When our individual interests and prospects do not seem worth living for, we are in desperate need for something apart from us to live for. All forms of dedication, devotion, loyalty and self-surrender are in essence a desperate clinging to something which might give worth and meaning to our futile, spoiled lives.
You May Also Like / View all maxioms
...everything is too important ever to be entrusted to professional experts, because every organization of such professionals and every established read more
...everything is too important ever to be entrusted to professional experts, because every organization of such professionals and every established social organization becomes a vested-interest institution more concerned with its efforts to maintain itself or advance its own interests than to achieve the purpose that society expects it to achieve.
Religion is not a matter of God, church, holy cause, etc. These are but accessories. The source of religious preoccupation read more
Religion is not a matter of God, church, holy cause, etc. These are but accessories. The source of religious preoccupation is in the self, or rather the rejection of the self. Dedication is the obverse side of self-rejection. Man alone is a religious animal because, as Montaigne points out, "it is a malady confined to man, and not seen in any other creature, to hate and despise ourselves.".
Positive self-esteem operates as, in effect, the immune system of the consciousness, providing resistance, strength, and a capacity for regeneration. read more
Positive self-esteem operates as, in effect, the immune system of the consciousness, providing resistance, strength, and a capacity for regeneration. When self-esteem is low, our resilience in the face of life's adversities is diminished. We crumble before vicissitudes that a healthier sense of self could vanquish. We tend to be more influenced by the desire to avoid pain than to experience joy. Negatives have more power over us than positives.
The more backwoodish a social group, juvenile or adult, the stricter its conception of the normal, and the readier it read more
The more backwoodish a social group, juvenile or adult, the stricter its conception of the normal, and the readier it will ridicule any departure from it.
Evolution as such is no longer a theory for a modern author. It is as much a fact as that read more
Evolution as such is no longer a theory for a modern author. It is as much a fact as that the earth revolves around the sun.
No matter how happily a woman may be married, it always pleases her to discover that there is a nice read more
No matter how happily a woman may be married, it always pleases her to discover that there is a nice man who wishes that she were not.
...it is always from a minority acting in ways different from what the majority would prescribe that the majority in read more
...it is always from a minority acting in ways different from what the majority would prescribe that the majority in the end learns to do better.
Unbounded morality ultimately becomes counterproductive even in terms of the same moral principles being sought. The law of diminishing returns read more
Unbounded morality ultimately becomes counterproductive even in terms of the same moral principles being sought. The law of diminishing returns applies to morality.
...far from failing in its intended task, our educational system is in fact succeeding magnificently, because its aim is to read more
...far from failing in its intended task, our educational system is in fact succeeding magnificently, because its aim is to keep the American people thoughtless enough to go on supporting the system.
