TERMS STARTING WITH
Politics: (Gr. polis, city) The normative science which treats of the organization of social goods. The branch of civics concerned with government and state affairs. See Political Philosophy. -- J.K.F.
politics ::: n. --> The science of government; that part of ethics which has to do with the regulation and government of a nation or state, the preservation of its safety, peace, and prosperity, the defense of its existence and rights against foreign control or conquest, the augmentation of its strength and resources, and the protection of its citizens in their rights, with the preservation and improvement of their morals.
The management of a political party; the conduct and
TERMS ANYWHERE
3. The Miltonic sonnet: similar in form to the petrarchan sonnet, however the Miltonic sonnet does not divide its ideas between the octave and the sestet. The train of thought instead runs straight from the eighth to ninth line. Furthermore, Milton develops the sonnet's scope to encompass not only the theme of love, as the earlier sonnets did, but also to incorporate politics, religion, and personal matters.
Absolutism: The opposite of Relativism. Metaphysics: the theory of the Absolute (q.v.). Epistemology: the doctrine that objective or absolute, and not merely relative and human, truth is possible. Axiology: the view that standards of value (moral or aesthetic) are absolute, objective, superhuman, eternal Politics: Cult of unrestricted sovereignty located in the ruler. --W.L. Absolutistic Personalism: The ascription of personality to the Absolute. -- R.T.F.
Aristotle: A Greek philosopher who lived from 384 BC to 322 BC. Aristotle wrote on numerous subjects including poetry, physics, music, politics and biology. He was the student of Plato. Alongside Plato and Socrates, Aristotle is considered an important figure to the founding of Western knowledge.
Ba’ath ::: (Arabic. renaissance). A Pan-Arab socialist party with branches in several Arab countries, most notably Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan. The party emerged during World War II, was formally established in 1947, and has been influential in Arab politics since the early 1950s. Prominent members of the Ba'ath party include Saddam Hussein and Hafez Al-Assad.
Bentham, Jeremy: (1748-1832) Founder of the English Utilitarian School of Philosophy. In law, he is remembered for his criticism of Blackstone's views of the English constitution, for his examination of the legal fiction and for his treatment of the subject of evidence. In politics, he is most famous for his analysis of the principles of legislation and, in ethics, for his greatest happiness principle. See Hedonic Calculus; Utilitarianism. J. Bentham, Principles of Morals and Legislation, 1789; Outline of a New System of Logic, 1827; Deontology. -- L.E.D.
bigot ::: n. --> A hypocrite; esp., a superstitious hypocrite.
A person who regards his own faith and views in matters of religion as unquestionably right, and any belief or opinion opposed to or differing from them as unreasonable or wicked. In an extended sense, a person who is intolerant of opinions which conflict with his own, as in politics or morals; one obstinately and blindly devoted to his own church, party, belief, or opinion.
Bodhirak, Phra. (P. Bodhirakkha) (b. 1934). Thai Buddhist leader who is the founder of the SANTI ASOKE movement. Born in 1934 in northeastern Thailand as Mongkhon Rakphong, he became a well-known TV entertainer, songwriter, and movie producer before abruptly walking away from his career at the age of thirty-six to seek the dhamma. He was ordained in 1970 into first the THAMMAYUT and later the MAHANIKAI orders, but eventually left both orders to establish the independent Santi Asoke ("People of Asoke") movement, which grew rapidly. Bodhirak was finally excommunicated from the Thai sangha in 1989 for defying national ecclesiastical law (including publicly proclaiming himself to be a "once-returner," or sakadAgAmi [S. SAKṚDAGAMIN]) and for his controversial views on Buddhism, which mainstream traditions found to be iconoclastic and doctrinaire. He continues to live as a monk and is an influential figure in contemporary Thai Buddhism; he and his movement have also come to play a role in Thai politics through the Phalang Dhamma Party, which has ties to Santi Asoke.
Politics: (Gr. polis, city) The normative science which treats of the organization of social goods. The branch of civics concerned with government and state affairs. See Political Philosophy. -- J.K.F.
BuddhadAsa. (1906-1993). Prominent Thai monk, Buddhist reformer, teacher of meditation, and ecumenical figure. Born the son of a merchant in the village of Pum Riang in southern Thailand, he was educated at Buddhist temple schools. It was customary for males in Thailand to be ordained as Buddhist monks for three months at the age of twenty and then return to lay life. BuddhadAsa decided, however, to remain a monk and quickly gained a reputation as a brilliant thinker, meditator, and teacher. He dwelled for several years in the Thai capital of Bangkok to further his studies but grew disillusioned with the prevailing practices of the SAMGHA in the city, which he perceived to be lax and corrupt. In 1932, he returned home to an abandoned monastery near his native village to live a simple life, practice meditation, and teach the dharma. He named his monastery Wat Suan MokkhabalArAma (Garden of the Power of Liberation), which is usually abbreviated to Suan Mokkh, the Garden of Liberation. The monastery became one of the first VIPASSANA (S. VIPAsYANA) (insight meditation) centers in southern Thailand. BuddhadAsa spent most of his life at this forest monastery overlooking the sea. Although his formal scholastic training was limited, BuddhadAsa studied PAli scriptures extensively, in particular the SUTTAPItAKA, to uncover their true meaning, which he felt had become obscured by centuries of commentarial overlays, ritual practices, and monastic politics. A gifted orator, his numerous sermons and talks were transcribed and fill an entire room of the National Library in Bangkok. In his writings, many of which are his transcribed sermons, he eschewed the formal style of traditional scholastic commentary in favor of a more informal, and in many ways controversial, approach in which he questioned many of the more popular practices of Thai Buddhism. For example, he spoke out strongly against the practice of merit-making in which lay people offer gifts to monks in the belief that they will receive material reward in their next life. BuddhadAsa argued that this traditionally dominant form of lay practice only keeps the participants in the cycle of rebirth because it is based on attachment, whereas the true form of giving is the giving up of the self. Instead, BuddhadAsa believed that, because of conditioned origination (PRATĪTYASAMUTPADA), people are naturally connected through a shared environment and are in fact capable of living harmoniously together. The hindrance to such a harmony comes from attachments to "I" and "mine," which must therefore be severed. Modern and ecumenical in perspective, BuddhadAsa sought to strip traditional Buddhism of what he regarded as obscurantism and superstition, and present the Buddha's teachings in a rational scientific idiom that acknowledged kindred teachings in other religions. BuddhadAsa's interpretations of the dharma have had a great impact on contemporary Buddhist thought in Thailand and are especially influential among the urban intelligentsia, social reformers, and environmentalists. His teachings are often cited as foundational by advocates of engaged Buddhism. The monastery he founded has become a venue for the training of foreign monks and nuns and for interfaith dialogue between Buddhists of different traditions, as well as between Buddhists and adherents of other religions.
Carlyle, Thomas: (1795-1881) Vigorous Scotch historian and essayist, apostle of work. He was a deep student of the German idealists and did much to bring them before English readers. His forceful style showed marked German characteristics. He was not in any sense a systematic philosopher but his keen mind gave wide influence to the ideas he advanced in ethics, politics and economics. His whimsical Sartor Resartus or philosophy of clothes and his searching Heroes and Hero-worship, remain his most popular works along with his French Revolution and Past and Present. He was among the Victorians who displayed some measure of distrust for democracy. -- L.E.D.
Characteristically Plotinian is the teaching that man must first turn his mind away from the inferior things of sense toward the inner reality of his own soul. He must learn to regard his soul as part of the World-Soul. He must transcend the multiple things of the realm of Mind and endeavor to achieve that communion with the One, which is his ultimate good. There is no question of personal immortality and so the goal of human life is a merging with universal Spirit. In his politics, Plotinus favored a sort of community life incorporating many of the idealistic suggestions to be found in Plato's Republic.
Chin: Metal, one of the Five Agents or Elements. And fourth centuries B.C. where scholars (including Shen Tao, Tsou Yen) gathered under official patronage to write on and to freely discuss philosophy and politics. Seat of learning and freedom of thought at the time, which was called Ch'i Hsueh. -- W.T.C Chin: Metal, one of the Five Agents or Elements. See wu hsing. -- W.T.C.
Class struggle: Fundamental in Marxian social thought, this term signifies the conflict between classes (q.v.) which, according to the theory of historical materialism (see the entry, Dialectical materialism) may and usually does take place in all aspects of social life, and which has existed ever since the passing of primitive communism (q.v.). The class struggle is considered basic to the dynamics of history in the sense that a widespread change in technics, or a fuller utilization of them, which necessitates changes in economic relations and, in turn, in the social superstructure, is championed and carried through by classes which stand to gain from the change. The economic aspects of the class struggle under capitalism manifest themselves most directly, Marx held, in disputes over amount of wages, rate of profits, rate of interest, amount of rent, length of working day, conditions of work and like matters. The Marxist position is that the class struggle enters into philosophy, politics, law, morals, art, religion and other cultural institutions and fields in various ways, either directly or indirectly, and, in respect to the people involved, consciously or unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly. In any case the specific content of any such field or institution at a given time it held to have a certain effect upon a given class in its conflicts with other classes, weakening or aiding it. Marxists believe that certain kinds of literature or art may inspire people with a lively sense of the need and possibility of a radical change in social relations, or, on the contrary, with a sense of lethargy or complacency, and that various moral, religious or philosophical doctrines may operate to persuade a given class that it should accept its lot without complaint or its privileges without qualms, or may operate to persuade it of the contrary. The Marxist view is that every field or institution has a history, an evolution, and that this evolution is the result of the play of conflicting forces entering into the field, which forces are connected, in one way or another, with class conflicts. While it is thus held that the class struggle involves all cultural fields, it is not held that any cultural production or phenomenon, selected or delimited at random, can be correlated in a one-to-one fashion with an equally delimited class interest. -- J.M.S.
club ::: n. --> A heavy staff of wood, usually tapering, and wielded the hand; a weapon; a cudgel.
Any card of the suit of cards having a figure like the trefoil or clover leaf. (pl.) The suit of cards having such figure.
An association of persons for the promotion of some common object, as literature, science, politics, good fellowship, etc.; esp. an association supported by equal assessments or contributions of the members.
Communism ::: A theoretical system of social organization and a political movement based on common ownership of the means of production. As a political movement, communism seeks to establish a classless society. A major force in world politics since the early 20th century, modern communism is generally associated with The Communist Manifesto of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, according to which the capitalist profit-based system of private ownership is replaced by a communist society in which the means of production are communally owned, such as through a gift economy. Often this process is said initiated by the revolutionary overthrow of the bourgeoisie (see Marxism), passes through a transitional period marked by the preparatory stage of socialism (see Leninism). Pure communism has never been implemented, it remains theoretical: communism is, in Marxist theory, the end-state, or the result of state-socialism. The word is now mainly understood to refer to the political, economic, and social theory of Marxist thinkers, or life under conditions of Communist party rule.[4]
Conze, Edward. [Eberhard (Edward) Julius Dietrich Conze] (1904-1979). An influential Anglo-German Buddhist scholar and practitioner, Edward Conze was born in London, the son of the then German vice consul, but was raised in Germany. He attended the universities of Cologne, Bonn, and Hamburg, where he studied both Western and Indian philosophy and Buddhist languages, including Sanskrit, PAli, and Tibetan. Conze was raised as a Protestant, but he also explored Communism and had a strong interest in Theosophy. Because of his deep opposition to the Nazi ideology, he became persona non grata in Germany and in 1933 moved to England. Although initially active with English socialists, he eventually became disillusioned with politics and began to study the works of DAISETZ TEITARO SUZUKI, whom he came to consider his informal spiritual mentor. Conze taught at various universities in the UK between 1933 and 1960, expanding the range of his visiting professorships to the USA and Canada in the 1960s. However, the Communist affiliations of his youth and his outspoken condemnation of the Vietnam War put him at odds with American authorities, prompting him to return to England. Conze was especially enamored of the perfection of wisdom (PRAJNAPARAMITA) texts and the related MADHYAMAKA strand of Buddhist philosophy and became one of foremost scholarly exponents of this literature of his day. He saw Buddhism and especially Madhyamaka philosophy as presenting an "intelligible, plausible, and valid system" that rivaled anything produced in the West and was therefore worthy of the close attention of Western philosophers. He translated several of the major texts of the prajNApAramitA, including The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousands Lines and Its Verse Summary (1973), and The Large Sutra on Perfect Wisdom with the Divisions of the AbhisamayAlaMkAra (1975), as well as the VAJRACCHEDIKAPRAJNAPARAMITASuTRA ("Diamond Sutra") and the PRAJNAPARAMITAHṚDAYASuTRA ("Heart Sutra"). His compilation of terminology derived from this translation work, Materials for a Dictionary of the PrajNApAramitA Literature (1967), did much to help establish many of the standard English equivalencies of Sanskrit Buddhist terms. Conze also wrote more general surveys of Buddhist philosophy and history, including Buddhism: Its Essence and Development (1951) and Buddhist Thought in India (1962).
Czech Deal ::: Egypt’s arm deal with Czechoslovakia in 1955 that initiated the involvement of the Soviet Union in Middle Eastern politics as well as its pro-Arab stance. This marked the largest military transaction in the world during its time. The ensuing Israeli anxiety and desire to topple Nasser before he could a military threat led to the Suez War.
defeatism ::: The acceptance of and contentedness with defeat without struggle. In everyday use, defeatism has negative connotation, and is often linked to treason and pessimism. The term is commonly used in the context of war: a soldier can be a defeatist if he or she refuses to fight because he or she thinks that the fight will be lost for sure or that it is not worth fighting for some other reason. The term can also be used in other fields, like politics, sports, psychology and philosophy.
Dewey, John: (1859-) Leading American philosopher. The spirit of democracy and an abiding faith in the efficacy of human intelligence run through the many pages he has presented in the diverse fields of metaphysics, epistemology, logic, psychology, aesthetics, religion, ethics, politics and education, in all of which he has spoken with authority. Progressive education owes its impetus to his guidance and its tenets largely to his formulation. He is the chief exponent of that branch of pragmatism known as instrumentalism. Among his main works are Psychology, 1886; Outline of Ethics, 1891; Studies in Logical Theory, 1903; Ethics (Dewey and Tufts), 1908; How We Think, 1910; Influence of Darwin on German Philosophy, 1910; Democracy and Education, 1916; Essays in Experimental Logic, 1916; Reconstruction in Philosophy, 1920; Human Nature and Conduct, 1922; Experience and Nature, 1925; The Quest for Certainty, 1929; Art as Experience, 1933; Logic: The Theory of Inquiry, 1939. Cf. J. Ratner, The Philosophy of John Dewey, 1940, M. H. Thomas, A Bibliography of John Dewey, 1882-1939, The Philosophy of John Dewey, ed. P. A. Schilpp (Evanston, 1940). Dharma: (Skr.) Right, virtue, duty, usage, law, social as well as cosmic. -- K.F.L.
Economics: (Lat. aeconomicus, domestic economy, from oikos, house, + nomos, law) That branch of social science which is concerned with the exchange of goods. Employed by Xenophon, Aristotle and Cicero to describe treatises on the proper conduct of the household. In more recent times, combined with politics as political economy, the study of the laws and system of society. Now, more specially, the study of the production, distribution and consumption of material wealth and skills. -- J.K.F.
ESOTERICIAN The esoterician has once and for all left the world of illusions and fictions, which mankind prefers living in, to enter into the world of reality. K 1.43.6
The mystic thinks that man&
glob "file system, programming" /glob/ A mechanism that returns a list of {pathnames} that match a pattern containing {wild card} characters. Globbing was available in early versions of {Unix} and, in more limited form, in {Microsoft Windows}. The characters are: * = zero or more characters, e.g. "probab*" would match probabilistic, probabilistically, probabilities, probability, probable, probably. ? = any single character, e.g. "b?g" would match bag, big, bog, bug. [] any of the enclosed characters, e.g. "b[ao]g" would match bag, bog (not on Windows). These have become sufficiently pervasive that hackers use them in written messages. E.g. "He said his name was [KC]arl" (expresses ambiguity). "I don't read talk.politics.*" (any of the talk.politics subgroups on {Usenet}). Other examples are given under the entry for {X}. Later Unix shells introduced the {x,y,z} syntax which expands to a comma-separated list of alternatives, thus foo{baz,qux} would expand to "foobaz" and "fooqux". This differs from a glob because it generates a list of all possible expansions, rather than matching against existing files. Glob patterns are similar, but not identical, to {regular expressions}. "glob" was a subprogram that expanded wild cards in archaic pre-{Bourne} versions of the {Unix} {shell}. It is also a {bulit-in function} in {Perl}. (2014-08-22)
Hachiman. (八幡). In Japanese, "God of Eight Banners," a popular SHINTo deity (KAMI), who is also considered a "great BODHISATTVA"; also known as Hachiman jin. Although his origins are unclear, Hachiman can at least be traced back to his role as the tutelary deity of the Usa clan in Kyushu during the eighth century. Hachiman responded to an oracle in 749, vouchsafing the successful construction of the Great Buddha (DAIBUTSU) image at ToDAIJI and quickly rose in popularity in both Kyushu and the Nara capital. In 859, the Buddhist monk Gyokyo established the Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine near the capital of Kyoto that was dedicated to the deity. Hachiman's oracles continued to play decisive roles in Nara politics, leading to a worship cult devoted to him. The Hachiman cult expanded throughout the Heian period (794-1185), and in 809, he was designated a "great bodhisattva" (daibosatsu) by drawing on the concept of HONJI SUIJAKU (buddhas or bodhisattvas appearing in the world as gods). Hachiman also came to be considered a manifestation of the semi-legendary ancient sovereign ojin and was likewise seen as guardian of the monarch. From the eleventh century, the Minamoto warrior clan also linked itself with Hachiman. Through this patronage, Hachiman became increasingly associated with warfare. During the Meiji persecution of Buddhism in 1868, which separated the gods from the buddhas and bodhisattvas (SHINBUTSU BUNRI), Hachiman was divorced from his Buddhist identity and recast as a purely Shinto deity. Currently, there are approximately 25,000 Hachiman shrines across Japan.
heresy ::: n. --> An opinion held in opposition to the established or commonly received doctrine, and tending to promote a division or party, as in politics, literature, philosophy, etc.; -- usually, but not necessarily, said in reproach.
Religious opinion opposed to the authorized doctrinal standards of any particular church, especially when tending to promote schism or separation; lack of orthodox or sound belief; rejection of, or erroneous belief in regard to, some fundamental religious doctrine
Hieizan. (比叡山). In Japanese "Mt. Hiei," a sacred mountain best known as the headquarters of the TENDAISHu (see TIANTAI ZONG). Mt. Hiei is located northeast of Kyoto on the border of present-day Kyoto and Shiga prefectures, and rises to 2,600 feet (848 meters). In 785, SAICHo, founder of the Tendai school, left Nara for Hieizan after receiving ordination. Dissatisfied with the Nara Buddhist schools, he resided in a hut on the mountain and gradually attracted a small group of followers. In 788, Saicho built the hall Ichijo shikan'in (later renamed Konpon chudo), which became incorporated into the larger monastery of ENRYAKUJI, headquarters for the Tendai school. As Tendai Buddhism rose to dominance in medieval Japan, Hieizan became extremely influential not only in religious matters, but also in politics, the economy, and military affairs. In addition to Enryakuji and numerous other Tendai monasteries, the mountain also housed three aristocratic temples (monzeki), which further extended its ties to the court in Kyoto. Hieizan's power was not maintained without its share of violence. Conflict erupted in the late tenth century with the nearby Tendai temple Onjoji, when succession over the position of head priest at Enryakuji broke down in armed disputes between ENNIN and ENCHIN and their respective followers and warrior monks (SoHEI). In order to wrest control of Hieizan's military and economic strength, Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) led an attack on the mountain in 1571, burning many of its monasteries to the ground. The mountain's influence was further supplanted during the Tokugawa period when Tenkai (1536?-1643), a Tendai priest and advisor to Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616), presided over the construction of Kan'eiji in 1625, which the Shogunate ranked above Hieizan. Hieizan also served as home to many KAMI, notably obie and Kobie (Great and Small Hie), who developed close ties with Tendai monasteries as early as the Heian period (794-1185) through a process known as SHINBUTSU SHuGo ("unity of spirits and buddhas"). SHUGENDo practices eventually took root on Hieizan as well. The practice of "circumambulating the mountain" (KAIHoGYo), which reputedly dates back to the ninth century, consists of ascetics running a course around the mountain for as many as one thousand days.
