
Katherine Mansfield

The pleasure of reading is doubled when one lives with another who shares the same books

The pleasure of reading is doubled when one lives with another who shares the same books.
Katherine Mansfield

Λένα Πλάτωνος, Σαβίνα Γιαννάτου, Χαμόγελο (Καρυωτάκης)

Απόψε είναι σαν όνειρο το δείλι·
απόψε η λαγκαδιά στα μάγια μένει.
Δεν βρέχει πια. Κι η κόρη αποσταμένη
στο μουσκεμένο ξάπλωσε τριφύλλι.

Σα δυο κεράσια χώρισαν τα χείλη·
κι έτσι βαθιά, γιομάτα ως ανασαίνει,
στο στήθος της ανεβοκατεβαίνει
το πλέον αδρό τριαντάφυλλο τ' Απρίλη

Ξεφεύγουνε απ' το σύννεφον αχτίδες
και κρύβονται στα μάτια της· τη βρέχει
μια λεμονιά με δυο δροσοσταλίδες

που στάθηκαν στο μάγουλο διαμάντια
και που θαρρείς το δάκρυ της πως τρέχει
καθώς χαμογελάει στον ήλιο αγνάντια.

Show interest in her goodness — for no one can be good for long if goodness is not in demand

Show interest in her goodness — for no one can be good for long if goodness is not in demand.
Bertolt Brecht

If you let a bully come in your front yard, he'll be on your porch the next day and the day after that he'll rape your wife in your own bed

If you let a bully come in your front yard, he'll be on your porch the next day and the day after that he'll rape your wife in your own bed.
Fay Weldon

Never mistake knowledge for wisdom

Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life.
Sandra Carey

Birth, and copulation, and death

Birth, and copulation, and death. That's all the facts when you come to brass tacks.
T. S. Eliot, Sweeney Agonistes

Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires, William Blake

Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires.
William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

Greek love poems

Greek love poems written and/or translated into English by Spiros Doikas:

Manos Hatzidakis, Manoula mou (singer: Liougos)

Στίχοι: Ιάκωβος Καμπανέλλης
Μουσική: Μάνος Χατζιδάκις
Πρώτη εκτέλεση: Λάκης Παππάς
Άλλες ερμηνείες: Χαρούλα Αλεξίου

Αχ, τι ντροπή, τέτοια ντροπή
μάνα μου και πως βγαίνει
ούτε κι αν τρέξει ο ποταμός
μάνα μου δε την πλένει

Τι να μου κάνουν δάκρυα δυο
και στεναγμοί σαρανταδυό, μανούλα μου
τι κι αν το δάκρυ μου νωπό
βουβό το στόμα και πικρό, μανούλα μου

Και ψάχνω κάποιον για να βρω
και με ρωτάει και τον ρωτώ τι θα γενεί
ποιος θα πονεί, ποιος θα πονεί
μανούλα μου, μανούλα μου

Feist, Mushaboom (lyrics and video clip

Helping the kids out of their coats
But wait the babies haven't been born oh
Unpacking the bags and setting up
And planting lilacs and buttercups oh

But in the meantime we've got it hard
Second floor living without a yard
It may be years until the day
My dreams will match up with my pay

Old dirt road,
(mushaboom, mushaboom)
knee deep snow
(mushaboom, mushaboom)
Watching the fire as we grow
(mushaboom, mushaboom)
o-o-o-o-old

I got a man to stick it out
And make a home from a rented house oh
And we'll collect the moments one by one
I guess that's how the future's done oh

How many acres, how much light
Tucked in the woods and out of sight
Talk to the neighbours and tip my cap
On a little road barely on the map

Old dirt road,
mushaboom, mushaboom)
knee deep snow
mushaboom, mushaboom)
Watching the fire as we grow,
mushaboom, mushaboom)
o-o-o-o-old
(mushaboom, mushaboom)
Old dirt road rambling rose
(mushaboom, mushaboom)
Watching the fire as we grow
(mushaboom, mushaboom)
Well I'm Sold...

