The process of evolution may be described as differentiation of structure and integration of function. The more differentiated and specialized read more

The process of evolution may be described as differentiation of structure and integration of function. The more differentiated and specialized the parts, the more elaborate co-ordination is needed to create a well-balanced whole. The ultimate criterion of the value of a functional whole is the degree of its internal harmony or integratedness, whether the "functional whole" is a biological species or a civilization or an individual. A whole is defined by the pattern of relations between its parts, not by the sum of its parts; and a civilization is not defined by the sum of its science, technology, art and social organization, but by the total pattern which they form, and the degree of harmonious integration in that pattern.

Our understanding of the world is achieved more effectively by conceptual improvements than by discovery of new facts...

Our understanding of the world is achieved more effectively by conceptual improvements than by discovery of new facts...

Society is a madhouse whose wardens are the officials and the police.

Society is a madhouse whose wardens are the officials and the police.

The anointed don't like to talk about painful trade-offs. They like to talk about happy "solutions" that get rid of read more

The anointed don't like to talk about painful trade-offs. They like to talk about happy "solutions" that get rid of the whole problem- at least in their imagination.

The meaning of life is not to be discovered only after death in some hidden, mysterious realm; on the contrary, read more

The meaning of life is not to be discovered only after death in some hidden, mysterious realm; on the contrary, it can be found by eating the succulent fruit of the Tree of Life and by living in the here and now as fully and creatively as we can.

God is the immemorial refuge of the incompetent, the helpless, the miserable. They find not only sanctuary in His arms, read more

God is the immemorial refuge of the incompetent, the helpless, the miserable. They find not only sanctuary in His arms, but also a kind of superiority, soothing to their macerated egos; He will set the above their betters.

I have only a small flickering light to guide me in the darkness of a thick forest. Up comes a read more

I have only a small flickering light to guide me in the darkness of a thick forest. Up comes a theologian and blows it out.

He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because
he is sufficient for himself, read more

He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because
he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god.

There is no truth sure enough to justify persecution.

There is no truth sure enough to justify persecution.