Hobbes, Thomas: (1588-1679) Considering knowledge empirical in origin and results, and philosophy inference of causes from effects and vice versa, regarded matter and motion as the least common denominators of all our percepts, and bodies and their movements as the only subject matter of philosophy. Consciousness in its sensitive and cognitive aspects is a jarring of the nervous system; in its affectional and volitional, motor aspects, a kick-back to the jar. Four subdivisions of philosophy cover all physical and psychological events: geometry describing the spatial movements of bodies; physics, the effects of moving bodies upon one another; ethics, the movements of nervous systems; politics, the effects of nervous systems upon one another. The first law of motion appears in every organic body in its tendency, which in man becomes a natural right, to self-preservation and self-assertion. Hence the primary condition of all organic as of all inorganic bodies is one of collision, conflict, and war. The second law of motion, in its organic application, impels men to relinquish a portion of their natural right to self-assertion in return for a similar relinquishment on the part of their fellows. Thus a component of the antagonistic forces of clashing individual rights and wills is established, embodied in a social contract, or treaty of peace, which is the basis of the state. To enforce this social covenant entered into, pursuant to the second law of motion, by individuals naturally at war in obedience to the first, sovereignty must be set up and exercised through government. Government is most efficient when sovereignty, which has in any case to be delegated in a community of any size, is delegated to one man -- an absolute monarch -- rather than to a group of men, or a parliament.
Hwangnyongsa. (皇/龍寺). In Korean, "royal," or "Yellow Dragon Monastery" ("royal" and "yellow" are homophonous in Korean); an important Korean monastery located in the Silla-dynasty capital of Kyongju. The monastery was constructed between 553 and 569, during the reign of the Silla king Chinhŭng (r. 540-576) and was especially renowned for its sixteen-foot high image of sĀKYAMUNI Buddha (completed in 574) and its massive, nine-story pagoda (STuPA), which was built in 645 during the reign of Queen Sondok (r. 632-647). In the winter of 1238, during the succeeding Koryo dynasty (918-1392), the entire monastery, including the buddha image and the pagoda, was totally destroyed by invading Mongol troops, and only the foundation stones currently remain. The site of the monastery was excavated by the Kyongju National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage between 1976 and 1983. Royal Dragon monastery flourished due to the support of the Silla royal family, which sought to use Buddhism as an unifying political ideology; The stories told concerning the foundation of the monastery, the image, and the pagoda all reflect this fact. The construction of the monastery is thus often cited as an example of "state-protection Buddhism" hoguk Pulgyo; C. HUGUO FOJIAO) in Korea. According to the SAMGUK YUSA ("Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms"), in the second month of 553, King Chinhŭng was building a new palace to the south of his Dragon Palace and east of Wolsong palace, when a yellow dragon (hwangnyong) appeared at the site. Yellow dragons were popular autochthonous deities in Silla; hence, given the auspicious nature of this apparition, the king changed plans and instead built a Buddhist monastery on the site, which is called both Yellow Dragon and Royal Dragon monastery in the literature. When the Silla monk CHAJANG (d.u.; fl. c. 590-658) was training at WUTAISHAN in China, an emanation of the bodhisattva MANJUsRĪ told him that Hwangnyongsa was constructed on the site of the dispensation of the previous buddha KĀsYAPA. Not long after the monastery's completion, a ship with 57,000 pounds of iron and 30,000 ounces of gold aboard appeared at Sap'o Harbor in Hagok County (currently Kokp'o near Ulsan, on the southeast coast of the peninsula). The ship also carried an inscription, which said that the Indian king AsOKA, having tried and failed three times to forge a sākyamuni triad from these metals, had finally decided to load the materials aboard ship, along with models of the images, and send them off in search of a land with the requisite metallurgical skill to craft such a statue. King Chinŭng ordered his metallurgists to forge this sixteen-foot statue of the Buddha, and they succeeded on the first attempt in the third month of 574. Chajang also was told by MANJUSRĪ that the queen belonged to the Indian KsATRIYA caste. He was later told by a divine being that if a nine-story pagoda were constructed within the precincts of Royal Dragon monastery, the kingdoms bordering Silla would surrender and submit to Silla hegemony. Hearing Chajang's prediction, in 645, the queen built the pagoda, which was 224 feet tall and made entirely of wood. Chajang placed within its columns some of the relics (sARĪRA) of the Buddha that he had received at Wutaishan. (Another portion was enshrined at T'ONGDOSA, where they remain still today.) It was said that the nine stories of the pagoda symbolized the nine kingdoms and tribal leagues surrounding Silla. During the time when Hwangnyongsa was constructed, the unification wars between the three Korean kingdoms of Silla, Koguryo, and Paekche were raging. The Silla monarchs at this time tried to justify their royal authority by relying on Buddhism, particularly by comparing the Silla rulers to the imported Buddhist notion of the ideal Buddhist ruler, or CAKRAVARTIN (wheel-turning emperor) and by positing that the royal family was genealogically related to the ksatriya clan of the Buddha. These associations are also obvious in the personal names of Silla kings, queens, and other royal family members. For example, the names of the King Chinhŭng's two princes were Tongnyun (Copper Wheel) and Kŭmnyun (Gold Wheel), both specific types of cakravartins; additionally, King Chinp'yong's personal name was Paekchong and his queen's was Maya, the Sino-Korean translation and transcription, respectively, of the names of sākyamuni Buddha's father and mother, sUDDHODANA and MĀYĀ. The foundation of Hwangnyongsa was intimately associated with these attempts by the royal family to employ Buddhism as a tool for justifying and reinforcing its authority. The monastery sponsored the Inwang Paekkojwa hoe (Humane Kings Assembly of One-Hundred Seats), a state-protection (hoguk) rite based on the RENWANGJING ("Scripture for Humane Kings"), in the hopes that the power of the buddhadharma would protect and promote the royal family and the kingdom. According to both the Samguk yusa and the Samguk Sagi ("Historical Records of the Three Kingdoms"), such a ceremony was held at Hwangnyongsa in 613 and 636, before the unification of the three kingdoms, as well as several times subsequently. Monks who resided at Hwangnyongsa also played important roles in Silla politics and religion. WoN'GWANG (532-630), who composed the five codes of conduct for the "flower boys" (hwarang), an elite group of male aristocratic youths, may have written there a letter to ask Emperor Yangdi (r. 604-618) of the Sui dynasty to attack Koguryo on Silla's behalf. Another resident, Chajang, encouraged the royal family to adopt Chinese official attire and the Chinese chronological era at the Silla court and was appointed kukt'ong (state superintendent), to supervise the entire Silla Buddhist ecclesia. Several other Hwangnyongsa monks, including Hyehun (fl. c. 640), Kangmyong (fl. 655), and Hunp'il (fl. 879), were appointed to kukt'ong and other important Silla ecclesiastical positions. Finally, several important Silla scholar-monks resided at Hwangnyongsa, including WoNHYO (617-686), who delivered his first public teaching of the KŬMGANG SAMMAEGYoNG NON ("Exposition of the Vajrasamādhisutra") at the monastery.
In the Ethics these basic principles are applied to the solution of the question of human good. The good for man is an actualization, or active exercise, of those faculties distinctive of man, that is the faculties of the rational, as distinct from the vegetative and sensitive souls. But human excellence thus defined shows itself in two forms, In the habitual subordination of sensitive and appetitive tendencies to rational rule and principle, and in the exercise of reason in the search for and contemplation of truth. The former type of excellence is expressed in the moral virtues, the latter in the dianoetic or intellectual virtues. A memorable feature of Aristotle's treatment of the moral virtues is his theory that each of them may be regarded as a mean between excess and defect; courage, for example, is a mean between cowardice and rashness, liberality a mean between stinginess and prodigality. In the Politics Aristotle sets forth the importance of the political community as the source and sustainer of the typically human life. But for Aristotle the highest good for man is found not in the political life, nor in any other form of practical activity, but in theoretical inquiry and contemplation of truth. This alone brings complete and continuous happiness, because it is the activity of the highest part of man's complex nature, and of that part which is least dependent upon externals, viz. the intuitive reason, or nous. In the contemplation of the first principles of knowledge and being man participates in that activity of pure thought which constitutes the eternal perfection of the divine nature.
Israeli Arabs ::: Those Arabs who chose to stay in the area that became the State of Israel during the War of Independence. They include Muslim Arabs, Christian Arabs, Druze, and Bedouins. They enjoy equality and full citizenship in Israel and participate actively in its politics.
Jefferson, Thomas: (1743-1826) Third president of the United States. He was the author of the Declaration of Independence, which remains as one of the monuments to his firm faith in democratic principles. His opposition to Hamiltonian centralization of power placed him at one extreme of the arc described by the pendulum of political theory that has swayed through the history of this country. He had firm faith in free speech and education and his life long efforts stand uppermost among those who struggled for tolerance and religious freedom. In addition to politics, he was keenly interested in the science and mathematics of his day. Cf. Writings of T. J., 10 vols. (N. Y. 1892-9), ed. P. L. Ford. -- L.E.D.
Jen: Man. Goodness; virtue in general; the moral principle; the moral ideal of the superior man (chun. tzu); the fundamental as well as the sum total of virtues, just as the Prime (yuan) is the origin and the vital force of all things --jen consisting of "man" and "two" and yuan consisting of "two" and "man". (Confucianism.) True manhood; man's character; human-heartedness; moral character; being man-like; "that by which a man is to be a man;" "realization of one's true self and the restoration of the moral order." (Confucius and Mencius.) "The active (yang) and passive (yin) principles are the way of Heaven; the principles of strength and weakness are the way of Earth; and true manhood and righteousness (i) are the way of Man." "True manhood is man's mind and righteousness is man's path." It is one of the three Universally Recognized Moral Qualities of man (ta te), the four Fundamentals of the Moral Life (ssu tuan), and the five Constant Virtues (wu ch'ang). True manhood and righteousness are the basic principles of Confucian ethics and politics. (Confucianism.) The golden rule; "Being true to the principles of one's nature (chung) and the benevolent exercise of them in relation to others (shu)." "The true man, having established his own character, seeks to establish the character of others; and having succeeded, seeks to make others succeed." (Confucius.) Love; benevolence; kindness; charity; compassion; "the character of the heart and the principle of love;" "love towards all men and benefit towards things." (Confucianism.) "Universal love without the element of self," (Chuang Tzu, between 399 and 295 B.C.) "Universal Love." (Han Yu, 767-824.) The moral principle with regard to others. "True manhood is the cardinal virtue by which others are pacified, whereas righteousness is the cardinal principle by which the self is rectified." It means "to love others and not the self." (Tung Chung-shu, 177-104 B.C.) Love of all men and things and impartiality and justice towards all men and things, this virtue being the cardinal virtue not only of man but also of the universe. "Love means to devote oneself to the benefit of other people and things." "Love implies justice, that is, as a man, treating others as men." "The true man regards the universe and all things as a unity. They are all essential to himself. As he realizes the true self, there is no limit to his love." (Ch'eng Ming-tao, 1032-1068.) "Love is the source of all laws, the foundation of all phenomena." "What is received from Heaven at the beginning is simply love, and is therefore the complete substance of the mind." "Love is the love of creating in the mind of Heaven and Earth, and men and other creatures receive it as their mind." (Chu Hsi, 1130-1200.)
jobber ::: n. --> One who works by the job.
A dealer in the public stocks or funds; a stockjobber.
One who buys goods from importers, wholesalers, or manufacturers, and sells to retailers.
One who turns official or public business to private advantage; hence, one who performs low or mercenary work in office, politics, or intrigue.
junto ::: n. --> A secret council to deliberate on affairs of government or politics; a number of men combined for party intrigue; a faction; a cabal; as, a junto of ministers; a junto of politicians.
Kindi: Of the tribe of Kindah, lived in Basra and Bagdad where he died 873. He is the first of the great Arabian followers of Aristotle whose influence is noticeable in Al Kindi's scientific and psychological doctrines. He wrote on geometry, astronomy, astrology, arithmetic, music (which he developed on arithmetical principles), physics, medicine, psychology, meteorology, politics. He distinguishes the active intellect from the passive which is actualized by the former. Discursive reasoning and demonstration he considers as achievements of a third and a fourth intellect. In ontology he seems to hypostasize the categories, of which he knows five: matter, form, motion, place, time, and which he calls primary substances. Al Kindi inaugurated the encyclopedic form of philosophical treatises, worked out more than a century later by Avicenna (q.v.). He also was the first to meet the violent hostility of the orthodox theologians but escaped persecution. A. Nagy, Die philos. Abhandlungen des Jacqub ben Ishaq al-Kindi, Beitr, z. Gesch. d. Phil. d. MA. 1897, Vol. II. -- R.A.
Kŭmgangsan. (C. Jingangshan; J. Kongosan; 金剛山). In Korean, "Diamond (S. VAJRA) Mountains," Buddhist sacred mountains and important Korean pilgrimage site. The mountains are located in Kangwon Province, North Korea, on the east coast of the Korean peninsula in the middle of the Paektu Taegan, the mountain range that is regarded geographically and spiritually as the geomantic "spine" of the Korean peninsula. The mountains are known for their spectacular natural beauty, and its hundreds of individual peaks have been frequent subjects of both literati and folk painting. During the Silla dynasty, Kŭmgangsan began to be conceived as a Buddhist sacred site. "Diamond Mountains," also known by its indigenous name Hyollye, is listed in the Samguk sagi ("History of the Three Kingdoms") and SAMGUK YUSA ("Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms") as one of the three mountains (samsan) and five peaks (o'ak) that were the objects of cultic worship during the Silla period; scholars, however, generally agree that this refers to another mountain closer to the Silla capital of KYoNGJU rather than what are now known as the Diamond Mountains. The current Diamond Mountains have had several names over the course of history, including Pongnae, P'ungak, Kaegol, Yolban, Kidal, Chunghyangsong, and Sangak, with "Kŭmgang" (S. VAJRA) becoming its accepted name around the fourteenth century. The name "Diamond Mountains" appears in the AVATAMSAKASuTRA as the place in the middle of the sea where the BODHISATTVA DHARMODGATA (K. Popki posal) resides, preaching the dharma to his congregation of bodhisattvas. The Huayan exegete CHENGGUAN (738-839), in his massive HUAYAN JING SHU, explicitly connects the AvataMsakasutra's mention of the Diamond Mountains to Korea (which he calls Haedong, using its traditional name). The AstASĀHASRIKĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ also says that the Dharmodgata (K. Tammugal; J. Donmuketsu; C. Tanwujian) preaches the PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ at GANDHAVATĪ (K. Chunghyangsong; C. Zhongxiangcheng; J. Shukojo, "City of Multitudinous Fragrances"), one of the alternate names of the Diamond Mountains and now the name of one of its individual peaks. According to the Koryo-period Kŭmgang Yujomsa sajok ki by Minji (1248-1326), on a visit to the Diamond Mountains made by ŬISANG (625-702), the vaunt-courier of the Hwaom (C. Huayan) school in Korea, Dharmodgata appeared to him and told him that Kŭmgangsan was the place in Korea where even people who do not practice could become liberated, whereas only religious virtuosi would be able to get enlightened on the Korean Odaesan (cf. C. WUTAISHAN). For all these reasons, Popki Posal is considered to be the patron bodhisattva of Kŭmgangsan. Starting in the late-Koryo dynasty, the Diamond Mountains became a popular pilgrimage site for Korean Buddhists. Before the devastation of the Korean War (1950-1953), it is said that there were some 108 monasteries located on Kŭmgangsan, including four primary ones: P'YOHUNSA, CHANGANSA, SIN'GYESA, and Mahayonsa. Mahayonsa, "Great Vehicle Monastery," was built by Ŭisang in 676 beneath Dharmodgata Peak (Popkibong) and was considered one of the ten great Hwaom monasteries (Hwaom siptae sach'al) of the Silla dynasty. Currently, the only active monasteries are P'yohunsa and its affiliated branch monasteries, a few remaining buildings of Mahayonsa, and Sin'gyesa, which was rebuilt starting in 2004 as a joint venture of the South Korean CHOGYE CHONG and the North Korean Buddhist Federation. In the late twentieth century, the Diamond Mountains were developed into a major tourist site, with funding provided by South Korean corporate investors, although access has been held hostage to the volatile politics of the Korean peninsula. ¶ In Japan, Diamond Mountains (KONGoSAN) is an alternate name for KATSURAGISAN in Nara, the principal residence of EN NO OZUNU (b. 634), the putative founder of the SHUGENDo school of Japanese esoterism, because he was considered to be a manifestation of the bodhisattva Dharmodgata.
Kyoto school. An influential school of modern and contemporary Japanese philosophy that is closely associated with philosophers from Kyoto University; it combines East Asian and especially MAHĀYĀNA Buddhist thought, such as ZEN and JoDO SHINSHu, with modern Western and especially German philosophy and Christian thought. NISHIDA KITARo (1870-1945), Tanabe Hajime (1885-1962), and NISHITANI KEIJI (1900-1991) are usually considered to be the school's three leading figures. The name "Kyoto school" was coined in 1932 by Tosaka Jun (1900-1945), a student of Nishida and Tanabe, who used it pejoratively to denounce Nishida and Tanabe's "Japanese bourgeois philosophy." Starting in the late 1970s, Western scholars began to research the philosophical insights of the Kyoto school, and especially the cross-cultural influences with Western philosophy. During the 1990s, the political dimensions of the school have also begun to receive scholarly attention. ¶ Although the school's philosophical perspectives have developed through mutual criticism between its leading figures, the foundational philosophical stance of the Kyoto school is considered to be based on a shared notion of "absolute nothingness." "Absolute nothingness" was coined by Nishida Kitaro and derives from a putatively Zen and PURE LAND emphasis on the doctrine of emptiness (suNYATĀ), which Kyoto school philosophers advocated was indicative of a distinctive Eastern approach to philosophical inquiry. This Eastern emphasis on nothingness stood in contrast to the fundamental focus in Western philosophy on the ontological notion of "being." Nishida Kitaro posits absolute nothingness topologically as the "site" or "locale" (basho) of nonduality, which overcomes the polarities of subject and object, or noetic and noematic. Another major concept in Nishida's philosophy is "self-awareness" (jikaku), a state of mind that transcends the subject-object bifurcation, which was initially adopted from William James' (1842-1910) notion of "pure experience" (J. junsui keiken); this intuition reveals a limitless, absolute reality that has been described in the West as God or in the East as emptiness. Tanabe Hajime subsequently criticized Nishida's "site of absolute nothingness" for two reasons: first, it was a suprarational religious intuition that transgresses against philosophical reasoning; and second, despite its claims to the contrary, it ultimately fell into a metaphysics of being. Despite his criticism of what he considered to be Nishida's pseudoreligious speculations, however, Tanabe's Shin Buddhist inclinations later led him to focus not on Nishida's Zen Buddhist-oriented "intuition," but instead on the religious aspect of "faith" as the operative force behind other-power (TARIKI). Inspired by both Nishida and such Western thinkers as Meister Eckhart (c. 1260-1327), Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), and Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) (with whom he studied), Nishitani Keiji developed the existential and phenomenological aspects of Nishida's philosophy of absolute nothingness. Concerned with how to reach the place of absolute nothingness, given the dilemma of, on the one hand, the incessant reification and objectification by a subjective ego and, on the other hand, the nullification of reality, he argued for the necessity of overcoming "nihilism." The Kyoto school thinkers also played a central role in the development of a Japanese political ideology around the time of the Pacific War, which elevated the Japanese race mentally and spiritually above other races and justified Japanese colonial expansion. Their writings helped lay the foundation for what came to be called Nihonjinron, a nationalist discourse that advocated the uniqueness and superiority of the Japanese race; at the same time, however, Nishida also resisted tendencies toward fascism and totalitarianism in Japanese politics. Since the 1990s, Kyoto school writings have come under critical scrutiny in light of their ties to Japanese exceptionalism and pre-war Japanese nationalism. These political dimensions of Kyoto school thought are now considered as important for scholarly examination as are its contributions to cross-cultural, comparative philosophy.
liberalism ::: In politics, a position that favors liberty as a political value. Liberalism has taken many meanings throughout history, but commonalities include a focus on individual liberty, democratic republicanism (liberal democracy), and equality under the law.
liberalism ::: n. --> Liberal principles; the principles and methods of the liberals in politics or religion; specifically, the principles of the Liberal party.