Pulchrum est paucorum hominum

Pulchrum est paucorum hominum.
(Beauty is for the few)

Horace

Sunt verba voces quibus hunc lenire dolorem

Note Horace saying:

Sunt verba voces quibus hunc lenire dolorem
Possis, Magnam morbi deponere partem

(Words will avail the wretched mind to ease
and much abate the dismal black disease.)

Similarly, Keats in Endymion speaks for beauty:

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits.

Thats make me think that Horace was a romantic at heart.

Adriano Celentano, 24000 baci (lyrics and video clip)

Ah... ma mi...
Ti voglio bene

Con 24 (venti quatro) mila baci
oggi saprei perche' l'amore
vuole ogni tanto mille baci
mille carezze all'ora all'ora
Con 24 mila baci
felici corrono le ore
un giorno splendido perche'
ogni secondo bacio te

Niente bugie meravigliose
frasi d'amore appassionate
ma solo baci che do a te.. ie..
ie.. ie.. ie.. ie.. ie.. ie
Con 24 mila baci
cosi' frenetico e' l'amore
in questo giorno di follia
ogni minuto e' tutto mio

Niente bugie meravigliose
frasi d'amore appassionate
ma solo baci che do a te.. ie..
ie.. ie.. ie.. ie.. ie.. ie
Con 24 mila baci
cosi' frenetico e' l'amore
in questo giorno di follia
ogni minuto e' tutto mio
Con 24 mila baci
felici corrono le ore
un giorno splendido perche'
Con 24 mila baci
tu mi hai portato alla follia
Con 24 mila baci
ogni secondo e' tutto mio
Con 24 mila baci
ogni secondo bacio te...

King Crimson, In the court of the crimson king (lyrics and video clip)

The dance of the puppets
The rusted chains of prison moons
Are shattered by the sun.
I walk a road, horizons change
The tournaments begun.
The purple piper plays his tune,
The choir softly sing;
Three lullabies in an ancient tongue,
For the court of the crimson king.

The keeper of the city keys
Put shutters on the dreams.
I wait outside the pilgrims door
With insufficient schemes.
The black queen chants
The funeral march,
The cracked brass bells will ring;
To summon back the fire witch
To the court of the crimson king.

The gardener plants an evergreen
Whilst trampling on a flower.
I chase the wind of a prism ship
To taste the sweet and sour.
The pattern juggler lifts his hand;
The orchestra begin.
As slowly turns the grinding wheel
In the court of the crimson king.

On soft gray mornings widows cry
The wise men share a joke;
I run to grasp divining signs
To satisfy the hoax.
The yellow jester does not play
But gentle pulls the strings
And smiles as the puppets dance
In the court of the crimson king.


King Crimson are a musical group founded by guitarist Robert Fripp and drummer Michael Giles in 1969. They have typically been categorised as progressive rock, although they incorporate diverse influences ranging from jazz, classical and experimental music to psychedelic, New Wave, hard rock, gamelan and folk music. King Crimson have garnered little radio or music video airplay, but gained a large cult following. Their debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, is widely regarded as a landmark in progressive rock. Their later excursions into even more unconventional territory have been influential on many contemporary musical artists.

In the late-1960s, the band were influential in popularising a previously unexplored mellotron rock style. Throughout the early-1970s, King Crimson's membership fluctuated as the band explored elements of jazz and funk. The band developed an improvisational sound influenced by hard rock and became a more stable unit in the mid-1970s, before their initial break up in 1974. The band re-formed in 1981 for three years, influenced by new wave and gamelan music, before breaking up again for around a decade. Following their 1994 reunion, King Crimson blended aspects of their 1980s and 1970s sound, which has continued into the 21st century.

