Desiderative Projection

But the new theology of the heart dispenses with argument; it cannot be refuted, because it does not profess to prove its points. At bottom, the only reason offered for its acceptance is that it allows us to indulge in pleasant dreams. This is an unworthy reason…
 — Bertrand Russell 'The History Of Western Philosophy' (p669)

The Teacup Of Belief

The Meaning Of Life

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
— William Shakespeare 'MacBeth'

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts …
— William Shakespeare 'As You Like It'

Laketown

Fundamental Disagreements

Thales: everything is made of water
Anaximenes: the fundamental substance is air
Pythagoras: all things are numbers
Xenophanes: all things are made of earth and water
Heraclitus: fire is the fundamental substance

Heraclitus: everything changes
Parmenides: nothing changes

Empedocles: all change is governed by chance and necessity
Anaxagoras: mind as the primary cause of physical changes
Democritus: cause and effect (mechanism)

The Way Of The World

Rousseau was mad but influential,
Hume was sane but had no followers.
 — Bertrand Russell 'The History Of Western Philosophy' (p646)

Pencils Lead

Old Ideas

all things come from a single primal substance
worlds and animals evolved (humans from fish)
 — Anaximander [610–546 BCE]

survival of the fittest
all change is governed by chance and necessity, not purpose
 — Empedocles [490–430 BCE]

Ravaging The English

Halliday = holy day.

It is said this name had its origin in the slogan (war-cry) of a Gælic clan residing in Annandale, who made frequent raids on the English border.

On these occasions they employed the war-cry of 'A holy day!' — every day being holy, in their estimation, that was spent in ravaging the enemy's country.

Source: An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names With an Essay on their Derivation and Import (1857).

Formica & Silica

A Moral

The pursuit of truth, when it is whole-hearted, must ignore moral considerations; we cannot know in advance that the truth will turn out to be what is thought edifying in a given society.

 — Bertrand Russell 'The History Of Western Philosophy' (p95)

Celtic Gals

Irish Language (Gaeilge)
gal: a stranger
gael: an irishperson
gaol: a relative
geal: bright (cf galaxy)

Toponyms

galloway (scotland)

galway (ireland)
gaul (france)
portugal
galicia (spain, poland, ukraine)
galatia (turkey)

wallacia (romania)
wales (britain)
cornwall (england)

Names
wallace
walsh

His Highness

He prescribes the subject

he proscribes outsiders 

his terms have a golden ring. 

He wants to find some order 

quantifying chaos 

in words that all the children sing. 

He tabulates the lexicon 

vocabulary minimised 

bow down to the Jargon King. 

All questions become so simple 

if we eat the inane answer 

if we all agree to ju-ju speak 

we fit into the formula 

we all without exception 

approve the rule. 

We don't understand 

he must be clever 

he must be clever 

he must be right 

he must be right 

we don't understand 

Closed the ranks and barricades 

imposed the secret language 

complexity all catch-phrased 

word-drugged any anguish 

pigeon-holed allusions 

shut the vault behind us 

It's an obvious conclusion 

we'll be the chattels of His Highness. 

Bow down to the Jargon King 

and his minion code-words. 

Here comes the reign

— Peter Hammill 'The Jargon King'

Rising Sea Levels

[Science] is a small island in an ocean of nescience.
 — Bertrand Russell 'The History Of Western Philosophy' (p480)

Suit You, Sir

Runaway Feedback

The beat, the beat at my temples;
my pulse, my pulse in a rush.
I'm feeling increasingly mental,
legs shaking, my face flushed.

The lights so bright in a dazzle,
the pumping that thumps at my chest.
I'm feeling increasingly frazzled,
need some comfort, need some bedrest
or some kind of intervention,
cold sweat's beading up on my brow,
the hairs on my neck at attention,
I don't know why but somehow

I'm highly strung, I'm stressed as hell,
I bite my tongue, I hold my breath as well.
The iron lung, the diving bell…
time to depressurise, my nerves are shot to hell.

The beat, the heat is astounding,
the pressure, the tension full-blown,
the static is crackling around me,
I can't go on, I can't let go…

I'm highly strung, panic attack,
can't do this one, can't go on with the act.
I'm frozen on the topmost rung,
I can't go on, I'm just too highly strung.

 — Peter Hammill 'Highly Strung'

Dispensing Poison

All ideals are dangerous, since they denigrate and stigmatise what is actual.  They are poisons, which, however, as occasional medicaments, are indispensible.
 — Friedrich Nietzsche

Mind Over Matter

The distinction between mind and matter, which has become a commonplace in philosophy and science and popular thought, has a religious origin, and began as the distinction between soul and body. The Orphic, as we saw, proclaims himself the child of earth and of the starry heaven; from earth comes the body, from heaven the soul.
 — Bertrand Russell 'The History Of Western Philosophy' (p149)

Symbolisations Of Transcendence

The first step to participation in the destiny of humanity today, which is neither of this folk nor of that, but of the whole population of the globe, is to recognise every such local image of a god as but one of many thousands, millions, even perhaps billions, of locally useful symbolisations of that same mystery beyond sight or thought which our teachers have taught us to seek in their god alone.

 — Joseph Campbell 'The Inner Reaches Of Outer Space'

Gods As Facts Instead Of Symbols

For any god who is not transparent to transcendence is an idol,
and its worship is idolatry.
 — Joseph Campbell 'The Inner Reaches Of Outer Space'

Standing Room Only

Today's Anagrams

The Wearing Of The Green

Originally, the colour associated with Saint Patrick was blue. Over the years the colour green and its association with Saint Patrick's day grew. Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of St Patrick's Day as early as the 17th century.

He is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish.

In the 1798 rebellion, in hopes of making a political statement, Irish soldiers wore full green uniforms on 17 March in hopes of catching public attention.

Coming Second

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

mere anarchy is loosed upon the world …

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity …

 — William Butler Yeats 'The Second Coming'

Comes A Time

Any hypothesis, however absurd, may be useful in science, if it enables a discoverer to conceive things in a new way; but … when it has served this purpose by luck, it is likely to become an obstacle to further advance.
 — Bertrand Russell 'The History Of Western Philosophy' (p146)

Mind How You Go Now