Locke also was a political, economic and religious thinker of note. A "latitudinarian" and broad churchman in theology and a liberal in politics, he argued against the divine right of kings and the authority of the Bible and the Church, and maintained that political sovereignty rests upon the consent of the governed, and ecclesiastical authority upon the consent of reason. He was also an ardent defender of freedom of thought and speech. Main works: Two Treatises on Gov't, 1689; Reasonableness in Christianity, 1695; Some Thoughts on Education, 1693; An Essay on Human Understanding, 1690. -- B.A.G.F.
mechanism design ::: A field in economics and game theory that takes an engineering approach to designing economic mechanisms or incentives, toward desired objectives, in strategic settings, where players act rationally. Because it starts at the end of the game, then goes backwards, it is also called reverse game theory. It has broad applications, from economics and politics (markets, auctions, voting procedures) to networked-systems (internet interdomain routing, sponsored search auctions).
moderatism ::: n. --> Moderation in doctrines or opinion, especially in politics or religion.
Montesquieu, Charles De Secondat: (1689-1755) French historian and writer in the field of politics. His Lettres persanes, thinly disguise trenchant criticism of the decadence of French society through the letters of two Persian visitors. His masterpiece, L'Esprit des Lois, gives a political and social philosophy in pointing the relation between the laws and the constitution of government. He finds a relation between all laws in the laws of laws, the necessary relations derived from the nature of things. In his analysis of the English constitution, he stressed the separation of powers in a manner that has had lasting influence though based on historical inaccuracy. -- L.E.D.
nativism ::: An opposition to immigration that originated in United States politics, that distinguishes between Americans who were born in the United States, and "first-generation" immigrants. It is based on fears the immigrants do not share supposedly American values.
newsgroup "messaging" One of {Usenet}'s huge collection of topic groups or {fora}. {Usenet} groups can be "unmoderated" (anyone can post) or "moderated" (submissions are automatically directed to a {moderator}, who edits or filters and then posts the results). Some newsgroups have parallel {mailing lists} for {Internet} people with no netnews access, with postings to the group automatically propagated to the list and vice versa. Some moderated groups (especially those which are actually gatewayed {Internet} {mailing lists}) are distributed as "{digests}", with groups of postings periodically collected into a single large posting with an index. Among the best-known are comp.lang.c (the {C}-language forum), comp.arch (on computer architectures), comp.Unix.wizards (for {Unix wizards}), rec.arts.sf-lovers (for science-fiction fans), and talk.politics.misc (miscellaneous political discussions and {flamage}). Barry Shein "bzs@world.std.com" is alleged to have said, "Remember the good old days when you could read all the group names in one day?" This gives a good idea of the growth and size of {Usenet}. See also {netiquette}. [{Jargon File}] (1994-12-13)
newsgroup ::: (messaging) One of Usenet's huge collection of topic groups or fora. Usenet groups can be unmoderated (anyone can post) or moderated (submissions groups of postings periodically collected into a single large posting with an index.Among the best-known are comp.lang.c (the C-language forum), comp.arch (on computer architectures), comp.Unix.wizards (for Unix wizards), rec.arts.sf-lovers (for science-fiction fans), and talk.politics.misc (miscellaneous political discussions and flamage).Barry Shein is alleged to have said, Remember the good old days when you could read all the group names in one day? This gives a good idea of the growth and size of Usenet.See also netiquette.[Jargon File] (1994-12-13)
Normative: (Lat. normatus, pp. of normo, square) Constituting a standard; regulative. Having to do with an established ideal. In scientific method: concerning those sciences which have subject-matters containing values, and which set up norms or rules of conduct, such as ethics, aesthetics, politics. The ideal formulation of any science. Opposite of empirical. -- J.K.F.
Nu, U. (1907-1995). Burmese (Myanmar) political leader and patron of Buddhism. (U is a Burmese honorific.) As a young man, U Nu became active in anti-British agitation and in 1936 was expelled by British authorities from the University of Rangoon law school for his political activities. Thereafter, he became a leader of the Burmese nationalist movement, adopting the nationalist title "Thakin" (master), along with his comrades Aung San, Ne Win, and others. On the eve of the Japanese invasion of Burma in 1942, he was imprisoned by the British as a potential agent. He was released by the Japanese occupation forces and served as the foreign minister of their puppet regime. With growing disenchantment at Japanese mistreatment of Burmese citizens, U Nu helped to organize a clandestine guerilla resistance force that assisted the British when they retook Burma. At the conclusion of World War II, he participated in negotiations with the British for Burmese independence. He became Burma's first prime minister and served three terms in office (1948-1956, 1957-1958, 1960-1962). A devout Buddhist, he organized under government auspices national monastic curricula, promoted the practice of insight meditation (VIPASSANĀ), and, in 1956, sponsored the convention of the sixth Buddhist council (according to Burmese reckoning; see COUNCIL, SIXTH) in celebration of the 2,500th anniversary of the Buddha's parinibbāna (S. PARINIRVĀnA). The council prepared a new Burmese edition of the Pāli canon (P. tipitaka; S. TRIPItAKA), together with its commentaries and sub-commentaries, which is currently used in Burmese monastic education. U Nu also attempted, unsuccessfully, to unite the several noncommensal fraternities (Burmese GAING) of the Burmese SAMGHA into a single body. While achieving much in the religious sphere, U Nu proved unable to cope with the political crises confronting his government, and Burma descended into civil war. He resigned as prime minister in 1956, returned to office in 1957, abdicated civilian government to General Ne Win in 1958, returned to office in 1960, and finally was deposed and arrested by Ne Win in a coup d'état in 1962. U Nu was released in 1968, and a year later he organized a resistance army from exile in Thailand. A rapprochement between U Nu and Ne Win was reached in 1980, and he was allowed to return to Burma, where he devoted himself to religious affairs, in particular as director of a Buddhist translation bureau located at Kaba Aye in Rangoon (Yangon). He again entered politics during the democracy uprising of 1988, setting up a symbolic provisional government when the then-ruling Burmese Socialist government collapsed. He was placed under house arrest in 1989 by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), a group composed of generals who succeeded Ne Win. He was released in 1992. A prolific writer on politics and Buddhism, his works include Buddhism: Theory and Practice, Burma under the Japanese, Unite and March, Towards Peace and Democracy, and his autobiography, Saturday's Son.
opposition ::: n. --> The act of opposing; an attempt to check, restrain, or defeat; resistance.
The state of being placed over against; situation so as to front something else.
Repugnance; contrariety of sentiment, interest, or purpose; antipathy.
That which opposes; an obstacle; specifically, the aggregate of persons or things opposing; hence, in politics and
pacifism ::: In ethics or politics, an opposition to war or violence. Can range from advocacy of peaceful solutions to problems, to a stance where all violence or force is considered morally wrong.
Pai chia: The "Hundred Schools," referring to the various tendencies of thought in philosophy, logic, ethics, law, politics, diplomacy, economics, agriculture, military science, etc, in the third and fourth centuries B.C. with Chi Hsia as a center. -- W.T.C.
political ::: a. --> Having, or conforming to, a settled system of administration.
Of or pertaining to public policy, or to politics; relating to affairs of state or administration; as, a political writer.
Of or pertaining to a party, or to parties, in the state; as, his political relations were with the Whigs.
Politic; wise; also, artful.
politicalism ::: n. --> Zeal or party spirit in politics.
Political Philosophy: That branch of philosophy which deals with political life, especially with the essence, origin and value of the state. In ancient philosophy politics also embraced what we call ethics. The first and most important ancient works on Political Philosophy were Plato's Politeia (Republic) and Aristotle's Politics. The Politeia outlines the structure and functions of the ideal state. It became the pattern for all the Utopias (see Utopia) of later times. Aristotle, who considers man fundamentally a social creature i.e. a political animal, created the basis for modern theories of government, especially by his distinction of the different forms of government. Early Christianity had a rather negative attitude towards the state which found expression in St. Augustine's De Civitate Dei. The influence of this work, in which the earthly state was declared to be civitas diaboli, a state of the devil, was predominant throughout the Middle Ages. In the discussion of the relation between church and empire, the main topic of medieval political philosophy, certain authors foreshadowed modern political theories. Thomas Aquinas stressed the popular origin of royal power and the right of the people to restrict or abolish that power in case of abuse; William of Ockham and Marsiglio of Padua held similar views. Dante Alighieri was one of the first to recognize the intrinsic value of the state; he considered the world monarchy to be the only means whereby peace, justice and liberty could be secured. But it was not until the Renaissance that, due to the rediscovery of the individual and his rights and to the formation of territorial states, political philosophy began to play a major role. Niccolo Machiavelli and Jean Bodin laid the foundation for the new theories of the state by stressing its independence from any external power and its indivisible sovereignty. The theory of popular rights and of the right of resistance against tyranny was especially advocated by the "Monarchomachi" (Huguenots, such as Beza, Hotman, Languet, Danaeus, Catholics such as Boucher, Rossaeus, Mariana). Most of them used the theory of an original contract (see Social Contract) to justify limitations of monarchical power. Later, the idea of a Natural Law, independent from divine revelation (Hugo Grotius and his followers), served as an argument for liberal -- sometimes revolutionary -- tendencies. With the exception of Hobbes, who used the contract theory in his plea for absolutism, almost all the publicists of the 16th and 17th century built their liberal theories upon the idea of an original covenant by which individuals joined together and by mutual consent formed a state and placed a fiduciary trust in the supreme power (Roger Williams and John Locke). It was this contract which the Pilgrim Fathers translated into actual facts, after their arrival in America, in November, 1620, long before John Locke had developed his theorv. In the course of the 17th century in England the contract theory was generally substituted for the theory of the divine rights of kings. It was supported by the assumption of an original "State of Nature" in which all men enjoyed equal reciprocal rights. The most ardent defender of the social contract theory in the 18th century was J. J. Rousseau who deeply influenced the philosophy of the French revolution. In Rousseau's conception the idea of the sovereignty of the people took on a more democratic aspect than in 17th century English political philosophy which had been almost exclusively aristocratic in its spirit. This tendency found expression in his concept of the "general will" in the moulding of which each individual has his share. Immanuel Kant who made these concepts the basis of his political philosophy, recognized more clearly than Rousseau the fictitious character of the social contract and treated it as a "regulative idea", meant to serve as a criterion in the evaluation of any act of the state. For Hegel the state is an end in itself, the supreme realization of reason and morality. In marked opposition to this point of view, Marx and Engels, though strongly influenced by Hegel, visualized a society in which the state would gradually fade away. Most of the 19th century publicists, however, upheld the juristic theory of the state. To them the state was the only source of law and at the same time invested with absolute sovereignty: there are no limits to the legal omnipotence of the state except those which are self imposed. In opposition to this doctrine of unified state authority, a pluralistic theory of sovereignty has been advanced recently by certain authors, laying emphasis upon corporate personalities and professional groups (Duguit, Krabbe, Laski). Outspoken anti-stateism was advocated by anarchists such as Kropotkin, etc., by syndicalists and Guild socialists. -- W.E.
politicaster ::: n. --> A petty politician; a pretender in politics.
politician ::: n. --> One versed or experienced in the science of government; one devoted to politics; a statesman.
One primarily devoted to his own advancement in public office, or to the success of a political party; -- used in a depreciatory sense; one addicted or attached to politics as managed by parties (see Politics, 2); a schemer; an intriguer; as, a mere politician.
politics ::: n. --> The science of government; that part of ethics which has to do with the regulation and government of a nation or state, the preservation of its safety, peace, and prosperity, the defense of its existence and rights against foreign control or conquest, the augmentation of its strength and resources, and the protection of its citizens in their rights, with the preservation and improvement of their morals.
The management of a political party; the conduct and
Pressure groups - Groups of people without direct political power who seek to influence decision makers in politics. business and society.
Proprioceptor: See Receptor. Prosyllogism: See Episyllogism. Protagoras of Abdera: (about 480-410 B.C.) A leading Sophist, renowned for his philosophical wisdom; author of many treatises on grammar, logic, ethics and politics; visited Athens on numerous occasions and was finally forced to flee after having been convicted of impiety. His famous formula that man is the measure of all things is indicative of his relativism which ultimately rests upon his theory of perception according to which we know only what we perceive but not the thing perceived. -- M.F.
Pythagoreanism: The doctrines (philosophical, mathematical, moral, and religious) of Pythagoras (c. 572-497) and of his school which flourished until about the end of the 4th century B.C. The Pythagorean philosophy was a dualism which sharply distinguished thought and the senses, the soul and the body, the mathematical forms of things and their perceptible appearances. The Pythagoreans supposed that the substances of all things were numbers and that all phenomena were sensuous expressions of mathematical ratios. For them the whole universe was harmony. They made important contributions to mathematics, astronomv, and physics (acoustics) and were the first to formulate the elementary principles and methods of arithmetic and geometry as taught in the first books of Euclid. But the Pythagorean sect was not only a philosophical and mathematical school (cf. K. von Fritz, Pythagorean Politics in Southern Italy, 1941), but also a religious brotherhood and a fellowship for moral reformation. They believed in the immortality and transmigration (see Metempsychosis) of the soul which they defined as the harmony of the body. To restore harmony which was confused by the senses was the goal of their Ethics and Politics. The religious ideas were closely related to those of the Greek mysteries which sought by various rites and abstinences to purify and redeem the soul. The attempt to combine this mysticism with their mathematical philosophy, led the Pythagoreans to the development of an intricate and somewhat fantastic symbolism which collected correspondences between numbers and things and for example identified the antithesis of odd and even with that of form and matter, the number 1 with reason, 2 with the soul, etc. Through their ideas the Pythagoreans had considerable effect on the development of Plato's thought and on the theories of the later Neo-platonists.
radicalism ::: n. --> The quality or state of being radical; specifically, the doctrines or principles of radicals in politics or social reform.
Rāstrapālaparipṛcchā. (T. Yul 'khor skyong gis zhus pa; C. Huguo pusahui [jing]; J. Gokoku bosatsue[kyo]; K. Hoguk posal hoe [kyong] 護國菩薩會[經]). In Sanskrit, "The Questions of RĀstRAPĀLA," one of the earliest MAHĀYĀNA sutras; the terminus ad quem for its composition is the third century CE, when DHARMARAKsA (c. 233-310) translated the sutra into Chinese (c. 270 CE), probably following a manuscript from the GANDHĀRA region in the KHAROstHĪ script. (The extant Sanskrit recension is much later.) There are also two later Chinese translations, one made c. 585-600 by JNĀNAGUPTA and other c. 980 by DĀNAPĀLA. The Rastrapāla represents a strand of early MAHĀYĀNA (found also in such sutras as the KĀsYAPAPARIVARTA and the UGRAPARIPṚCCHĀ) that viewed the large urban monasteries as being ill-suited to serious spiritual cultivation because of their need for constant fund-raising from the laity and their excessive entanglements in local politics. The Rāstrapāla strand of early Mahāyāna instead dedicated itself to forest dwelling (see ARANNAVĀSI) away from the cities, like the "rhinoceros" (KHAdGAVIsĀnA), and advocated a return to the rigorous asceticism (S. DHuTAGUnA; see P. DHUTAnGA) that was thought to characterize the early SAMGHA. To the Rāstrapāla author(s), the Buddha's own infinitely long career as a bodhisattva was an exercise in self-sacrifice and physical endurance, which they in turn sought to emulate through their own asceticism. The physical perfection the Buddha achieved through this long training, as evidenced in his acquisition of the thirty-two major marks of the superman (MAHĀPURUsALAKsAnA), receives special attention in the sutra. This approach is in marked contrast to other early Mahāyāna sutras, such as the AstASĀHASRIKĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ, which were suspicious of the motives of forest dwellers and supportive of cenobitic monasticism in the towns and cities, where monks and nuns would be in a better position to serve the laity by preaching the dharma to them.
Renwang jing. (J. Ninnogyo; K. Inwang kyong 仁王經). In Chinese, "Scripture for Humane Kings"; an influential indigenous Chinese scripture (see APOCRYPHA), known especially for its role in "state protection Buddhism" (HUGUO FOJIAO) and for its comprehensive outline of the Buddhist path of practice (MĀRGA). Its full title (infra) suggests that the scripture belongs to the "perfection of wisdom" (PRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀ) genre of literature, but it includes also elements drawn from both the YOGĀCĀRA and TATHĀGATAGARBHA traditions. The text's audience and interlocutors are not the typical sRĀVAKAs and BODHISATTVAs but instead kings hailing from the sixteen ancient regions of India, who beseech the Buddha to speak this sutra in order to protect both their states and their subjects from the chaos attending the extinction of the dharma (MOFA; SADDHARMAVIPRALOPA). By having kings rather than spiritual mentors serve as the interlocutors, the scripture thus focuses on those qualities thought to be essential to governing a state founded on Buddhist principles. The text's concepts of authority, the path, and the world draw analogies with the "humane kings" of this world who serve and venerate the transcendent monks and bodhisattvas. The service and worship rendered by the kings turns them into bodhisattvas, while the soteriological vocation of the monks and bodhisattvas conversely renders them kings. Thus, the relationship between the state and the religion is symbiotic. The sutra is now generally presumed to be an indigenous Chinese scripture that was composed to buttress imperial authority by exalting the benevolent ruler as a defender of the dharma. The Renwang jing is also known for including the ten levels of faith (sRADDHĀ) as a preliminary stage of the Buddhist path prior to the arousal of the thought of enlightenment (BODHICITTOTPĀDA). It is one of a number of Chinese Buddhist apocrypha that seek to provide a comprehensive elaboration of all fifty-two stages of the path, including the PUSA YINGLUO BENYE JING and the YUANJUE JING. The Renwang jing is not known in Sanskrit sources, but there are two recensions of the Chinese text. The first, Renwang bore boluomi jing, is purported to have been translated by KUMĀRAJĪVA and is dated to c. 402, and the latter, titled Renwang huguo bore boluomiduo jing, is attributed to AMOGHAVAJRA and dated to 765. The Amoghavajra recension is based substantially on the Kumārajīva text, but includes additional teachings on MAndALA, MANTRA, and DHĀRAnĪ, additions that reflect Amoghavajra's place in the Chinese esoteric Buddhist tradition. Furthermore, because Amoghavajra was an advisor to three Tang-dynasty rulers, his involvement in contemporary politics may also have helped to shape the later version. Chinese scriptural catalogues (JINGLU) were already suspicious about the authenticity of the Renwang jing as least as early as Fajing's 594 Zhongjing mulu; Fajing lists the text together with twenty-one other scriptures of doubtful authenticity (YIJING), because its content and diction do not resemble those of the ascribed translator. Modern scholars have also recognized these content issues. One of the more egregious examples is the RENWANG JING's reference to four different perfection of wisdom (prajNāpāramitā) sutras that the Buddha is said to have proclaimed; two of the sutras listed are, however, simply different Chinese translations of the same text, the PANCAVIMsATISĀHASRIKĀPRAJNĀPĀRAMITĀSuTRA, a blunder that an Indian author could obviously not have committed. Another example is the scripture's discussion of a three-truth SAMĀDHI (sandi sanmei), in which these three types of concentrations are named worldly truth (shidi), authentic truth (zhendi), and supreme-meaning truth (diyiyidi). This schema is peculiar, and betrays its Chinese origins, because "authentic truth" and "supreme-meaning truth" are actually just different Chinese renderings of the same Sanskrit term, PARAMĀTHASATYA. Based on other internal evidence, scholars have dated the composition of the sutra to sometime around the middle of the fifth century. Whatever its provenance, the text is ultimately reclassified as an authentic translation in the 602 catalogue Zongjing mulu by Yancong and continues to be so listed in all subsequent East Asian catalogues. See also APOCRYPHA; SANDI.