King Crimson's membership has fluctuated considerably throughout their existence, with eighteen musicians and two lyricists passing through the ranks as full band members. Robert Fripp, the only constant member of King Crimson, has arranged several disparate line-ups of the band, and he has stated that he does not necessarily consider himself the band's leader. He describes King Crimson as "a way of doing things", and notes that he never originally intended to be seen as the head of the group.

Cardigans, Erase Rewind (Video clip and Lyrics)

Hey, what did you hear me say
you know the difference it makes
what did you hear me say
Yes, I said it's fine before
But I don't think so no more
I said it's fine before
I've changed my mind
I take it back
Erase and rewind
'cause I've been changing my mind
Erase and rewind
'cause I've been changing my mind
I've changed my mind
So where did you see me go
it's not the right way, you know
where did you see me go
No, it's not that I don't know
I just don't want it to grow
It's not that I don't know
I've changed my mind
I take it back
Erase and rewind
'cause I've been changing my mind
Erase and rewind
'cause I've been changing my mind
Erase and rewind
'cause I've been changing my mind
Erase and rewind
'cause I've been changing my mind
Erase and rewind
Erase and rewind
I´ve changed my mind!

Brian Eno, Bone Bomb (Lyrics and video clip)

My
Body
So
Thin
So
Tired
Beaten
For
Years
Ploughshare
To
Bomb
So
Hard

Bone
Bomb
Bone
Bomb
Bone
Bomb

My
Town
So
Dusty
So
Dry
Buildings
Pushed
Over
Lives
Heaped
Together
Young
Girls
Dreaming
Of
Beautiful
Deaths
Popstar
Pictures
Above
Their
Beds
Above
Their
Heads
Troops

Everything
Stolen
Except
My
Bones
Now
I
Am
Only
Bone
I
Waited
For
Peace
And
Here
Is
My
Peace
Here
In
This
Still
Last
Moment
Of
My
Life

Lucio Dalla, L'Anno Che Verrà (caro amico ti scrivo!)

Caro amico ti scrivo così mi distraggo un po'
e siccome sei molto lontano più forte ti scriverò.
Da quando sei partito c'è una grossa novità,
l'anno vecchio è finito ormai
ma qualcosa ancora qui non va.

Si esce poco la sera compreso quando è festa
e c'è chi ha messo dei sacchi di sabbia vicino alla finestra,
e si sta senza parlare per intere settimane,
e a quelli che hanno niente da dire
del tempo ne rimane.

Ma la televisione ha detto che il nuovo anno
porterà una trasformazione
e tutti quanti stiamo già aspettando
sarà tre volte Natale e festa tutto il giorno,
ogni Cristo scenderà dalla croce
anche gli uccelli faranno ritorno.

Ci sarà da mangiare e luce tutto l'anno,
anche i muti potranno parlare
mentre i sordi già lo fanno.

E si farà l'amore ognuno come gli va,
anche i preti potranno sposarsi
ma soltanto a una certa età,
e senza grandi disturbi qualcuno sparirà,
saranno forse i troppo furbi
e i cretini di ogni età.

Vedi caro amico cosa ti scrivo e ti dico
e come sono contento
di essere qui in questo momento,
vedi, vedi, vedi, vedi,
vedi caro amico cosa si deve inventare
per poterci ridere sopra,
per continuare a sperare.

E se quest'anno poi passasse in un istante,
vedi amico mio
come diventa importante
che in questo istante ci sia anch'io.