Rnying ma. (Nyingma). In Tibetan, "Ancient," the name of one of the four major sects of Tibetan Buddhism. The name derives from the sect's origins during the "early dissemination" (SNGA DAR) of Buddhism in Tibet and its reliance on translations of TANTRAs made during that period; this is in distinction to the new (GSAR MA) sects of BKA' BRGYUD, SA SKYA, and DGE LUGS, all of which arose during the later dissemination (PHYI DAR) and make use of newer translations. The Rnying ma is thus "ancient" in relation to the new sects and only began to be designated as such after their appearance. The sect traces its origins back to the teachings of the mysterious figure of PADMASAMBHAVA, who visited Tibet during the eighth century and is said to have hidden many texts, called "treasures" (GTER MA), to be discovered in the future. In addition to the Buddhist canon accepted by all sects of Tibetan Buddhism, the Rnying ma adds another collection of tantras (the RNYING MA'I RGYUD 'BUM) as well as the discovered "treasure" (GTER MA) texts to their canonical corpus, works that in many cases the other sects regard as APOCRYPHA, i.e., not of Indian origin. Rnying ma identifies nine vehicles among the corpus of Buddhist teachings, the highest of which is known as ATIYOGA or, more commonly, the "great perfection" (RDZOGS CHEN). These teachings describe the mind as the primordial basis, characterized by qualities such as presence, spontaneity, luminosity, original purity, unobstructed freedom, expanse, clarity, self-liberation, openness, effortlessness, and intrinsic awareness. It is not accessible through conceptual elaboration or logical analysis. Rather, the primordial basis is an eternally pure state free from the dualism of subject and object, infinite and perfect from the beginning, and ever complete. The technique for the discovery of the ubiquitous original purity and self-liberation is to engage in a variety of practices designed to eliminate karmic obstructions, at which point the mind eliminates all thoughts and experiences itself, thereby recognizing its true nature. The rdzogs chen doctrine does not seem to derive directly from any of the Indian philosophical schools; its precise connections to the Indian Buddhist tradition have yet to be established. Some scholars have claimed an historical link and doctrinal affinity between rdzogs chen and the CHAN tradition of Chinese Buddhism, but the precise relationship between the two remains to be fully investigated. It is noteworthy that certain of the earliest extant rdzogs chen texts specifically contrast their own tradition with that of Chan. In comparison to the Dge lugs, Bka' brgyud, and Sa skya, the Rnying ma (with some important exceptions, notably at the time of the fifth DALAI LAMA) remained largely uninvolved in state politics, both within Tibet and in foreign relations. Although they developed great monasteries, such as SMIN GROL GLING, RDZOGS CHEN, and RDO RJE BRAG, the Rnying ma also maintained a strong local presence as lay tantric practitioners (sngags pa) who performed a range of ritual functions for the community. The Rnying ma produced many famous scholars and visionaries, such as KLONG CHEN RAB 'BYAMS, 'JIGS MED GLING PA, and MI PHAM. In the nineteenth century, Rnying ma scholars played a key role in the so-called nonsectarian movement (RIS MED) in eastern Tibet, which produced many important new texts.
Rule of inference: See logic, formal, §§ 1, 3, and logistic system. Russell, Bertrand A. W.: (1872-) Fellow Trinity College, Cambridge, 1895; lecturer in philosophy, University of Cambridge, 1910-1916. Author of: The Philosophy of Leibniz, 1900; The Principles of Mathematics, 1903; Principia Mathematica (in collaboration with A. N. Whitehead), 3 vols. 1910-13, (second edition, 1925-27); The Problems of Philosophy, 1912; Our Knowledge of the External World, 1914; Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy, 1918; The Analysis of Mind, 1921; The Analysis of Matter, 1927; An Outline of Philosophy, 1928; An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth, 1940. Also numerous other works on philosophy, politics and education, outrageously attacked by reactionaries.
Schorer, Mark. William Blake, the Politics of Vision.
secularism ::: In politics, the notion of the independence of the state from religion; the advocacy of a state that is neutral on matters of religious belief. Secularism, or religious freedom, is usually considered to go both ways: the state should not compel the people to follow (or not follow) a religion, and likewise religious doctrines should not influence the actions of the state.
Sharia ::: The moral and legal code of Islam. The word sharia derives from an Arabic word meaning path or way. In its strictest definition, sharia refers to divine principles and laws as set down explicitly in the Quran and the hadith and sunna. to some Muslims, sharia also may broadly include Islamic jurisprudence and interpretation (see: fiqh). Sharia offers moral and legal guidance for nearly all aspects of life, including contracts and transactions; politics and crime; civil and family relations; worship; and personal conduct such as diet, attire, and hygiene.
Social_economics ::: is a branch of economics that focuses on the relationship between social behavior and economics. It examines how social norms, ethics and other social philosophies influence consumer behavior and shape an economy, and uses history, politics and other social sciences to predict potential results from changes to society or the economy. Social economic theories do not move in lockstep with those of orthodox schools of economics. Therefore, traditional schools of thought often assume that actors are self-interested and make rational decisions. Social economic theories often consider subject matter outside the focus of mainstream economics including the effect of the environment and ecology on consumption and wealth.
Soka Gakkai. (創價學會/創価学会). In Japanese, "Value-Creating Society," a Japanese Buddhist lay organization associated with the NICHIRENSHu, founded by MAKIGUCHI TSUNESABURO (1871-1944) and his disciple Toda Josei (1900-1958). Formerly a teacher, Makiguchi became a follower of Nichiren's teachings, finding that they supported his own ideas about engendering social and religious values, and converted to NICHIREN SHoSHu in 1928. In 1930, he established a lay organization under the umbrella of the Nichiren Shoshu, which initially called itself the Soka Kyoiku Gakkai (Creating Educational Values Society), and led its first general meeting. After its inauguration, the society began to take on a decidedly religious character, focusing on missionary work for Nichiren Shoshu. As the Pacific War expanded, Makiguchi and his followers refused to cooperate with state-enforced SHINTo practices, leading to a rift between them and TAISEKIJI, the head monastery of Nichiren Shoshu. In 1943, the society almost disintegrated with the imprisonment of Makiguchi and Toda, along with twenty other leaders charged with lèse-majesté and violations of the Public Order Act, which required each family to enshrine a Shinto talisman in its home. Makiguchi died in 1944 in prison, but Toda survived and was released on parole in July 1945. After his release, Toda took charge of the organization, renaming it Soka Gakkai in 1946. He successfully led a massive proselytization campaign that gained Soka Gakkai and Nichiren Shoshu vast numbers of new converts and by the late 1950s, upwards of 750,000 families had become adherents. After Toda died in 1958, IKEDA DAISAKU (b. 1928) became its third president and the society grew even more rapidly in Japan during the 1960s and the 1970s. In 1975, Ikeda also founded Soka Gakkai International (SGI), which disseminated the society's values around the world. Soka Gakkai publishes numerous books and periodicals, as well as a daily newspaper in Japan. During this period, Soka Gakkai also became involved in Japanese domestic politics, establishing its own political party, the Komeito (Clean Government Party) in 1964, which became completely separate and independent from the Soka Gakkai in 1970. The society also supported Taisekiji with massive donations, including raising the funds for a new main shrine hall for the monastery. Soka Gakkai, like other groups in the Nichiren lineage, focuses on worship of the SADDHARMAPUndARĪKASuTRA ("Lotus Sutra") and its adherents are expected to chant daily the title (DAIMOKU) of the sutra, NAM MYoHoRENGEKYo, as well as recite the most important sections of the sutra and study Nichiren's writings. Soka Gakkai believes that all beings possess the capacity to attain buddhahood and emphasizes the ability of each person's buddha-nature to overcome obstacles and achieve happiness. Soka Gakkai followers can accomplish these goals through a "human revolution" (the title of one of Ikeda's books) that creates a sense of oneness between the individual and the environment, thus demonstrating how each individual can positively affect the surrounding world. As tensions grew between the Nichiren Shoshu and its increasingly powerful lay subsidiary, Nikken (b. 1922), the sixty-seventh chief priest of Nichiren Shoshu, tried to bring its membership directly under his control. His efforts were ultimately unsuccessful and he excommunicated the Soka Gakkai in 1991, forbidding Soka Gakkai followers from having access to the holiest shrines associated with Nichiren. Sokka Gakkai remains at the center of controversy because of its strong emphasis on recruitment and proselytization, its demonization of enemies, and a mentorship structure within the organization that some claim creates a cult of personality centered on Ikeda. Soka Gakkai remains among the largest Buddhist organizations in the Western world.
sophist ::: n. --> One of a class of men who taught eloquence, philosophy, and politics in ancient Greece; especially, one of those who, by their fallacious but plausible reasoning, puzzled inquirers after truth, weakened the faith of the people, and drew upon themselves general hatred and contempt.
Hence, an impostor in argument; a captious or fallacious reasoner.
sorehead ::: n. --> One who is disgruntled by a failure in politics, or the like.
spam ::: 1. (messaging) (From Hormel's Spiced Ham, via the Monty Python Spam song) To post irrelevant or inappropriate messages to one or more Usenet newsgroups, mailing lists, or other messaging system in deliberate or accidental violation of netiquette.It is possible to spam a newsgroup with one well- (or ill-) planned message, e.g. asking What do you think of abortion? on soc.women. This can be done by alt.politics.homosexuality will almost inevitably spam both groups. (Compare troll and flame bait).Posting a message to a significant proportion of all newsgroups is a sure way to spam Usenet and become an object of almost universal hatred. Canter and Siegel spammed the net with their Green card post.If you see an article which you think is a deliberate spam, DO NOT post a follow-up - doing so will only contribute to the general annoyance. Send a the apparent sender's account might have been used by someone else without his permission.The word was coined as the winning entry in a 1937 competition to choose a name for Hormel Foods Corporation's spiced meat (now officially known as SPAM Times Herald describing Public Relations as throwing a can of spam into an electric fan just to see if any of it would stick to the unwary passersby.Usenet newsgroup: news.admin.net-abuse.See also netiquette.2. (A narrowing of sense 1, above) To indiscriminately send large amounts of unsolicited e-mail meant to promote a product or service. Spam in this sense is sort of like the electronic equivalent of junk mail sent to Occupant.In the 1990s, with the rise in commercial awareness of the net, there are actually scumbags who offer spamming as a service to companies wishing to addresses, Usenet news, or mailing lists. Such practises have caused outrage and aggressive reaction by many net users against the individuals concerned.3. (Apparently a generalisation of sense 2, above) To abuse any network service or tool by for promotional purposes.AltaVista is an index, not a promotional tool. Attempts to fill it with promotional material lower the value of the index for everyone. [...] We will disallow URL submissions from those who spam the index. In extreme cases, we will exclude all their pages from the index. -- Altavista.4. (jargon, programming) To crash a program by overrunning a fixed-size buffer with excessively large input data.See also buffer overflow, overrun screw, smash the stack.5. (chat, games) (A narrowing of sense 1, above) To flood any chat forum or Internet game with purposefully annoying text or macros. Compare Scrolling.(2003-09-21)
spam 1. "messaging" (From Hormel's Spiced Ham, via the Monty Python "Spam" song) To post irrelevant or inappropriate messages to one or more {Usenet} {newsgroups}, {mailing lists}, or other messaging system in deliberate or accidental violation of {netiquette}. It is possible to spam a newsgroup with one well- (or ill-) planned message, e.g. asking "What do you think of abortion?" on soc.women. This can be done by {cross-post}ing, e.g. any message which is crossposted to alt.rush-limbaugh and alt.politics.homosexuality will almost inevitably spam both groups. (Compare {troll} and {flame bait}). Posting a message to a significant proportion of all newsgroups is a sure way to spam Usenet and become an object of almost universal hatred. Canter and Siegel spammed the net with their Green card post. If you see an article which you think is a deliberate spam, DO NOT post a {follow-up} - doing so will only contribute to the general annoyance. Send a polite message to the poster by private e-mail and CC it to "postmaster" at the same address. Bear in mind that the posting's origin might have been forged or the apparent sender's account might have been used by someone else without his permission. The word was coined as the winning entry in a 1937 competition to choose a name for Hormel Foods Corporation's "spiced meat" (now officially known as "SPAM luncheon meat"). Correspondant Bob White claims the modern use of the term predates Monty Python by at least ten years. He cites an editor for the Dallas Times Herald describing Public Relations as "throwing a can of spam into an electric fan just to see if any of it would stick to the unwary passersby." {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:news.admin.net-abuse}. See also {netiquette}. 2. (A narrowing of sense 1, above) To indiscriminately send large amounts of unsolicited {e-mail} meant to promote a product or service. Spam in this sense is sort of like the electronic equivalent of junk mail sent to "Occupant". In the 1990s, with the rise in commercial awareness of the net, there are actually scumbags who offer spamming as a "service" to companies wishing to advertise on the net. They do this by mailing to collections of {e-mail} addresses, Usenet news, or mailing lists. Such practises have caused outrage and aggressive reaction by many net users against the individuals concerned. 3. (Apparently a generalisation of sense 2, above) To abuse any network service or tool by for promotional purposes. "AltaVista is an {index}, not a promotional tool. Attempts to fill it with promotional material lower the value of the index for everyone. [...] We will disallow {URL} submissions from those who spam the index. In extreme cases, we will exclude all their pages from the index." -- {Altavista}. 4. "jargon, programming" To crash a program by overrunning a fixed-size {buffer} with excessively large input data. See also {buffer overflow}, {overrun screw}, {smash the stack}. 5. "chat, games" (A narrowing of sense 1, above) To flood any {chat} forum or {Internet game} with purposefully annoying text or macros. Compare {Scrolling}. (2003-09-21)
Spencer, Herbert: (1820-1903) was the great English philosopher who devoted a life time to the formulation and execution of a plan to follow the idea of development as a first principle through all the avenues of human thought. A precursor of Darwin with his famous notion of all organic evolution as a change "from homogeneity to heterogenity," from the simple to the complex, he nevertheless was greatly influenced by the Darwinian hypothesis and employed its arguments in his monumental works in biology, psychology, sociology and ethics. He aimed to interpret life, mind and society in terms of matter, motion and force. In politics, he evidenced from his earliest writings a strong bias for individualism. See Evolutionism, Charles Darwin. -- L.E.D.
sphinx ::: n. --> In Egyptian art, an image of granite or porphyry, having a human head, or the head of a ram or of a hawk, upon the wingless body of a lion.
On Greek art and mythology, a she-monster, usually represented as having the winged body of a lion, and the face and breast of a young woman.
Hence: A person of enigmatical character and purposes, especially in politics and diplomacy.
spoilsman ::: n. --> One who serves a cause or a party for a share of the spoils; in United States politics, one who makes or recognizes a demand for public office on the ground of partisan service; also, one who sanctions such a policy in appointments to the public service.
SQL "language, database, standard" /S Q L/ An industry-standard language for creating, updating and, querying {relational database management systems}. SQL was developed by {IBM} in the 1970s for use in {System R}. It is the {de facto standard} as well as being an {ISO} and {ANSI} {standard}. It is often embedded in general purpose programming languages. The first SQL standard, in 1986, provided basic language constructs for defining and manipulating {tables} of data; a revision in 1989 added language extensions for {referential integrity} and generalised {integrity} {constraints}. Another revision in 1992 provided facilities for {schema} manipulation and {data administration}, as well as substantial enhancements for data definition and data manipulation. Development is currently underway to enhance SQL into a computationally complete language for the definition and management of {persistent}, complex objects. This includes: generalisation and specialisation hierarchies, {multiple inheritance}, user defined {data types}, {triggers} and {assertions}, support for {knowledge based systems}, {recursive query expressions}, and additional data administration tools. It also includes the specification of {abstract data types} (ADTs), object identifiers, {methods}, {inheritance}, {polymorphism}, {encapsulation}, and all of the other facilities normally associated with object data management. The emerging {SQL3} standard is expected to be complete in 1998. According to Allen G. Taylor, SQL does __not__ stand for "Structured Query Language". That, like "SEQUEL" (and its pronunciation /see'kw*l/), was just another unofficial name for a precursor of SQL. However, the IBM SQL Reference manual for DB2 and Craig Mullins's "DB2 Developer's Guide" say SQL __does__ stand for "Structured Query Language". {SQL Standards (http://jcc.com/sql_stnd.html)}. {An SQL parser (ftp://ftp.ora.com/published/oreilly/nutshell/lexyacc/)} is described in "Lex & Yacc", by Levine, Mason & Brown published by O'Reilly. {The 1995 SQL Reunion: People, Projects, and Politics (http://mcjones.org/System_R/SQL_Reunion_95/)}. ["A Guide to the SQL Standard", C.J. Date, A-W 1987]. ["SQL for Dummies", Allen G. Taylor, IDG Books Worldwide]. (2005-11-17)
statemonger ::: n. --> One versed in politics, or one who dabbles in state affairs.
striker ::: n. --> One who, or that which, strikes; specifically, a blacksmith&
St. Thomas was a teacher and a writer for some twenty years (1254-1273). Among his works are: Scriptum in IV Libros Sententiarum (1254-1256), Summa Contra Gentiles (c. 1260), Summa Theologica (1265-1272); commentaries on Boethius. (De Trinitate, c. 1257-1258), on Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite (De Divinis Nominibus, c. 1261), on the anonymous and important Liber de Causis (1268), and especially on Aristotle's works (1261-1272), Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, On the Soul, Posterior Analytics, On Interpretation, On the Heavens, On Generation and Corruption; Quaestiones Disputatae, which includes questions on such large subjects as De Veritate (1256-1259); De Potentia (1259-1263); De Malo (1263-1268); De Spiritualibus Creaturis, De Anima (1269-1270); small treatises or Opuscula, among which especially noteworthy are the De Ente et Essentia (1256); De Aeternitate Mundi (1270), De Unitate Intellecus (1270), De Substantiis Separatis (1272). While it is extremely difficult to grasp in its entirety the personality behind this complex theological and philosophical activity, some points are quite clear and beyond dispute. During the first five years of his activity as a thinker and a teacher, St. Thomas seems to have formulated his most fundamental ideas in their definite form, to have clarified his historical conceptions of Greek and Arabian philosophers, and to have made more precise and even corrected his doctrinal positions, (cf., e.g., the change on the question of creation between In II Sent., d.l, q.l, a.3, and the later De Potentia, q. III, a.4). This is natural enough, though we cannot pretend to explain why he should have come to think as he did. The more he grew, and that very rapidly, towards maturity, the more his thought became inextricably involved in the defense of Aristotle (beginning with c. 1260), his texts and his ideas, against the Averroists, who were then beginning to become prominent in the faculty of arts at the University of Paris; against the traditional Augustinianism of a man like St. Bonaventure; as well as against that more subtle Augustinianism which could breathe some of the spirit of Augustine, speak the language of Aristotle, but expound, with increasing faithfulness and therefore more imminent disaster, Christian ideas through the Neoplatonic techniques of Avicenna. This last group includes such different thinkers as St. Albert the Great, Henry of Ghent, the many disciples of St. Bonaventure, including, some think, Duns Scotus himself, and Meister Eckhart of Hochheim.
T'aego Pou. (太古普愚) (1301-1382). In Korean, "Grand Ancient, Universal Stupidity"; SoN master of the late Koryo dynasty, who is presumed to have introduced the lineage of the LINJI ZONG (K. Imje chong) of the Chinese CHAN school to Korea. T'aego was a native of Hongju in present-day South Ch'ungchong province. He is said to have been born into the prominent family of a court official and ordained as a youth in 1313 by the monk Kwangji (d.u.) at the monastery of Hoeamsa (Kyonggi province). T'aego later passed the clerical examinations (SŬNGKWA) for specialists of the Hwaom (C. HUAYAN) school in 1329. While investigating the Chan case (GONG'AN) "the ten thousand dharmas return to one" (case 45 of the BIYAN LU) in 1333, T'aego is said to have attained his first awakening at the monastery of Kamnosa in Songso (South Cholla province). Four years later, he is said to have had another awakening while investigating ZHAOZHOU CONGSHEN's WU GONG'AN. In 1341, he built a hermitage near the monastery Chŭnghŭngsa on Mt. Samgak (Kyonggi province) named T'aegoam, whence he acquired his toponym. In 1346, T'aego headed for China, where he resided at the monastery of Daguangsi in the Yuan capital of Yanjing. T'aego is also said to have visited the eminent Chan master Shiwu Qinggong (1272-1352) and received his seal of transmission (C. YINKE, K. in'ga) and thus an affiliation with Shiwu's Linji lineage. After T'aego returned to Korea in 1348, he retired to Miwon on Mt. Sosol (Kyonggi province). In 1356, he was summoned to the Koryo capital of Kaesong, where he taught at the influential monastery of Pongŭnsa. That same year he was appointed the king's personal instructor, or "royal preceptor" (wangsa), and abbot of the monastery KWANGMYoNGSA, the major Son monastery in the capital. T'aego continued to serve as the personal advisor to successive kings until his death on Mt. Sosol in 1382. His teachings are recorded in the T'aego hwasang orok. ¶ In the last half of the twentieth century, attempts to trace the orthodox lineage of the contemporary Korean CHOGYE CHONG back to T'aego and his Chinese Linji lineage rather than to POJO CHINUL (1158-1210) caused a rift within the Korean Buddhist community. The focus of the critique is Chinul's putatively "gradualist" approach to Son Buddhist soteriology (viz., his advocacy of tono chomsu, C. DUNWU JIANXIU) and Chinul's lack of an authentic dharma transmission from a recognized Chan or Son master (he is known to have been an autodidact). T'aego was therefore credited with initiating true Son orthodoxy in Korea, based on T'aego's transmission from Shiwu Qinggong, an authentic successor in the Chinese Linji school with its quintessentially "sudden awakening" (DUNWU) soteriology. This issue remains a matter of unremitting controversy in contemporary Chogye order politics. T'aego's name has also been adopted by the T'AEGO CHONG, a modern order of Korean married monks, in order to give a patina of orthodoxy to its school as well.