L'anno che sta arrivando tra un anno passerà
io mi sto preparando è questa la novità

Lucio Dalla, Anna e Marco (Lyrics and video clip)

Anna come sono tante
Anna permalosa
Anna bello sguardo
sguardo che ogni giorno perde qualcosa
Se chiude gli occhi lei lo sa
stella di periferia
Anna con le amiche
Anna che vorrebbe andar via
Marco grosse scarpe e poca carne
Marco cuore in allarme
con sua madre e una sorella
poca vita, sempre quella
Se chiude gli occhi lui lo sa
lupo di periferia
Marco col branco
Marco che vorrebbe andar via
E la luna una palla ed il cielo un biliardo
quante stelle nei flipper sono pi di un miliardo
Marco dentro a un bar
non sa cosa far
poi c' qualcuno che trova una moto
si pu andare in citt
Anna Bellosguardo non perde un ballo
Marco che a ballare sembra un cavallo
in un locale che uno schifo
poca gente che li guarda
c' una checca che fa il tifo
Ma dimmi tu dove sar
dov' la strada per le stelle
mentre ballano si guardano e si scambiano la pelle
E cominciano a volare
con tre salti sono fuori dal locale
con un aria da commedia americana
sta finendo anche questa settimana
Ma l'America lontana
dall'altra parte della luna
che li guarda e anche se ride
a vederla mette quasi paura
E la luna in silenzio ora si avvicina
con un mucchio di stelle cade per strada
luna che cammina
luna di citt
poi passa un cane che sente qualcosa
li guarda, abbaia e se ne va
Anna avrebbe voluto morire
Marco voleva andarsene lontano
Qualcuno li ha visti tornare
tenendosi per mano

Madredeus, Haja o que houver (lyrics and video clip)

Haja o que houver, eu estou aqui
Haja o que houver, espero por ti

Volta no vento o meu amor
Volta depressa, por favor

Ha quanto tempo ja esqueci
Porque fiquei longe de ti

Cada momento é pior
Volta no vento por favor

Eu sei
Quem es para mim
Haja o que houver
Espero por ti

Ha quanto tempo ja esqueci
Porque fiquei longe de ti

Cada momento é pior
Volta no vento por favor

Eu sei
Quem es para mim
Haja o que houver
Espero por ti

Eu sei, eu sei
Quem es para mim
Haja o que houver
Espero por ti

Madredeus, O Pastor

Ai que ningum volta
Ao que j deixou
Ningum larga a grande roda
Ningum sabe onde que andou

Ai que ningum lembra
Nem o que sonhou
E aquele menino canta
A cantiga do pastor

Ao largo ainda arde
A barca da fantasia
E o meu sonho acaba tarde
Deixa a alma de vigia
Ao largo ainda arde
A barca da fantasia
E o meu sonho acaba tarde
Acordar que eu no queria

Ao largo ainda arde
A barca da fantasia
E o meu sonho acaba tarde
Deixa a alma de vigia
Ao largo ainda arde
A barca da fantasia
E o meu sonho acaba tarde
Acordar que eu no queria

Silvio Rodríguez, Ojalá (lyrics and video clip)

Ojalá que las hojas no te toquen el cuerpo cuando caigan
para que no las puedas convertir en cristal.
Ojalá que la lluvia deje de ser milagro que baja por tu cuerpo.
Ojalá que la luna pueda salir sin ti.
Ojalá que la tierra no te bese los pasos.

Ojalá se te acabe la mirada constante,
la palabra precisa, la sonrisa perfecta.
Ojalá pase algo que te borre de pronto:
una luz cegadora, un disparo de nieve.
Ojalá por lo menos que me lleve la muerte,
para no verte tanto, para no verte siempre
en todos los segundos, en todas las visiones:
ojalá que no pueda tocarte ni en canciones

Ojalá que la aurora no de gritos que caigan en mi espalda.
Ojalá que tu nombre se le olvide a esa voz.
Ojalá las paredes no retengan tu ruido de camino cansado.
Ojalá que el deseo se vaya tras de ti,
a tu viejo gobierno de difuntos y flores.

Ojalá se te acabe la mirada constante,
la palabra precisa, la sonrisa perfecta.
Ojalá pase algo que te borre de pronto:
una luz cegadora, un disparo de nieve.
Ojalá por lo menos que me lleve la muerte,
para no verte tanto, para no verte siempre
en todos los segundos, en todas las visiones:
ojalá que no pueda tocarte ni en canciones

Ojalá pase algo que te borre de pronto:
una luz cegadora, un disparo de nieve.
Ojalá por lo menos que me lleve la muerte,
para no verte tanto, para no verte siempre
en todos los segundos, en todas las visiones:
ojalá que no pueda tocarte ni en canciones

Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms (lyrics and video clip)

These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day youll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And youll no longer burn
To be brothers in arms

Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
Ive watched all your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms

Theres so many different worlds
So many differents suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones

Now the suns gone to hell
And the moons riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But its written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
Were fools to make war
On our brothers in arms

Silvio Rodríguez, Oh Melancolia (Lyrics and mp3

Silvio Rodriguez - Oh Melancolia

Hoy viene a mi la damisela soledad
con Pamela y pertinentes y botón
y amapola en el oleaje de sus vuelos
hoy la voluble señorita es amistad
y acaricia finamente el corazón
con su más delgado pétalo de hielo.

Por eso hoy
gentilmente te convido a pasear
por el patio hasta el florido pabellón
de aquel árbol que plantaron los abuelos
hoy el ensueño es como el musgo en el brocal
dibujando los abismos de un amor
melancólico, sutil, pálido cielo.

Viene a mi, avanza,
viene tan despacio
viene en una danza
leve del espacio
cedo mi adoración
y ya vuelo ave
se mece la nave
lenta como el tul
en la brisa suave
niña del azul.

Oh melancolía, novia silenciosa,
intima pareja del ayer
oh melancolía, amante dichosa,
siempre me arrebata tu placer
oh melancolía, señora del tiempo,
beso que retorna como el mar
oh melancolía, rosa del aliento,
dime quien me puede amar.

Hoy viene a mi la damisela soledad
con Pamela y pertinentes y botón
y amapola en el oleaje de sus vuelos
hoy la voluble señorita es amistad
y acaricia finalmente el corazón
con su más delgado pétalo de hielo.
Por eso hoy
oh melancolía, señora del tiempo,
beso que retorna como el mar
oh melancolía, rosa del aliento,
dime quien me puede amar.

Nick Drake, Way to Blue Video (lyrics and video clip)

Don't you have a word to show what may be done
Have you never heard a way to find the sun
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Wont you come and say
If you know the way to blue?

Have you seen the land living by the breeze
Can you understand a light among the trees
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Tell us all today
If you know the way to blue?

Look through time and find your rhyme
Tell us what you find
We will wait at your gate
Hoping like the blind.

Can you now recall all that you have known?
Will you never fall
When the light has flown?
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Wont you come and say
If you know the way to blue?

Gary Jules, Mad World (Lyrics and video clip)

Gary Jules, Mad World (Lyrics and video clip)

All around me are familiar faces
Worn out places, worn out faces
Bright and early for their daily races
Going nowhere, going nowhere
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad World
Mad world

Children waiting for the day they feel good
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday
And I feel the way that every child should
Sit and listen, sit and listen
Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me
And I find it kind of funny
I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which I'm dying
Are the best I've ever had
I find it hard to tell you
I find it hard to take
When people run in circles
It's a very, very
Mad World
Mad World
Enlarging your world
Mad World.

Trois Couleurs: Bleu (Three Colours: Blue)

I Corinthians 13

1.
Εάν ταις γλώσσαις των ανθρώπων λαλώ και των αγγέλων,
Ean tes glosses ton anthropon lalo, ke ton angelon,
Tho the languages of men I-speak, and of angels,

αγάπην δε μη έχω, γέγονα χαλκός ηχών η κύμβαλον αλαλάζον.
agapi de mi echo, jegona chalkos ichon i kimvalon alalazon,
love not I have, noisy gong I-sound and cymbal clanging

2.
και εάν έχω προφητείαν και είδω τα μυστήρια πάντα
ke ean echo profitian, ke ido ta mistiria panda,
and tho I-have prophecy, and understand the mysteries all

ώστε όρη μεθιστάναι, αγάπην δε μη έχω, ουθέν ειμι.
oste ori methistane, agapin de mi echo, outhen imi.
so-as mountains move, love not I have, nothing I-am

4.
Η αγάπη μακροθυμεί, χρηστεύεται
i agapi makrothimi, christefete,
the love suffers, behaves-with-decency,

η αγάπη ου ζηλοί, ου περπερεύεται, ου φυσιούται,
i agapi ou zili, ou perperefete, ou fisioute
the love not jealous, not boastful, not full of pride

7.
πάντα στέγει, πάντα πιστεύει, πάντα ελπίζει, πάντα υπομένει.
panda stegi, panda pistevi, panda elpizi, panda ipomeni.
all bears, all believes, all hopes, all endures

8.
Η αγάπη ουδέποτε πίπτει. είτε δε προφητείαι, καταργηθήσονται.
i agapi oudepote pipti. ite de profitie, katargithisonte.
the love never ends. or though prophecies, deconsecrate

είτε γλώσσαι, παύσονται. είτε γνώσις, καταργηθήσεται.
ite glosse, pafsonte. ite gnosis, katargithisete
or languages, cease. or knowledge, deconsecrate

13.
νυνί δε μένει πίστις, ελπίς, αγάπη, τα τρία ταύτα.
nini de meni pistis, elpis, agapi, ta tria tauta.
now then remain faith, hope, love, the three these

μείζων δε τούτων η αγάπη.
mizon de touton i agapi.
greatest of those the love (x3)

Getting Away With It (All Messed Up) by James video clip

Are you aching for the blade?
That's OK, we're insured
Are you aching for the grave?
That's OK, we're insured

We're getting away with it all messed up
Getting away with it all messed up
That's the living

Daniel's saving Grace
She's out in deep water
Hope he's a good swimmer
Daniel plays his ace
Deep inside his temple
He knows how to serve her

We're getting away with it all messed up
Getting away with it all messed up
That's the living
We're getting away with it all messed up
Getting away with it all messed up
That's the living

Daniel drinks his weight
Drinks like Richard Burton
Dance like John Travolta
Now
Daniel's saving Grace
He was all but drowning
Now they live like dolphins

We're getting away with it all messed up
Getting away with it all messed up
That's the living
We're getting away with it all messed up
Getting away with it all messed up
That's the living

We're getting away with it all messed up
Getting away with it all messed up
That's the living
Oh, getting away with it all messed up
Getting away with it all messed up
That's the living

Getting away with it
We're getting away with it
That's the living
That's the living

Women in art and Bach's Sarabande from Suite for Solo Cello No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007

Women in art by Philip Scott Johnson

500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art

Music: Bach's Sarabande from Suite for Solo Cello No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007 performed by Yo-Yo Ma

For a complete list of artists and paintings visit http://www.maysstuff.com/womenid.htm

Stranglers, Skin Deep (lyrics and video clip)

Many people tell you that they're your friend
You believe them
You need them
For what's round the river bend
Make sure that you're receiving the signals they send
Cos brother, you've only got two hands to lend

Maybe there's someone who makes you weep
And some nights loom up ahead
When you're asleep
Some days there's things on your mind you should keep
Sometimes, it's tougher to look than to leap

Better watch out for the skin deep
Better watch out for the skin deep
(Better watch out) Watch out for the skin deep
(Better watch out) Watch out for the skin deep
Better watch out for the skin deep

One day the track that you're climbing gets steep
Your emotions are frayed
And your nerves are starting to creep
Just remember the days
As long as the time that you keep
Brother, you better watch out for the skin deep

Better watch out for the skin deep
Better watch out for the skin deep
(Better watch out) Watch out for the skin deep
(Better watch out) Watch out for the skin deep
Better watch out for the skin deep

(Better watch out) Watch out for the skin deep
(Better watch out) Watch out for the skin deep
Better watch out for the skin deep