The extant works of Aristotle cover almost all thc sciences known in his time. They are charactenzed by subtlety of analysis, sober and dispassionate judgment, and a wide mastery of empirical facts; collectively they constitute one of the most amazing achievements ever credited to a single mind. They may conveniently be arranged in seven groups: the Organon, or logical treatises, viz. Categories, De Interpretione, Prior Analytics, Posterior Analytics, Topics, and Sophistici Elenchi; the writings on physical science, viz. Physics, De Coelo, De Generatione et Corruptione, and Meteorologica; the biological works, viz. Historia Animalium, De Partibus Animalium. De Motu and De Incessu Animalium, and De Generatione Animalium; the treatises on psychology, viz. De Anima and a collection of shorter works known as the Parva Naturalia; the Metaphysics; the treatises on ethics and politics, viz. Nicomachean Ethics, Eudemian Ethics, Politics, Constitution of Athens; and two works dealing with the literary arts, Rhetoric and Poetics. A large number of other works in these several fields are usually included in the Aristotelian corpus, though they are now generally believed not to have been written by Aristotle. It is probable also that portions of the works above listed are the work, not of Aristotle, but of his contemporaries or successors in the Lyceum.
The line of Karma pas originated during the twelfth century with DUS GSUM MKHYEN PA, a close disciple of SGAM PO PA BSOD NAMS RIN CHEN, who had himself studied under the famous YOGIN MI LA RAS PA. Dus gsum mkhyen pa established several important monasteries, including Mtshur phu, which served as the main seat of the Karma pas and the Karma bka' brgyud in central Tibet. Dus gsum mkhyen pa's successor, the second Karma pa KARMA PAKSHI, is remembered especially for his prowess in meditation and thaumaturgy. He was patronized by the Mongols, first by Mongke (1209-1259) and later by his brother, the Yuan emperor Qubilai Khan (r. 1260-1294) before losing the emperor's support. The third Karma pa RANG 'BYUNG RDO RJE continued this affiliation with the Mongol court, playing a role in emperor Toghun Temür's (r. 1333-1368) ascension to the throne. The fourth Karma pa Rol pa'i rdo rje and fifth Karma pa Bde bzhin gshegs pa maintained ties with the Chinese court-the former with Toghun Temür and the latter serving as the preceptor of the Yongle emperor (reigned 1402-1424) of the Ming dynasty, a position of great influence. The sixth Karma pa Mthong ba don ldan did not maintain the same political connections of his predecessors; he is remembered especially for his contributions to the religious life of the Karma bka' brgyud, producing meditation and ritual manuals. The seventh Karma pa Chos grags rgya mtsho is known primarily for his philosophical works on logic and epistemology (PRAMĀnA); his voluminous text on the topic is still used today as a principal textbook in many Bka' brgyud monasteries. The eighth Karma pa MI BSKYOD RDO RJE is among the most renowned scholars of his generation, a prolific author whose writings encompassed Sanskrit, poetry, and art, as well as MADHYAMAKA philosophy and tantra. The ninth Karma pa DBANG PHYUG RDO RJE is revered for his influential works on the theory and practice of MAHĀMUDRĀ. It was during his lifetime that the DGE LUGS hierarchs ascended to power, with an attendant decline in the political fortunes of his sect in central Tibet. His successor, the tenth Karma pa Chos kyi dbang phyug, was thus forced into a life of virtual exile near the Sino-Tibetan border in the east as his patron, the king of Gtsang, was defeated by the Gushri Khan, patron of the Dge lugs. As the war came to an end, the tenth Karma pa returned to LHA SA where he established ties with the fifth Dalai Lama NGAG DBANG BLO BZANG RGYA MTSHO. The eleventh Karma pa Ye shes rdo rje and twelfth Karma pa Byang chub rdo rje lived relatively short lives, although the latter made an important journey through Nepal together with his disciple, the brilliant scholar and Sanskritist Si tu CHOS KYI 'BYUNG GNAS. The life of the thirteenth Karma pa Bdud 'dul rdo rje was, for the most part, lived outside the sphere of politics. He is remembered for his love of animals, to which he taught the dharma. Beginning during his lifetime and continuing into that of the fourteenth Karma pa Theg mchog rdo rje, there was a revival of Bka' brgyud doctrine in the eastern Tibetan province of Khams, as part of what has come to be called the RIS MED or non-sectarian movement. The fourteenth Karma pa's disciple, 'JAM MGON KONGS SPRUL BLO GROS MTHA' YAS, played a leading role. The fifteenth Karma pa Mkha' khyab rdo rje, a principal disciple of 'Jam mgon kongs sprul, was a prolific scholar. The sixteenth Karma pa RANG 'BYUNG RIG PA'I RDO RJE, like other lamas of his generation, saw the Communist Chinese occupation of Tibet, fleeing to India in 1959 and establishing an exile seat at Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim. He was the first Karma pa to visit the West. The seventeenth Karma pa O rgyan 'phrin las rdo rje was enthroned at Mtshur phu monastery on September 27, 1992. In late December 2000, he escaped into exile, establishing a residence in Dharamsala, India. Although his identification as the Karma pa has been disputed by a small number of followers of a rival candidate, O rgyan 'phrin las rdo rje is regarded as the seventeenth Karma pa by the majority of the Tibetan community, including the Dalai Lama.
Theocracy: (Gr. theos, god, kratos, government, power) A view of political organization in which God is sole ruler. All political laws come under what is held to be the Divine Will. Church and State become one. Examples the development of the Hebrew ideal and Judaism, Mohammedan politics, Calvinism in Geneva, Puritan New England. -- V.F.
The philosophical aspect of Marxism is known as dialectical materialism (q.v.); in epistemology it adopts empiricism; in axiology, an interest theory of value strongly tinged, in places, with humanitarianism. The social theory of Marxism centers around the concepts of basic (but not complete) economic determinism (q.v.), and the class character of society. In economics it maintains a labor theory of value (q.v.) which involves the concept of surplus value (q.v.) in the capitalistic mode of production. Upon the basis of its analysis of capitalism, Marxism erects the ethical conclusion that capitalism is unjust and ought to be supplanted by socialism. It predicts for the more or less immediate future the decay of capitalism, an inevitable and victorious revolution of the workers, and the establishing of socialism under the dictatorship of the proletariat. It looks forward to the ultimate goal of the "withering away of the state" leading to a classless society, communistic in economy and self-regulatory in politics. -- M.B.M.
Thub bstan rgya mtsho. (Tupten Gyatso) (1876-1933). The thirteenth DALAI LAMA of Tibet, remembered as a particularly forward-thinking and politically astute leader. Born in southeastern Tibet, he was recognized as the new Dalai Lama in 1878 and enthroned the next year. Surviving an assassination attempt (using black magic) by his regent, he assumed the duties of his office in 1895 during a period of complicated international politics between Britain, Russia, and China. British troops under the command of Col. Francis Younghusband entered Tibet in 1903. Before the British arrived in LHA SA the following year, the Dalai Lama fled to Mongolia and then continued to China, not returning to Lha sa until 1909. The following year, Chinese Manchu troops invaded Tibet and the Dalai Lama fled to India, returning in 1912. In 1912, the Manchu troops were expelled, and in 1913 the Dalai Lama declared Tibet's de facto independence. A progressive thinker, the thirteenth Dalai Lama made direct contact with Europe and the United States, and befriended Sir Charles Bell, the British political officer in Sikkim, Bhutan, and Tibet. He tried, unsuccessfully, to have Tibet admitted to the League of Nations, developed Tibet's first modern army, and sent the first young Tibetans to be educated in England. Most of his progressive plans, however, were thwarted by conservative religious and political forces within Tibet. The thirteenth Dalai Lama died in 1933, leaving behind a chilling prophecy, which read in part: "The monasteries will be looted and destroyed, and the monks and nuns killed or chased away. The great works of the noble dharma kings of old will be undone, and all of our cultural and spiritual institutions persecuted, destroyed, and forgotten. The birthrights and property of the people will be stolen. We will become like slaves to our conquerors, and will be made to wander helplessly like beggars. Everyone will be forced to live in misery, and the days and nights will pass slowly, with great suffering and terror."
trimmer ::: n. --> One who trims, arranges, fits, or ornaments.
One who does not adopt extreme opinions in politics, or the like; one who fluctuates between parties, so as to appear to favor each; a timeserver.
An instrument with which trimming is done.
A beam, into which are framed the ends of headers in floor framing, as when a hole is to be left for stairs, or to avoid bringing joists near chimneys, and the like. See Illust. of Header.
utopia ::: n. --> An imaginary island, represented by Sir Thomas More, in a work called Utopia, as enjoying the greatest perfection in politics, laws, and the like. See Utopia, in the Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.
Hence, any place or state of ideal perfection.
voluntaryism ::: A theory advocated by Auberon Herbert, stressing "voluntary taxation" and the boycott of electoral politics. The original sources for voluntaryism can be found in Herbert's book The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State. Some, such as Benjamin Tucker, view Herbert's philosophy as anarchism, however he never called himself an anarchist as he considered anarchism to be a philosophy that does not provide for defense of person and property.
wire-pulling ::: n. --> The act of pulling the wires, as of a puppet; hence, secret influence or management, especially in politics; intrigue.
Yon tan rgya mtsho. (Yontan Gyatso) (1589-1616). In Tibetan, "Ocean of Good Qualities"; the fourth DALAI LAMA. The DGE LUGS monk BSOD NAMS RGYA MTSHO, later recognized as the third Dalai Lama, visited the court of the Mongol ruler, the Altan Khan, in 1578. It was the Altan Khan who first used the term "Dalai Lama" to refer to this leader of the Dge lugs sect. The third Dalai Lama soon returned to Tibet but came back to Mongolia after the death of the Altan Khan, spending the next five years giving Buddhist teachings and founding monasteries before dying in 1588. His incarnation was identified by the Mongols among their own people, as the grandson of Altan Khan's successor. He was given the name Yon tan rgya mtsho. He was thus the only Dalai Lama who was not ethnically Tibetan. The Dge lugs hierarchy in Tibet did not immediately recognize the Mongol as the incarnation of Bsod nams rgya mtsho. To assuage their concerns, a Mongolian delegation was sent to Tibet in 1600 to invite a group of Dge lugs dignitaries to come to Mongolia and administer the traditional tests to determine the boy's identity. After the tests convinced the Tibetan delegation that he was indeed the fourth Dalai Lama, they took the boy back to LHA SA in 1602, where he was ordained as a novice at the JO KHANG. He received BHIKsU ordination in 1614 from his tutor BLO BZANG CHOS KYI RGYAL MTSHAN, who would later become the first (or according to a different reckoning, the fourth) PAn CHEN LAMA. Tibet was on the brink of civil war, with the king of Gtsang, a patron of the KARMA BKA' RGYUD, seeking to control central Tibet, where the Dge lugs were in power with the support of the Mongols. Although the young fourth Dalai Lama appears not to have been involved in politics, the fact that he was a foreigner seems to have been resented in some quarters. He died of uncertain causes in 1616 at the age of twenty-seven. The close relations that developed between the Mongols and the Dge lugs sect as a result of his selection as Dalai Lama would be an important factor in the eventual political ascendancy of his successor, the fifth Dalai Lama, NGAG DBANG BLO BZANG RGYA MSHO, in 1642.
KEYS (10k)
4 Saint Thomas Aquinas
2 Étienne de La Boétie
2 Sri Aurobindo
1 W. H. Auden
1 Rowan Williams https://newstatesman.com/politics/religion/2020/08/covid-and-confronting-our-own-mortality
1 Ralph Waldo Emerson
1 Paul Ricoeur
1 Ken Wilber
1 Karl Popper
1 Jonathan Swift
1 John Adams
1 Frank Zappa
1 Charlie Chaplin
1 Charles Bukowski
1 Aristotle
NEW FULL DB (2.4M)
12 Timothy Snyder
12 Otto von Bismarck
12 Barack Obama
11 Tony Blair
10 Benjamin Disraeli
9 P J O Rourke
9 Margaret Thatcher
8 Rush Limbaugh
8 Narendra Modi
8 Napoleon Bonaparte
8 Mahatma Gandhi
8 George W Bush
7 Plato
7 Henry Adams
7 Ambrose Bierce
6 Richard M Nixon
6 Hunter S Thompson
6 Hannah Arendt
6 Gloria Steinem
6 Carl von Clausewitz
1:Politics is the entertainment division of the military industrial complex. ~ Frank Zappa, #KEYS
2:You begin saving the world by saving one man at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics. ~ Charles Bukowski, #KEYS
3:Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered. ~ Aristotle, Politics, II, 8, #KEYS
4:As for politics, I'm an anarchist. I hate governments and rules and fetters. Can't stand caged animals. People must be free.
~ Charlie Chaplin,#KEYS
5:One finds everywhere that the poor outnumber the rich ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on Politics, lesson 6)., #KEYS
6:A rule of the few exists when the regime is dominated by those who abound in riches ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on Politics 6, lect. 6)., #KEYS
7:Philosophy is free thought applied to the conditions of possibility of politics and history, as we have known it since Plato's Republic and Aristotle's Ethics and Politics. ~ Paul Ricoeur, #KEYS
8:A man is called virtuous by reason of a single perfect virtue, namely, prudence, upon which all the moral virtues depend ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on Politics, lesson 3)., #KEYS
9:The wealthy few wish to be set over the others on account of their excess of riches, and the many wish to prevail over the few ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, (Commentary on Politics 3, lect. 6)., #KEYS
10:Whenever there is something to be produced, created, organised, achieved, conquered, it is the vital that is indispensable. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters on Himself and the Ashram, No Politics in the Ashram, #KEYS
11:Without Art we should have no notion of the sacred; without Science we should always worship false gods." ~ W. H. Auden, (1907 - 1973) English-American poet; poetry noted for its stylistic and technical achievement; its engagement with politics, morals, love, & religion, Wikipedia, #KEYS
12:In the region of politics faith is the result of imagination working in the light of history; it takes its stand on reason and experience and aspires into the future from the firm ground of the past. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Bande Mataram - I, The Leverage of Faith, #KEYS
13:A summons to faith, courage and energy in the face of death isn't a call to heroics for the ego. It is an invitation to attend, to be absorbed in value, depth and beauty not our own. ~ Rowan Williams https://newstatesman.com/politics/religion/2020/08/covid-and-confronting-our-own-mortality, #KEYS
14:When we are young, we spend much time and pains in filling our note-books with all definitions of Religion, Love, Poetry, Politics, Art, in the hope that, in the course of a few years, we shall have condensed into our encyclopaedia the net value of all the theories at which the world has yet arrived. But year after year our tables get no completeness, and at last we discover that our curve is a parabola, whose arcs will never meet. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #KEYS
15: Similarly, the more tyrants pillage, the more they crave, the more they ruin and destroy; the more one yields to them, and obeys them, by that much do they become mightier and more formidable, the readier to annihilate and destroy. But if not one thing is yielded to them, if, without any violence they are simply not obeyed, they become naked and undone and as nothing, just as, when the root receives no nourishment, the branch withers and dies. ~ Étienne de La Boétie, The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude, #KEYS
16:I do have one great hope. It is that with the disappearance of Marxism, we may succeed in eliminating the pressure of ideologies as the centre of politics. Marxism needed an anti-Marxist ideology, so what you had was the clash between two ideologies which were both in a sense completely mad. There was nothing real behind them - only wrong problems. What I hope from the open society is that we will re-establish a list of priorities of the things which have to be done in society. ~ Karl Popper, interviewed by Giancarlo Bosetti, in The Lesson of this Century, #KEYS
17:Let us therefore learn while there is yet time, let us learn to do good. Let us raise our eyes to Heaven for the sake of our honor, for the very love of virtue, or, to speak wisely, for the love and praise of God Almighty, who is the infallible witness of our deeds and the just judge of our faults. As for me, I truly believe I am right, since there is nothing so contrary to a generous and loving God as tyranny---I believe He has reserved, in a separate spot in Hell, some very special punishment for tyrants and their accomplices" ~ Étienne de La Boétie, The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude #KEYS
18:The science of government it is my duty to study, more than all other sciences; the arts of legislation and administration and negotiation ought to take the place of, indeed exclude, in a manner, all other arts. I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain. ~ John Adams, Letters of John Adams, Addressed to His Wife, #KEYS
19:And so, please practice! Please let that be your guide. And I believe that you will find, if your practice matures, that Spirit will reach down and bless your every word and deed, and you will be taken quite beyond yourself, and the Divine will blaze with the light of a thousand suns, and glories upon glories will be given unto you, and you will in every way be home. And then, despite all your excuses and all your objections, you will find the obligation to communicate your vision. And precisely because of that, you and I will find each other. And that will be the real return of Spirit to itself. ~ Ken Wilber, Interview, Bodhisattvas will have to turn to politics, Interview with Frank Visser, 1995, #KEYS
20:... Every one knew how laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts and sciences; whereas, by his contrivance, the most ignorant person, at a reasonable charge, and with a little bodily labour, might write books in philosophy, poetry, politics, laws, mathematics, and theology, without the least assistance from genius or study." He then led me to the frame, about the sides, whereof all his pupils stood in ranks. It was twenty feet square, placed in the middle of the room. The superfices was composed of several bits of wood, about the bigness of a die, but some larger than others. They were all linked together by slender wires. These bits of wood were covered, on every square, with paper pasted on them; and on these papers were written all the words of their language, in their several moods, tenses, and declensions; but without any order. The professor then desired me "to observe; for he was going to set his engine at work." The pupils, at his command, took each of them hold of an iron handle, whereof there were forty fixed round the edges of the frame; and giving them a sudden turn, the whole disposition of the words was entirely changed. He then commanded six-and-thirty of the lads, to read the several lines softly, as they appeared upon the frame; and where they found three or four words together that might make part of a sentence, they dictated to the four remaining boys, who were scribes. This work was repeated three or four times, and at every turn, the engine was so contrived, that the words shifted into new places, as the square bits of wood moved upside down. ~ Jonathan Swift, Gullivers Travels, #KEYS
*** WISDOM TROVE ***
1:Politics makes strange post-masters. ~ kin-hubbard, @wisdomtrove 2:There is no leisure about politics. ~ denis-diderot, @wisdomtrove 3:There is no leisure about politics. ~ thomas-aquinas, @wisdomtrove 4:There is no gambling like politics. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 5:What does an actor know about politics? ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 6:Politics always change. Stories never do. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 7:In politics, nothing is contemptible. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 8:Morality has nothing in common with politics. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 9:From politics it was an easy step to silence. ~ jane-austen, @wisdomtrove 10:I tell you folks, all politics is applesauce. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 11:Finality is not the language of politics. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 12:In politics stupidity is not a handicap. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 13:Passions change, politics are immutable. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 14:In politics experiments means revolutions. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 15:We cannot cure the evils of politics with politics. ~ anais-nin, @wisdomtrove 16:Entirely new concepts are very rare in politics. ~ hannah-arendt, @wisdomtrove 17:There is a limit to what you can do in politics. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 18:Information upon points of practical politics. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 19:It is a vain hope to make people happy by politics. ~ thomas-carlyle, @wisdomtrove 20:Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business. ~ winston-churchill, @wisdomtrove 21:Politics is the choice between the lesser of two evils. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 22:Politics doesn't make strange bedfellows - marriage does. ~ groucho-marx, @wisdomtrove 23:Poetry is about the grief. Politics is about the grievance. ~ robert-frost, @wisdomtrove 24:Politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement. ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove 25:If politics were a musical, it would be "Promises, Promises". ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 26:England is unrivalled for two things - sport and politics. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 27:There is no more independence in politics than there is in jail. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 28:Common sense is not an issue in politics& 29:Blood is thicker than water, but politics are thicker than blood. ~ frank-herbert, @wisdomtrove 30:Politics and church are the same. They keep the people in ignorance. ~ bob-marley, @wisdomtrove 31:If you ever injected truth into politics you would have no politics. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 32:I am interested in politics only in order to secure and protect freedom. ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 33:In politics, an absurdity in public business is going into it. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 34:The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 35:Politics is like football; if you see daylight, go through the hole. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 36:The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world. ~ reinhold-niebuhr, @wisdomtrove 37:The conflict between art and politics... cannot and must not be solved. ~ hannah-arendt, @wisdomtrove 38:When religion and politics ride in the same cart, the whirlwind follows. ~ frank-herbert, @wisdomtrove 39:Pure politics is merely the calculus of combinations and of chances. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 40:War is the art of destroying men, and politics is the art of deceiving them. ~ parmenides, @wisdomtrove 41:Politics is, for me, forgive and -as you may have heard- sometimes forget. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 42:Leaders have devoted themselves to politics, little knowing, it seems ~ booker-t-washington, @wisdomtrove 43:Revolution, n. In politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment. ~ ambrose-bierce, @wisdomtrove 44:In politics... never retreat, never retract... never admit a mistake. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 45:Delegation: In American politics an article of merchandise that comes in sets. ~ ambrose-bierce, @wisdomtrove 46:Politics is a jungle-torn between doing the right thing and staying in office. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 47:Courage is indispensible because in politics not life but the world is at stake. ~ hannah-arendt, @wisdomtrove 48:Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 49:Jesus came to save us, not just from politics, enemies, challenges, or difficulties. ~ max-lucado, @wisdomtrove 50:Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times. ~ winston-churchill, @wisdomtrove 51:I don't know a lot about politics, but I can recognise a good party man when I see one. ~ mae-west, @wisdomtrove 52:Policy is driven by more than politics, however. It is equally driven by ideas. ~ malcolm-gladwell, @wisdomtrove 53:Politics: Poli a Latin word meaning many and tics meaning bloodsucking creatures. ~ robin-williams, @wisdomtrove 54:For me to go into politics would be like sending a virgin into a house of ill-repute. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 55:The practice of politics in the East may be defined by one word: dissimulation. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 56:I am interested in politics so that one day I will not have to be interested in politics. ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 57:I have doubtless erred more or less in politics, but a crime I never committed. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 58:In politics nothing is immutable. Events carry within them an invincible power. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 59:The first duty of an American citizen, then, is that he shall work in politics. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 60:Those who can't teach - administrate. Those who can't administrate - go into politics. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 61:And so it is in politics, dear brother, Each for himself alone, there is no other. ~ geoffrey-chaucer, @wisdomtrove 62:For politics is not like the nursery; in politics obedience and support are the same. ~ hannah-arendt, @wisdomtrove 63:Politics: Poli a Latin word meaning many; and "tics" meaning bloodsucking creatures. ~ robin-williams, @wisdomtrove 64:The great difficulty with politics is, that there are no established principles. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 65:I am an Anglo-Catholic in religion, a classicist in literature and a royalist in politics. ~ t-s-eliot, @wisdomtrove 66:I wish that all Americans would realize that American politics is world politics. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 67:Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is. ~ mahatma-gandhi, @wisdomtrove 68:Of all sciences there is none where first appearances are more deceitful than in politics. ~ david-hume, @wisdomtrove 69:Politics is not worrying this country one-tenth as much as where to find a parking space. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 70:In truth I care little about any party's politics—the man behind it is the important thing. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 71:You can achieve anything in politics provided that you let someone else take the credit. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 72:Politics is a profession; a serious, complicated and, in its true sense, a noble one. ~ dwight-eisenhower, @wisdomtrove 73:The Fate of good men who refuse to become involved in politics is to be ruled by evil men. ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove 74:The whole art of politics consists in directing rationally the irrationalities of men. ~ reinhold-niebuhr, @wisdomtrove 75:Only fanatics in religion as well as in politics can find a meaning in someone else’s death. ~ elie-wiesel, @wisdomtrove 76:There is a hundred things to single you out for promotion in party politics besides ability. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 77:If you do not know how to lie, cheat, and steal, turn your attention to politics and learn. ~ josh-billings, @wisdomtrove 78:Politics is a science. You can demonstrate that you are right and that others are wrong. ~ jean-paul-sartre, @wisdomtrove 79:What politics I ever learned, I learned in the streets, because it was part of the environment. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 80:The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 81:A sick society must think much about politics, as a sick man must think much about his digestion. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 82:Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~ plato, @wisdomtrove 83:Many a man has been dined out of his religion, and his politics, and his manhood, almost. ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 84:Mingling religion with politics may be disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America. ~ thomas-paine, @wisdomtrove 85:Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary. ~ robert-louis-stevenson, @wisdomtrove 86:Politics: the art of appearing candid and completely open while concealing as much as possible. ~ frank-herbert, @wisdomtrove 87:Congress knew Coolidge would veto the farm bill. There was more politics than relief in that bill. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 88:A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 89:I am neither a Whig nor Tory. My politics are described in one word and that word is England. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 90:Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war. ~ maria-montessori, @wisdomtrove 91:There is no gambling like politics. Nothing in which the power of circumstance is more evident. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 92:I am not made for politics because I am incapable of wanting or accepting the death of the adversary. ~ albert-camus, @wisdomtrove 93:The awareness that we are all human beings together has become lost in war and through politics. ~ albert-schweitzer, @wisdomtrove 94:Course, that's the trouble with politics, it breeds politics! So that makes it pretty hard to stamp out. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 95:The only motive that can keep politics pure is the motive of doing good for one's country and its people. ~ henry-ford, @wisdomtrove 96:Push, n. One of the two things mainly conducive to success, especially in politics. The other is Pull. ~ ambrose-bierce, @wisdomtrove 97:Economics and politics are the governing powers of life today, and that's why everything is so screwy. ~ joseph-campbell, @wisdomtrove 98:In politics, love is a stranger, and when it intrudes upon it nothing is being achieved except hypocrisy. ~ hannah-arendt, @wisdomtrove 99:One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. ~ plato, @wisdomtrove 100:Opposition, n. In politics the party that prevents the government from running amuck by hamstringing it. ~ ambrose-bierce, @wisdomtrove 101:You begin saving the world by saving one man at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 102:Vanity asks, is it popular? Politics ask, will it work? But conscience and morality ask, is it right? ~ martin-luther-king, @wisdomtrove 103:... if the beginnings of love and amorous politics are equally rosy, then the ends may be equally bloody. ~ alain-de-botton, @wisdomtrove 104:Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together. ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove 105:Philosophy is called upon to compensate for the frustrations of politics and, more generally, of life itself. ~ hannah-arendt, @wisdomtrove 106:All the contact I have had with politics has left me feeling as though I had been drinking out of spitoons. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 107:I don't like politicians, and I don't like politics. I definitely don't want to be associated with any of them. ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 108:I have no consistency, except in politics; and that probably arises from my indifference to the subject altogether. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 109:People who believe in politics are like people who believe in God: they are sucking wind through bent straws. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 110:Do not let anyone claim tribute of American patriotism if they even attempt to remove religion from politics. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 111:Recount, n. In American politics, another throw of the dice, accorded to the player against whom they are loaded. ~ ambrose-bierce, @wisdomtrove 112:I was drawn to all the wrong things: I liked to drink, I was lazy, I didn't have a god, politics, ideas, ideals. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 113:Politics is so difficult, it's generally only people who aren't quite up to the task who feel convinced they are. ~ alain-de-botton, @wisdomtrove 114:The bill's a textbook example of special interest pork barrel politics at work, and I have no choice but to veto it. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 115:In a time of domestic crisis, men of goodwill and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 116:Like religion, politics, and family planning, cereal is not a topic to be brought up in public. It's too controversial. ~ erma-bombeck, @wisdomtrove 117:What looks like politics, and imagines itself to be political, will one day unmask itself as a religious movement. ~ soren-kierkegaard, @wisdomtrove 118:Before now poetry has taken notice Of wars, and what are wars but politics Transformed from chronic to acute and bloody? ~ robert-frost, @wisdomtrove 119:Politics is just like show business. You have a hell of an opening, coast for a while, and then have a hell of a close. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 120:We need more than a new politics; what we need is a new worldview. We need a fundamentally different bottom line. ~ marianne-williamson, @wisdomtrove 121:The politics is far harder than the science. And even if we accept the science we have a big issue of how to deal with it. ~ martin-rees, @wisdomtrove 122:Concentration is the secret of strength in politics, in war, in trade, in short, in all management of human affairs. ~ ralph-waldo-emerson, @wisdomtrove 123:It is a fine game to play - the game of politics - and it is well worth waiting for a good hand before really plunging. ~ winston-churchill, @wisdomtrove 124:There is no act of treachery or meanness of which a political party is not capable; for in politics there is no honour. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 125:The more you read and observe about this Politics thing, the more you've got to admit that each party is worse than the other. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 126:As for politics, I’m an anarchist. I hate governments and rules and fetters. Can’t stand caged animals. People must be free. ~ charlie-chaplan, @wisdomtrove 127:Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 128:India is immortal if she persists in her search for God. But if she goes in for politics and social conflict, she will die. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 129:Politics, as hopeful men practise it in the world, consists mainly of the delusion that a change in form is a change in substance. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 130:It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 131:Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage. ~ ambrose-bierce, @wisdomtrove 132:Politics resemble religion; attempting to divest either of ceremony is the most certain mode of bringing either into contempt. ~ oliver-goldsmith, @wisdomtrove 133:Science needs more than just research to make progress. It depends on the mutual reinforcement of science, politics and economics. ~ yuval-noah-harari, @wisdomtrove 134:A true master of politics is able to calculate, down to the smallest fraction, the advantages to which he may put his very faults. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 135:... to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 136:If more politicians knew poetry, and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world would be a little better place in which to live. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 137:Politics ought to be adjusted not to human reasonings but to human nature, of which reason is but a part and by no means the greatest part. ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove 138:Necessity, especially in politics, often occasions false hopes, false reasonings, and a system of measures, correspondingly erroneous. ~ alexander-hamilton, @wisdomtrove 139:Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession... and I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 140:At the bottom of education, at the bottom of politics, even at the bottom of religion, there must be for our race economic independence. ~ booker-t-washington, @wisdomtrove 141:I like to talk about lint and coasters, the expansion of the universe and maybe McDonald's. I'm completely turned off by the idea of politics. ~ steven-wright, @wisdomtrove 142:A man of active and resilient mind outwears his friendships just as certainly as he outwears his love affairs, his politics and his epistemology. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 143:You can't build politics on love. People aren't concerned with love; it's too disordered. They prefer despotism. Too much freedom breeds chaos. ~ frank-herbert, @wisdomtrove 144:Politics are almost as exciting as war, and - quite as dangerous ... In war, you can only be killed once. But in politics many times. ~ winston-churchill, @wisdomtrove 145:I have learned that one of the most important rules in politics is poise - which means looking like an owl after you have behaved like a jackass. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 146:Politics are not an instrument for effecting social change; they are the art of making the inevitable appear to be a matter of wise human choice. ~ quentin-crisp, @wisdomtrove 147:Politics is so personal, vicious and immediate, how are you going to get anything done? Even the local politics where I live have gotten so ugly. ~ robin-williams, @wisdomtrove 148:Whatever has a tendency to promote the civil intercourse of nations by an exchange of benefits is a subject as worthy of philosophy as of politics. ~ thomas-paine, @wisdomtrove 149:Jokes of the proper kind, properly told, can do more to enlighten questions of politics, philosophy, and literature than any number of dull arguments. ~ isaac-asimov, @wisdomtrove 150:I'm always rather nervous about how you talk about women who are active in politics, whether they want to be talked about as women or as politicians. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 151:When politics and home life have become one and the same thing, [... ] then,[... ] it is evident that we will be in a state of total liberty or anarchy. ~ leo-tolstoy, @wisdomtrove 152:Nearly 100% of innovation-from business to politics-is inspired not by "market analysis" but by people who are supremely pissed off by the way things are. ~ tom-peters, @wisdomtrove 153:In philosophy, or religion, or ethics, or politics, two and two might make five, but when one was designing a gun or an aeroplane they had to make four. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 154:Paper money will invariably operate in the body of politics as spirit liquors on the human body. They prey on the vitals and ultimately destroy them ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 155:Professional politicians like to talk about the value of experience in government. Nuts! The only experience you gain in politics is how to be political. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 156:I have come to think that both sex and politics are a mistake and that any attempt to establish a connection between the two is the greatest error of all. ~ quentin-crisp, @wisdomtrove 157:Political ideals must be based upon ideals for the individual life. The aim of politics should be to make the lives of individuals as good as possible. ~ bertrand-russell, @wisdomtrove 158:Politics are now nothing more than means of rising in the world. With this sole view do men engage in politics, and their whole conduct proceeds upon it. ~ samuel-johnson, @wisdomtrove 159:I am humble . I have been solicited by my friends to become a candidate for the Legislature. My politics are short and sweet, like the old woman's dance. ~ abraham-lincoln, @wisdomtrove 160:I wanted to be a psychological engineer, but we lacked the facilities, so I did the next best thing - I went into politics. It's practically the same thing. ~ isaac-asimov, @wisdomtrove 161:In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution. ~ alexander-hamilton, @wisdomtrove 162:King Louis Philippe once said to me that he attributed the great success of the British nation in political life to their talking politics after dinner. ~ benjamin-disraeli, @wisdomtrove 163:Politics and self-interest have been so uniformly connected, that the world, from being so often deceived, has a right to be suspicious of public characters. ~ thomas-paine, @wisdomtrove 164:What sort of politics you people do? Such is the way of all parliaments: one can sense even beforehand the trend of voting, in which direction it will turn. ~ sri-aurobindo, @wisdomtrove 165:I am never going to have anything more to do with politics or politicians. When this war is over I shall confine myself entirely to writing and painting. ~ winston-churchill, @wisdomtrove 166:I try not to spend too much time on partisan politics. Life's too short for that. I don't really believe that there have been many human problems solved by politics. ~ dean-koontz, @wisdomtrove 167:I do not give a damn about the dead. They died for the [Communist] Party and the Party can decide what it wants. I practice a live man's politics, for the living. ~ jean-paul-sartre, @wisdomtrove 168:In all affairs – love, religion, politics, or business – it's a healthy idea, now and then, to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted. ~ bertrand-russell, @wisdomtrove 169:In war, as in politics, no evil - even if it is permissible under the rules - is excusable unless it is absolutely necessary. Everything beyond that is a crime. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 170:There have been times when I've made special arrangements to meet people in music, film, business or politics, and I'll continue to do so if the people are sincere. ~ frederick-lenz, @wisdomtrove 171:When you are in any contest, you should work as if there were - to the very last minute - a chance to lose it. This is battle, this is politics, this is anything. ~ dwight-eisenhower, @wisdomtrove 172:In politics, the tripod is he most unstable of all structures. It's be bad enough without the complication of a feudal trade culture which turns its back on most science. ~ frank-herbert, @wisdomtrove 173:Trust him to have his bitter politics Against his unacquaintances the rich Who sleep in houses of their own, though mortgaged. Conservatives, they don't know what to save. ~ robert-frost, @wisdomtrove 174:The older I grow the less I esteem mere ideas. In politics, particularly, they are transient and unimportant. . . . There are only men who have character and men who lack it. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 175:I am not a man who looks for solutions in God or politics. If somebody else wants to do the dirty work and create a better world for us and he can do it, I will accept it. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 176:The dull, purblind folly of the very rich men, their greed and arrogance, and the corruption in business and politics, have tended to produce a very unhealthy condition. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 177:In business and in politics a man must carve and maul his way through men to get to be King of the Mountain. Once there, he can be great and kind-but he must get there first. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 178:Politics is not like an ocean voyage or a military campaign... something which leaves off as soon as reached. It is not a public chore to be gotten over with. It is a way of life. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 179:While the religious divisions in our world are self-evident, many people still imagine that religious conflict is always caused by a lack of education, by poverty, or by politics. ~ sam-harris, @wisdomtrove 180:I had realized in the meantime that action too has its difficulties, and that one can also be led to it by neurosis. We are not saved by politics any more than by literature. ~ jean-paul-sartre, @wisdomtrove 181:Politics is the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen. ~ winston-churchill, @wisdomtrove 182:Since one cannot educate adults, the word "education" has an evil sound in politics; there is a pretense of education, when the real purpose is coercion without the use of force. ~ hannah-arendt, @wisdomtrove 183:Every time we have an election, we get in worse men and the country keeps right on going. Times have proven only one thing and that is you can't ruin this country even with politics. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 184:This country has gotten where it is in spite of politics, not by the aid of it. That we have carried as much political bunk as we have and still survived shows we are a super nation. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 185:We've switched from a culture that was interested in manufacturing, economics, politics - trying to play a serious part in the world - to a culture that's really entertainment-based. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 186:It's characteristic of democracy that majority rule is understood as being effective not only in politics but also in thinking. In thinking, of course, the majority is always wrong. ~ joseph-campbell, @wisdomtrove 187:The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 188:Funny to watch these Senators switching back and forth on Prohibition. Politics is a great character builder. You have to take a referendum to see what your convictions are for that day. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 189:In our age there is no such thing as & 190:When politics and religion are intermingled, a people is suffused with a sense of invulnerability, and gathering speed in their forward charge, they fail to see the cliff ahead of them ~ frank-herbert, @wisdomtrove 191:After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on - have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear - what remains? Nature remains. ~ walt-whitman, @wisdomtrove 192:No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom versus tyranny. ~ hannah-arendt, @wisdomtrove 193:if newspapers were written by people whose sole object in writing was to tell the truth about politics and the truth about art we should not believe in war, and we should believe in art. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove 194:Taking care of children has nothing to do with politics. I think perhaps with time, instead of there being a politicisation of humanitarian aid, there will be a humanisation of politics. ~ audrey-hepburn, @wisdomtrove 195:In the progress of politics, as in the common occurrences of life, we are not only apt to forget the ground we have travelled over, but frequently neglect to gather up experiences as we go. ~ thomas-paine, @wisdomtrove 196:I would rather go out of politics having the feeling that I had done what was right than stay in with the approval of all men, knowing in my heart that I have acted as I ought not to. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 197:Just as I went into politics because Joe died, if anything happened to me tomorrow, my brother Bobby would run for my seat in the Senate. And if Bobby died, Teddy would take over for him. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 198:Success in politics demands that you must take your people into confidence about your views and state them very clearly, very politely, very calmly, but nevertheless, state them openly. ~ nelson-mandela, @wisdomtrove 199:Writers only think they are interested in politics, they are not really, it gives them a chance to talk and writers like to talk but really no real writer is really interested in politics. ~ gertrude-stein, @wisdomtrove 200:As a species we're fundamentally insane. Put more than two of us in a room, we pick sides and start dreaming up reasons to kill one another. Why do you think we invented politics and religion? ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 201:Before I went to jail, I was active in politics as a member of South Africa's leading organization - and I was generally busy from 7 A.M. until midnight. I never had time to sit and think. ~ nelson-mandela, @wisdomtrove 202:In politics practically everything you hear is scandal, and besides, the funny thing is that the things they are whispering ain't half has bad as the things they have been saying right out loud. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 203:Each nation has its own peculiar method of work. Some work through politics, some through social reforms, some through other lines. With us, religion is the only ground along which we can move. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 204:Politics is concerned with herds rather than with individuals, and the passions which are important in politics are, therefore, those in which the various members of a given herd can feel alike. ~ bertrand-russell, @wisdomtrove 205:In politics nothing is immutable. Events carry within them an invincible power. The unwise destroy themselves in resistance. The skillful accept events, take strong hold of them and direct them. ~ napoleon-bonaparte, @wisdomtrove 206:All of us in the Senate live in an iron lung-the iron lung of politics, and it is no easy task to emerge from that rarified atmosphere in order to breathe the same fresh air our constituents breathe. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 207:Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage. ~ dwight-eisenhower, @wisdomtrove 208:Observe, in politics, that the term extremism has become a synonym of "evil," regardless of the content of the issue (the evil is not what you are extreme about, but that you are "extreme"—i.e., consistent). ~ ayn-rand, @wisdomtrove 209:In the contexts of religion and politics, words are not regarded as standing, rather inadequately, for things and events; on the contrary things and events are regarded as particular illustrations of words. ~ aldous-huxley, @wisdomtrove 210:My father's politics were old-fashioned in the sense that he used to say, all the time, "You've got to fight the system!" But my spiritual beliefs have led me to believe that the fight is the problem. ~ marianne-williamson, @wisdomtrove 211:One cannot build life from refrigerators, politics, credit statements and crossword puzzles. That is impossible. Nor can one exist for any length of time without poetry, without color, without love. ~ antoine-de-saint-exupery, @wisdomtrove 212:These things will destroy the human race: politics without principle, progress without compassion, wealth without work, learning without silence, religion without fearlessness and worship without awareness. ~ anthony-de-mello, @wisdomtrove 213:The Roots of Violence: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principles. ~ mahatma-gandhi, @wisdomtrove 214:The Democrats are going to change the name of the Hoover Dam. That is the silliest thing I ever heard of in politics . . . Lord if they feel that way about it, I don't see why they don't just reverse the two words. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 215:In a word, if this country can steer clear of European politics, stand firm on its bottom, and be wise and temperate in its government, it bids fair to be one of the greatest and happiest nations in the world. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 216:Leaders have devoted themselves to politics, little knowing, it seems that political independence disappears without economic independence that economic independence is the foundation of political independence. ~ booker-t-washington, @wisdomtrove 217:Religion and religion alone is the life of India, and when that goes India will die, in spite of politics, in spite of social reforms, in spite of Kubera's wealth poured upon the head of every one of her children. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 218:Would that the simple maxim, that honesty is the best policy, might be laid to heart; that a sense of the true aim of life might elevate the tone of politics and trade till public and private honor become identical. ~ margaret-fuller, @wisdomtrove 219:The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge; it has no in the endeavor of science. We do not know in advance who will discover fundamental insights. ~ carl-sagan, @wisdomtrove 220:If you have embraced a creed which appears to be free from the ordinary dirtiness of politics - a creed from which you yourself cannot expect to draw any material advantage - surely that proves that you are in the right? ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 221:Our trust in the future has lost its innocence. We know now that anything can happen from one minute to the next. Politics, religion, economics, and the institutions of family and community all have become abruptly unsure. ~ john-odonohue, @wisdomtrove 222:Politics is the best show in America. I love animals and I love politicians, and I like to watch both of 'em at play, either back home in their native state, or after they've been captured and sent to a zoo, or to Washington. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 223:I would say that the quality of each man's life is the full measure of that man's commitment of excellence and victory - whether it be football, whether it be business, whether it be politics or government or what have you. ~ vince-lombardi, @wisdomtrove 224:Yes, we have to divide up our time like that, between our politics and our equations. But to me our equations are far more important, for politics are only a matter of present concern. A mathematical equation stands forever. ~ albert-einstein, @wisdomtrove 225:The opinions that are held with passion are always those for which no good ground exists; indeed the passion is the measure of the holders lack of rational conviction. Opinions in politics and religion are almost always held passionately. ~ bertrand-russell, @wisdomtrove 226:The power to rethink a situation is our greatest tool for transforming the world. This notion is taking hold in medicine, in business, in education. But not in politics and the media. They are the last holdouts of old-paradigm thinking. ~ marianne-williamson, @wisdomtrove 227:And it turns out that tribes, not money, not factories, that can change our world, that can change politics, that can align large numbers of people. Not because you force them to do something against their will. But because they wanted to connect. ~ seth-godin, @wisdomtrove 228:Coolidge made less speeches and got more votes than any man that ever run. (William Jennings) Bryan was listened to and cheered by more people than any single human in politics, and he lost. So there is a doubt just whether talking does you good or harm. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 229:Science is not enough, religion is not enough, art is not enough, politics and economics are not enough, nor is love, nor is duty, nor is action however disinterested, nor, however sublime, is contemplation. Nothing short of everything, will really do. ~ aldous-huxley, @wisdomtrove 230:If you have no love, do what you will - go after all the gods on earth, do all the social activities, try to reform the poor, the politics, write books, write poems - you are a dead human being. Without love your problems will increase, multiply endlessly. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 231:Imagine a civilisation that's way in advance of us wants to communicate with us, and assist us in our development. The information we provide to them must reflect our highest aspirations and ideals, and not just be some crazy person's bizarre politics or religion. ~ paul-davies, @wisdomtrove 232:Those who oppose all reform will do well to remember that ruin in its worst form is inevitable if our national life brings us nothing better than swollen fortunes for the few and the triumph in both politics and business of a sordid and selfish materialism. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 233:It is very rare, indeed, for men to be wrong in their feelings concerning public misconduct; as rare to be right in their speculations upon the cause of it. I have constantly observed that the generality of people are fifty years, at least, behind in their politics. ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove 234:What is a wife and what is a harlot? What is a church and what is a theatre? are they two and not one? Can they exist separate? Are not religion and politics the same thing? Brotherhood is religion. O demonstrations of reason dividing families in cruelty and pride! ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 235:The materialist theory of history, that all politics and ethics are the expression of economics, is a very simple fallacy indeed. It consists simply of confusing the necessary conditions of life with the normal preoccupations of life, that are quite a different thing. ~ g-k-chesterton, @wisdomtrove 236:I'll confess that I don't watch the Olympics, but you'd have to be living under a rock to be unaware of the corruption and the expense. An amorphous organization with no transparency, unclear lines of responsibility, huge amounts of politics and a great deal of unearned power. ~ seth-godin, @wisdomtrove 237:In the case of climate change, the threat is long-term and diffuse and requires broad international action for the benefit of people decades in the future. And in politics, the urgent always trumps the important, and that is what makes it a very difficult and challenging issue. ~ martin-rees, @wisdomtrove 238:Women have sat indoors all these millions of years, so that by this time the very walls are permeated by their creative force, which has, indeed, so overcharged the capacity of bricks and mortar that it must needs harness itself to pens and brushes and business and politics. ~ virginia-woolf, @wisdomtrove 239:Alliance - in international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted in each other's pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third. Ambrose Bierce ~ ambrose-bierce, @wisdomtrove 240:It is in the nature of all party systems that the authentically political talents can assert themselves only in rare cases, and it is even rarer that the specifically political qualifications survive the petty maneuvers of party politics with its demands for plain salesmanship. ~ hannah-arendt, @wisdomtrove 241:Community organizing is all about building grassroots support. It's about identifying the people around you with whom you can create a common, passionate cause. And it's about ignoring the conventional wisdom of company politics and instead playing the game by very different rules. ~ tom-peters, @wisdomtrove 242:Politics pretty quiet over the week-end. Democrats are attacking and the Republicans are defending. All the Democrats have to do is promise "what they would do if they got in." But the Republicans have to promise "what they would do" and then explain why they haven't already "done it". ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 243:New York is an ugly city, a dirty city. Its climate is a scandal, its politics are used to frighten children, its traffic is madness, its competition is murderous. But there is one thing about it - once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no place else is good enough. ~ john-steinbeck, @wisdomtrove 244:A typical vice of American politics the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues, and the announcement of radical policies with much sound and fury, and at the same time with a cautious accompaniment of weasel phrases each of which sucks the meat out of the preceding statement. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 245:These are my politics: to change what we can; to better what we can; but still to bear in mind that man is but a devil weakly fettered by some generous beliefs and impositions; and for no word however sounding, and no cause however just and pious, to relax the stricture on these bonds. ~ robert-louis-stevenson, @wisdomtrove 246:In the founding era of our country, it was not organized religion but personal faith that brought focus and unified the early leadership-maybe an unspoken faith in God, and certain values that came with that faith. So in that sense, we cannot discount, in my judgment, religious faith in politics. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 247:There's no black and white, left and right to me anymore; there's only up and down and down is very close to the ground. And I'm trying to go up without thinking about anything trivial such as politics. They have got nothing to do with it. I'm thinking about the general people and when they get hurt. ~ bob-dylan, @wisdomtrove 248:In the United States... politics is purged of all menace, all sinister quality, all genuine significance, and stuffed with such gorgeous humors, such inordinate farce that one comes to the end of a campaign with one's ribs loose, and ready for King Lear, or a hanging, or a course of medical journals. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 249:As for me, my literary theory, like my politics, is based chiefly upon one main idea, to wit, the idea of freedom. I am, in brief, a libertarian of the most extreme variety, and know of no human right that is one-tenth as valuable as the simple right to utter what seems (at the moment) to be the truth ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 250:When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movements become headlong - faster and faster and faster. They put aside all thoughts of obstacles and forget the precipice does not show itself to the man in a blind rush until it's to late. ~ frank-herbert, @wisdomtrove 251:How could politics be a science, if laws and forms of government had not a uniform influence upon society? Where would be the foundation of morals, if particular characters had no certain or determinate power to produce particular sentiments, and if these sentiments had no constant operation on actions? ~ david-hume, @wisdomtrove 252:The hardest thing to do is to write straight honest prose on human beings. First you have to know the subject; then you have to know how to write. Both take a lifetime to learn, and anybody is cheating who takes politics as a way out. All the outs are too easy, and the thing itself is too hard to do. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 253:Here in India, it is religion that forms the very core of the national heart. It is the backbone, the bed-rock, the foundation upon which the national edifice has been built. Politics, power, and even intellect form a secondary consideration here. Religion, therefore, is the one consideration in India. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 254:I think of myself as being an ethical man, but I don't try to teach ethics. I have no message. I know little about contemporary life. I don't read a newspaper. I dislike politics and politicians. I belong to no party whatever. My private life is a private life. I try to avoid photography and publicity. ~ jorge-luis-borges, @wisdomtrove 255:Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of today. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 256:No man can do both effective and decent work in public life unless he is a practical politician on the one hand, and a sturdy believer in Sunday-school politics on the other. He must always strive manfully for the best, and yet, like Abraham Lincoln, must often resign himself to accept the best possible. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 257:Has the art of politics no apparent utility? Does it appear to be unqualifiedly ratty, raffish, sordid, obscene, and low down, andits salient virtuosi a gang of unmitigated scoundrels? Then let us not forget its high capacity to soothe and tickle the midriff, its incomparable services as a maker of entertainment. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 258:For the ordinary man is passive. Within a narrow circle (home life, and perhaps the trade unions or local politics) he feels himself master of his fate, but against major events he is as helpless as against the elements. So far from endeavoring to influence the future, he simply lies down and lets things happen to him. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 259:Increasingly, politics is not about "who gets what, when, how" but about values, each of them considered to be absolute. Politics is about "the right to life"... It is about the environment. It is about gaining equality for groups alleged to be oppressed... None of these issues is economic. All are fundamentally moral. ~ peter-drucker, @wisdomtrove 260:I also would have steered clear of politics. Iôm grateful for the opportunities God gave me to minister to people in high places; people in power have spiritual and personal needs like everyone else, and often they have no one to talk to. But looking back I know I sometimes cros¬≠sed the line, and I wouldnôt do that now. ~ billy-graham, @wisdomtrove 261:In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second- hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing. ~ mark-twain, @wisdomtrove 262:In addition, the United States Delegation will suggest a series of steps to improve the United Nations machinery for the peaceful settlement of disputes... - for extending the rule of international law. For peace is not solely a matter of military or technical problems - it is primarily a problem of politics and people. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 263:You know the more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that's out always looks the best. My only solution would be to keep em both out one term and hire my good friend Henry Ford to run the whole thing, and give him a commission on what he saves us. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 264:Religion, politics, society are exploiting you, and you are being conditioned by them; you are being forced in a particular direction. You are not human beings; you are mere cogs in a machine. You suffer patiently, submitting to the cruelties of environment, when you, individually, have the possibilities of changing them. ~ jiddu-krishnamurti, @wisdomtrove 265:Leadership is the great challenge of the 21st century in science, politics, education, and industry. But the greatest challenge in leadership is parenting. We need to do more than just get our enterprises ready for the challenges of the twenty-first century. We also need to get our children ready for the challenges of the 21st century. ~ jim-rohn, @wisdomtrove 266:I am not a political man and I have no political convictions. I am an individual and a believer in liberty. That is all the politics I have. On the other hand I am not a super-patriot. Super-patriotism leads to Hitlerism - and we've had our lesson there. I don't want to create a revolution - I just want to create a few more films. ~ charlie-chaplan, @wisdomtrove 267:Creeds like pacifism or anarchism, which seem on the surface to imply a complete renunciation of power, rather encourage this habit of mind. For if you have embraced a creed which appears to be free from the ordinary dirtiness of politics ... the more you are in the right (and) everybody else should be bullied into thinking otherwise. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 268:Dont teach my boy poetry, an English mother recently wrote the Provost of Harrow. Dont teach my boy poetry; he is going to stand for Parliament. Well, perhaps she was rightbut if more politicians knew poetry, and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world would be a little better place to live on this Commencement Day of 1956. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 269:A child is a child in any country, whatever the politics. Let's get down to basics. That's what a child forces you to do. Nothing else much matters, there is no complicated diplomacy, when a child is starving. It's simple. And we'd better do something about it. For our sakes, too. That is, if we want to continue to call ourselves human. ~ audrey-hepburn, @wisdomtrove 270:Using the word political’ in the widest possible sense. Desire to push the world in a certain direction, to alter other peoples’ idea of the kind of society that they should strive after. Once again, no book is genuinely free from political bias. The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 271:In his farewell address, George Washington warned the people about political parties. Now we see how both Democrats and Republicans have conspired to reduce democratic participation. If this is the best the Democrats and Republicans have to offer, it's time to look elsewhere.Politics should be the prism for our most noble intentions. ~ marianne-williamson, @wisdomtrove 272:Don't tell me what delusion he entertains regarding God, or what mountebank he follows in politics, or what he springs from, or what he submits to from his wife. Simply tell me how he makes his living. It is the safest and surest of all known tests. A man who gets his board and lodging on this ball in an ignominious way is inevitably an ignominious man. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 273:Politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality's foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide. We need it because we are imperfect, and our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they're sinners can bring to democracy the tolerance it requires in order to survive. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 274:We think of faith as a source of comfort and understanding but find our expressions of faith sowing division; we believe ourselves to be a tolerant people even as racial, religious, and cultural tensions roil the landscape. And instead of resolving these tensions or mediating these conflicts, our politics fans them, exploits them,and drives us further apart. ~ barack-obama, @wisdomtrove 275:I was drawn to all the wrong things: I liked to drink, I was lazy, I didn't have a god, politics, ideas, ideals. I was settled into nothingness; a kind of non-being, and I accepted it. I didn't make for an interesting person. I didn't want to be interesting, it was too hard. What I really wanted was only a soft, hazy space to live in, and to be left alone. ~ charles-bukowski, @wisdomtrove 276:I am struck again by the fact that as soon as a working man gets an official post in the Trade Union or goes into Labour politics, he becomes middle-class whether he will or no. ie. by fighting against the bourgeoisie he becomes a bourgeois. The fact is that you cannot help living in the manner appropriate and developing the ideology appropriate to your income. ~ george-orwell, @wisdomtrove 277:If they [Plato and Aristotle] wrote about politics it was as if to lay down rules for a madhouse. And if they pretended to treat it as something really important it was because they knew that the madmen they were talking to believed themselves to be kings and emperors. They humored these beliefs in order to calm down their madness with as little harm as possible. ~ blaise-pascal, @wisdomtrove 278:It is liberal politics that believes the voter knows best. Liberal art holds that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Liberal economics maintains that the customer is always right. Liberal ethics advises us that if it feels good, we should go ahead and do it. Liberal education teaches us to think for ourselves, because we will find all the answers within us. ~ yuval-noah-harari, @wisdomtrove 279:I am really sorry to see my countrymen trouble themselves about politics. If men were wise, the most arbitrary princes could not hurt them. If they are not wise, the freest government is compelled to be a tyranny. Princes appear to me to be fools. Houses of Commons and Houses of Lords appear to me to be fools; they seem to me to be something else besides human life. ~ william-blake, @wisdomtrove 280:Usually without realizing it, our ultimate peace starts and ends in the authority of God alone, which means the solution to living in joy, peace, and harmony with our fellow men has been here for all since the beginning of mankind and throughout civilization. I have yet to feel the urge to argue politics: it reminds me of getting off the freeway to sit in raging traffic. ~ criss-jami, @wisdomtrove 281:For in a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, "hold office"; every one of us is in a position of responsibility; and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities. We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we demand and deserve. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 282:Philosophy, art, politics, religion and bohemia have never sought to do away entirely with the status hierarchy; they have attemptee, rather, to institute new kinds of hierarchies based on sets of values unrecognised by, and critical of, those of the majority.. They have provided us with persuasive and consoling reminders that there is more than one way of succeeding in life. ~ alain-de-botton, @wisdomtrove 283:Politics are receiving a lot of attention because we have nothing else to interest us. No nation in the history of the world was ever sitting as pretty. If we want anything, all we have to do is go and buy it on credit. So that leaves us without any economic problem whatever, except perhaps some day to have to pay for them. But we are certainly not thinking about that this early. ~ will-rogers, @wisdomtrove 284:I want to be a more serious-minded Christian, more detached from this world, more ready for heaven than I have ever been in my whole life. I want an ear that is sharp to know the voice of the enemy, whether it comes from religion, politics, or philosophy ... I would rather stand and have everybody my enemy than to go along with the crowd to destruction. Do you feel that way? ~ aiden-wilson-tozer, @wisdomtrove 285:Since when do we in America believe that our society is made up of two diametrically opposed classes - one rich, one poor - both in a permanent state of conflict and neither able to get ahead except at the expense of the other? Since when do we in America accept this alien and discredited theory of social and class warfare? Since when do we in America endorse the politics of envy and division? ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 286:There should be relentless exposure of and attack upon every evil practice, whether in politics, in business, or in social life. I hail as a benefactor every writer or speaker, every man who, on the platform, or in book, magazine or newspaper, with merciless severity makes such attack, provided always that he in his turn remembers that the attack is of use only if it is absolutely truthful. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 287:It will begin with its President taking a simple, firm resolution. The resolution will be: To forego the diversions of politics and to concentrate on the job of ending the Korean war-until that job is honorably done. That job requires a personal trip to Korea. I shall make that trip. Only in that way could I learn how best to serve the American people in the cause of peace. I shall go to Korea. ~ dwight-eisenhower, @wisdomtrove 288:The great American writer Herman Melville says somewhere in The White Whale that a man ought to be & 289:Aeschylus and Plato are remembered today long after the triumphs of Imperial Athens are gone. Dante outlived the ambitions of thirteenth century Florence. Goethe stands serenely above the politics of Germany, and I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over cities, we too will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit. ~ john-f-kennedy, @wisdomtrove 290:Our government, National and State, must be freed from the sinister influence or control of special interests. Exactly as the special interests of cotton and slavery threatened our political integrity before the Civil War, so now the great special business interests too often control and corrupt the men and methods of government for their own profit. We must drive the special interests out of politics. ~ theodore-roosevelt, @wisdomtrove 291:Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 292:The materialistic consciousness of our culture … is the root cause of the global crisis; it is not our business ethics, our politics or even our personal lifestyles. These are symptoms of a deeper underlying problem. Our whole civilization is unsustainable. And the reason that it is unsustainable is that our value system, the consciousness with which we approach the world, is an unsustainable mode of consciousness. ~ peter-russell, @wisdomtrove 293:It seems then, say I, that you leave politics entirely out of the question, and never suppose, that a wise magistrate can justly be jealous of certain tenets of philosophy, such as those of Epicurus, which, denying a divine existence, and consequently a providence and a future state, seem to loosen, in a great measure, the ties of morality, and may be supposed, for that reason, pernicious to the peace of civil society. ~ david-hume, @wisdomtrove 294:Precisely because technology is now moving so fast, and parliaments and dictators alike are overwhelmed by data they cannot process quickly enough, present-day politicians are thinking on a far smaller scale than their predecessors a century ago. Consequently, in the early twenty-first century politics is bereft of grand visions. Government has become mere administration. It manages the country, but it no longer leads it. ~ yuval-noah-harari, @wisdomtrove 295:I have simplified my politics into an utter detestation of all existing governments; and, as it is the shortest and most agreeable and summary feeling imaginable, the first moment of an universal republic would convert me into an advocate for single and uncontradicted despotism. The fact is, riches are power, and poverty is slavery all over the earth, and one sort of establishment is no better, nor worse, for a people than another. ~ lord-byron, @wisdomtrove 296:I received a letter from a lad asking me for an easy berth. To this I replied: You cannot be an editor; do not try the law; do not think of the ministry; let alone all ships and merchandise; abhor politics; don't practice medicine; be not a farmer or a soldier or a sailor; don't study, don't think. None of these are easy. O, my son, you have come into a hard world. I know of only one easy place in it, and that is the grave! ~ henry-ward-beecher, @wisdomtrove 297:Politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement. No sound ought to be heard in the church but the healing voice of Christian charity. The cause of civil liberty and civil government gains as little as that of religion by this confusion of duties. Those who quit their proper character to assume what does not belong to them are, for the greater part, ignorant both of the character they leave and of the character they assume. ~ edmund-burke, @wisdomtrove 298:In politics as in religion, my tenets are few and simple. The leading one of which, and indeed that which embraces most others, is to be honest and just ourselves and to exact it from others, meddling as little as possible in their affairs where our own are not involved. If this maxim was generally adopted, wars would cease and our swords would soon be converted into reap hooks and our harvests be more peaceful, abundant, and happy. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 299:In science it often happens that scientists say, & 300:They are wrong who think that politics is like an ocean voyage or a military campaign, something to be done with some particular end in view, something which leaves off as soon as that end is reached. It is not a public chore, to be got over with. It is a way of life. It is the life of a domesticated political and social creature who is born with a love for public life, with a desire for honor, with a feeling for his fellows; and it lasts as long as need be. ~ plutarch, @wisdomtrove 301:The very power of [textbook writers] depends on the fact that they are dealing with a boy: a boy who thinks he is ‚Äòdoing‚Äô his ‚ÄòEnglish prep‚Äô and has no notion that ethics, theology, and politics are all at stake. It is not a theory they put into his mind, but an assumption, which ten years hence, its origin forgotten and its presence unconscious, will condition him to take one side in a controversy which he has never recognized as a controversy at all. ~ c-s-lewis, @wisdomtrove 302:Politics, under a democracy, reduces itself to a mere struggle for office by flatterers of the proletariat; even when a superior man prevails at that disgusting game he must prevail at the cost of his self-respect. Not many superior men make the attempt. The average great captain of the rabble, when he is not simply a weeper over irremediable wrongs, is a hypocrite so far gone that he is unconscious of his own hypocrisy.. a slimy fellow, offensive to the nose. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 303:The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge, and there's no place for it in the endeavor of science. We do not know beforehand where fundamental insights will arise from about our mysterious and lovely solar system. The history of our study of our solar system shows us clearly that accepted and conventional ideas are often wrong, and that fundamental insights can arise from the most unexpected sources. ~ carl-sagan, @wisdomtrove 304:We're resolved tonight that young Americans will always see those Potomac lights, that they will always find here a city of hope in a country that's free so that when other generations look back at this conservative era in American politics and our time in power, they'll say of us that we did hold true to that dream of Joseph Winthrop and Joseph Warren, that we did keep faith with our God, that we did act worthy of ourselves, that we did protect and pass on lovingly that shining city on a hill. ~ ronald-reagan, @wisdomtrove 305:I also believe - and hope - that politics and economics will cease to be as important in the future as they have been in the past; the time will come when most of our present controversies on these matters will seem as trivial, or as meaningless, as the theological debates in which the keenest minds of the Middle Ages dissipated their energies. Politics and economics are concerned with power and wealth, neither of which should be the primary, still less the exclusive, concern of full-grown men. ~ arthur-c-carke, @wisdomtrove 306:A living body is not a fixed thing but a flowing event, like a flame or a whirlpool: the shape alone is stable, for the substance is a stream of energy going in at one end and out at the other. We are particularly and temporarily identifiable wiggles in a stream that enters us in the form of light, heat, air, water, milk, bread, fruit, beer, beef Stroganoff, caviar, and pate de foie gras. It goes out as gas and excrement - and also as semen, babies, talk, politics, commerce, war, poetry, and music. And philosophy. ~ alan-watts, @wisdomtrove 307:It's time for the wealthy to pay their fair share before the middle class becomes the forgotten class.- And it's time for the banks to give back what they were given. There are those in politics, particularly those on the conservative side, who can't get enough of telling people that the wealthy one per cent must not be taxed because doing so kills jobs. The real job-killers are corporate greed and political expediency. It's time for working people in Maine and all across the country to take back the American dream. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 308:Now a writer can make himself a nice career while he is alive by espousing a political cause, working for it, making a profession of believing in it, and if it wins he will be very well placed. All politics is a matter of working hard without reward, or with a living wage for a time, in the hope of booty later. A man can be a Fascist or a Communist and if his outfit gets in he can get to be an ambassador or have a million copies of his books printed by the Government or any of the other rewards the boys dream about. ~ ernest-hemingway, @wisdomtrove 309:But if in the pursuit of the means we should unfortunately stumble again on unfunded paper money or any similar species of fraud, we shall assuredly give a fatal stab to our national credit in its infancy. Paper money will invariably operate in the body of politics as spirit liquors on the human body. They prey on the vitals and ultimately destroy them. Paper money has had the effect in your state that it will ever have, to ruin commerce, oppress the honest, and open the door to every species of fraud and injustice. ~ george-washington, @wisdomtrove 310:The art of politics, under democracy, is simply the art of ringing it. Two branches reveal themselves. There is the art of the demagogue, and there is the art of what may be called, by a shot-gun marriage of Latin and Greek, the demaslave. They are complementary, and both of them are degrading to their practitioners. The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots. The demaslave is one who listens to what these idiots have to say and then pretends that he believes it himself. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 311:To the other nations of the world, religion is one among the many occupations of life. There is politics, there are the enjoyments of social life, there is all that wealth can buy or power can bring, there is all that the senses can enjoy; and among all these various occupations of life and all this searching after something which can give yet a little more whetting to the cloyed senses - among all these, there is perhaps a little bit of religion. But here, in India, religion is the one and the only occupation of life. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove 312:The role played by education in all political utopias from ancient times onward shows how natural it seems to start a new world with those who are by birth and nature new. So far as politics is concerned, this involves of course a serious misconception: instead of joining with one's equals in assuming the effort of persuasion and running the risk of failure, there is dictatorial intervention, based upon the absolute superiority of the adult, and the attempt to produce the new as a fait accompli, that is, as though the new already existed. ~ hannah-arendt, @wisdomtrove 313:I think there ought to be some serious discussion by smart people, really smart people, about whether or not proliferation of things like The Smoking Gun and TMZ and YouTube and the whole celebrity culture is healthy. We've switched from a culture that was interested in manufacturing, economics, politics - trying to play a serious part in the world - to a culture that's really entertainment-based. I mean, I know people who can tell you who won the last four seasons on American Idol and they don't know who their [bleeping] Representatives are. ~ stephen-king, @wisdomtrove 314:In medicine, we have invented an entirely new healing paradigm. Now we no longer simply look to the doctor and to medicine to heal us. We now recognize what has been substantiated scientifically everywhere from Harvard to Duke to Stanford - that the power of the mental and spiritual consciousness of the patient is as significant in healing as physical factors are. If we apply that same paradigm to politics, we see that the mind and the spiritual consciousness of the citizen are every bit as important as anything that goes on in the government. ~ marianne-williamson, @wisdomtrove 315:The basic problem is not political, it is apolitical and human. One of the most important things to do is to keep cutting deliberately through political lines and barriers and emphasizing the fact that these are largely fabrications and that there is another dimension, a genuine reality, totally opposed to the fictions of politics: the human dimension which politics pretend to arrogate entirely to themselves. This is the necessary first step along the long way toward the perhaps impossible task of purifying, humanizing and somehow illuminating politics themselves. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 316:The basic problem is not political, it is a-political and human. One of the most important things to do is to keep cutting deliberately through political lines and barriers and emphasizing the fact that these are largely fabrications and that there is another dimension, a genuine reality, totally opposed to the fictions of politics: the human dimension which politics pretend to arrogate entirely to themselves. This is the necessary first step along the long way toward the perhaps impossible task of purifying, humanizing and somehow illuminating politics themselves. ~ thomas-merton, @wisdomtrove 317:A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outline and covering up all the details. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink. In our age there is no such thing as & 318:& 319:Civilization, in fact, grows more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary. Wars are no longer waged by the will of superior men, capable of judging dispassionately and intelligently the causes behind them and the effects flowing out of them. The are now begun by first throwing a mob into a panic; they are ended only when it has spent its ferine fury. ~ h-l-mencken, @wisdomtrove 320:The orthodox branch of humanism holds that each human being is a unique individual possessing a distinctive inner voice and a never-to-be-repeated string of experiences. Every human being is a singular ray of light, which illuminates the world from a different perspective, and which adds colour, depth and meaning to the universe. Hence we ought to give as much freedom as possible to every individual to experience the world, follow his or her inner voice and express his or her inner truth. Whether in politics, economics or art, individual free will should have far more weight than state interests or religious doctrines. The more liberty individuals enjoy, the more beautiful, rich and meaningful is the world. Due to this emphasis on liberty, the orthodox branch of humanism is known as ‘liberal humanism’ or simply as ‘liberalism’. ~ yuval-noah-harari, @wisdomtrove 321:In the past two decades, a radically new theoretical framework for organizing the world and activities in it has started to achieve prominence and widespread recognition. Known as the Integral Approach, it has been used in everything from business to medicine, psychology to law, politics to sustainability, art to education. Because the Integral Framework claims to be comprehensive or inclusive, each discipline using it has been able to reorganize itself in more comprehensive, effective, efficient, and inclusive ways. The Integral Approach itself does not add any content to these disciplines; it simply shows them the areas of their own approaches that are less than integral or less than comprehensive, and this acts as a guide for reorganizing the disciplines in ways that are proving to be, in some cases, nothing less than revolutionary. ~ ken-wilber, @wisdomtrove 322:If we think in term of months, we had probably focus on immediate problems such as the turmoil in the Middle East, the refugee crisis in Europe and the slowing of the Chinese economy. If we think in terms of decades, then global warming, growing inequality and the disruption of the job market loom large. Yet if we take the really grand view of life, all other problems anddevelopments are overshadowed by three interlinked processes: 1. Science is converging on an all-encompassing dogma, which says that organisms are algorithms and life is data processing. 2. Intelligence is decoupling from consciousness. 3. Non-conscious but highly intelligent algorithms may soon know us better than we know ourselves. These three processes raise three key questions, which I hope will stick in your mind long after you have finished this book: 1. Are organisms really just algorithms, and is life really just data processing? 2. What’s more valuable – intelligence or consciousness? 3. What will happen to society, politics and daily life when non-conscious but highly intelligent algorithms know us better than we know ourselves? ~ yuval-noah-harari, @wisdomtrove 323:Centuries ago human knowledge increased slowly, so politics and economics changed at a leisurely pace too. Today our knowledge is increasing at breakneck speed, and theoretically we should understand the world better and better. But the very opposite is happening. Our new-found knowledge leads to faster economic, social and political changes; in an attempt to understand what is happening, we accelerate the accumulation of knowledge, which leads only to faster and greater upheavals. Consequently we are less and less able to make sense of the present or forecast the future. In 1016 it was relatively easy to predict how Europe would look in 1050. Sure, dynasties might fall, unknown raiders might invade, and natural disasters might strike; yet it was clear that in 1050 Europe would still be ruled by kings and priests, that it would be an agricultural society, that most of its inhabitants would be peasants, and that it would continue to suffer greatly from famines, plagues and wars. In contrast, in 2016 we have no idea how Europe will look in 2050. We cannot say what kind of political system it will have, how its job market will be structured, or even what kind of bodies its inhabitants will possess. ~ yuval-noah-harari, @wisdomtrove *** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***
1:Politics is cyclical. ~ Darrell Issa, #NFDB
2:Everything is politics. ~ Thomas Mann, #NFDB
3:Politics is compromise. ~ Paddy Ashdown, #NFDB
4:I am not a fan of politics. ~ Chris Kyle, #NFDB
5:I'm not a big politics guy. ~ Kevin Hart, #NFDB
6:Politics is a good thing! ~ Larry Sabato, #NFDB
7:Local politics matters a lot. ~ Van Jones, #NFDB
8:Architecture is politics. ~ Mitchell Kapor, #NFDB
9:Everybody in politics lies. ~ David Geffen, #NFDB
10:Politics is a contact sport. ~ Steve Chabot, #NFDB
11:Politics make me sick ~ William Howard Taft, #NFDB
12:Politics is applied biology. ~ Ernst Haeckel, #NFDB
13:Politics is ethics writ large. ~ Brent Weeks, #NFDB
14:Politics is not for sissies. ~ Rush Limbaugh, #NFDB
15:It gave dirty politics a bad name. ~ Bob Hope, #NFDB
16:Politics is a waste of time. ~ Michelle Obama, #NFDB
17:Practice corporeal politics. ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
18:Politics and football don't mix. ~ Ruud Gullit, #NFDB
19:Politics is a game of friends. ~ Jean Chretien, #NFDB
20:Politics isn't in my nature. ~ Bernard Malamud, #NFDB
21:Good economics is good politics. ~ Paul Keating, #NFDB
22:People like passion in politics. ~ Ed Gillespie, #NFDB
23:Politics swings like a pendulum. ~ Ed Gillespie, #NFDB
24:there. Politics is a bartering game. ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
25:I do politics in order to do policy. ~ Paul Ryan, #NFDB
26:In Pakistan politics is hereditary. ~ Imran Khan, #NFDB
27:pity has no place in politics, ~ H Rider Haggard, #NFDB
28:Politics is motion." John Sears ~ Rick Perlstein, #NFDB
29:Politics often trump common sense. ~ Jeff Lemire, #NFDB
30:Politics ruins the character ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
31:Common Lisp is politics, not art. ~ Scott Fahlman, #NFDB
32:dominated electoral politics ~ Michelle Alexander, #NFDB
33:Gossip is easy, politics is hard. ~ Tabitha Soren, #NFDB
34:I quit politics because I hated it. ~ Roger Ailes, #NFDB
35:I think politics is everything. ~ Gene Weingarten, #NFDB
36:Party politics is now a real farce. ~ George Sand, #NFDB
37:Politics have no relation to morals. ~ M K Hobson, #NFDB
38:Politics is history in the making. ~ Adolf Hitler, #NFDB
39:Politics is no exact science. ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
40:Politics is not really my thing. ~ John Malkovich, #NFDB
41:Politics ruins the character. ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
42:Publicity is the engine of politics. ~ H W Brands, #NFDB
43:A week is a long time in politics. ~ Harold Wilson, #NFDB
44:I am to hip-hop what Obama is to politics ~ Common, #NFDB
45:Im no expert on American politics. ~ Bjorn Lomborg, #NFDB
46:Nothing is irreparable in politics. ~ Jean Anouilh, #NFDB
47:Politics has become entertainment. ~ Joe Eszterhas, #NFDB
48:Politics is a highly tribal business. ~ Nick Clegg, #NFDB
49:You cannot mix sports with politics. ~ Jackie Chan, #NFDB
50:Beyond shame there is politics. ~ Gerard de Marigny, #NFDB
51:Good government is good politics. ~ Richard J Daley, #NFDB
52:I make movies. I'm not in politics. ~ Andrew Niccol, #NFDB
53:In politics, victory is never total. ~ Donald Freed, #NFDB
54:Neutrality is not politics. ~ Eleftherios Venizelos, #NFDB
55:politics are a part of daily life. ~ Gloria Steinem, #NFDB
56:Politics is a word spelled N-O-W. ~ Alexis De Veaux, #NFDB
57:Politics is gut; commercials are gut. ~ Frank Luntz, #NFDB
58:The best politics is right action. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
59:The gun is not out of Irish politics. ~ Ian Paisley, #NFDB
60:To me, politics is a pile of tricks. ~ Tracy Morgan, #NFDB
61:What are the politics of boredom? ~ Malcolm Mclaren, #NFDB
62:Hope springs eternal, even in politics. ~ Gwen Ifill, #NFDB
63:I'm not playing vamp politics. ~ MaryJanice Davidson, #NFDB
64:Politics: a Trojan horse race. ~ Stanis aw Jerzy Lec, #NFDB
65:Politics: a Trojan horse race. ~ Stanislaw Jerzy Lec, #NFDB
66:Politics is different than business. ~ Carly Fiorina, #NFDB
67:Secrecy is the foundation of politics. ~ Bing Gordon, #NFDB
68:Trust him to have his bitter politics ~ Robert Frost, #NFDB
69:A week is a long time in politics ~ Margaret Thatcher, #NFDB
70:Donald Trump turned politics on its head. ~ Paul Ryan, #NFDB
71:Emotion is a rotten base for politics. ~ Dick Francis, #NFDB
72:Grammar is politics by other means. ~ Donna J Haraway, #NFDB
73:Heroism began where politics stopped. ~ Graham Greene, #NFDB
74:My only politics have been friendship. ~ Jean Cocteau, #NFDB
75:Politics are a labyrinth without a clue. ~ John Adams, #NFDB
76:Politics doesn't matter, policy does. ~ Brian J White, #NFDB
77:Politics is but a narrow field. ~ Henry David Thoreau, #NFDB
78:Politics is not an exact science. ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
79:War is politics by other means. ~ Carl von Clausewitz, #NFDB
80:Wars come and go; politics endure. ~ Jacqueline Carey, #NFDB
81:When bad news sells, money politics buys. ~ Toba Beta, #NFDB
82:You do the policy, I'll do the politics. ~ Dan Quayle, #NFDB
83:Everything is art. Everything is politics. ~ Ai Weiwei, #NFDB
84:Politics and life go hand in hand. ~ Bruce Springsteen, #NFDB
85:Politics are a very unsatisfactory game. ~ Henry Adams, #NFDB
86:Politics are not my arena. Music is. ~ Aretha Franklin, #NFDB
87:Politics is a substitute for violence. ~ Dick Gephardt, #NFDB
88:Politics is history in the present tense. ~ John Avlon, #NFDB
89:Politics is the enemy of the imagination. ~ Ian Mcewan, #NFDB
90:Three months is a lifetime in politics. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
91:I don’t rave against politics. I ignore it. ~ Ana s Nin, #NFDB
92:In politics a week is a very long time. ~ Harold Wilson, #NFDB
93:In politics the middle way is none at all. ~ John Adams, #NFDB
94:In politics there's never a magic wand. ~ Julia Gillard, #NFDB
95:Islam is politics or it is nothing. ~ Ruhollah Khomeini, #NFDB
96:Our politics is groupish, not selfish. ~ Jonathan Haidt, #NFDB
97:Politics is downstream from culture. ~ Andrew Breitbart, #NFDB
98:Politics is making my life miserable!! ~ Zlata Filipovi, #NFDB
99:Politics is who gets what, when, how. ~ Harold Lasswell, #NFDB
100:Politics were the ultimate frustration. ~ Karen Traviss, #NFDB
101:There is no gambling like politics. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
102:What does an actor know about politics? ~ Ronald Reagan, #NFDB
103:Food, clothes and shelter have no politics. ~ Mutabaruka, #NFDB
104:I haven't been very active in politics. ~ Clint Eastwood, #NFDB
105:I know politics; I know the media. ~ Valerie Trierweiler, #NFDB
106:Politics always change. Stories never do. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
107:Politics are the divine science, after all. ~ John Adams, #NFDB
108:Politics is my hobby. Smut is my vocation. ~ Larry Flynt, #NFDB
109:Politics is show business for ugly people. ~ Paul Begala, #NFDB
110:Religion is often politics made sacred. ~ Gloria Steinem, #NFDB
111:The decisive means for politics is violence. ~ Max Weber, #NFDB
112:The student of politics must study the soul. ~ Aristotle, #NFDB
113:You're never really out of politics. ~ Michael Ignatieff, #NFDB
114:I don't take art as seriously as politics. ~ Orson Welles, #NFDB
115:I have absolutely zero interest in politics. ~ Jerry Hall, #NFDB
116:In politics, nothing is contemptible. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
117:Morality has nothing in common with politics. ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
118:Politics is about realities, not logic. ~ Bashar al Assad, #NFDB
119:Politics is a potent way to empower women. ~ Preneet Kaur, #NFDB
120:Politics is applied anywhere, even in heaven. ~ Toba Beta, #NFDB
121:Power there is. Politics are not power. ~ L E Modesitt Jr, #NFDB
122:Rock should never be in bed with politics. ~ Alice Cooper, #NFDB
123:In politics, there are no friends. ~ Marian Wright Edelman, #NFDB
124:Is there decency left in American politics? ~ Byron Dorgan, #NFDB
125:Politics can make people do terrible things ~ Jonathan Coe, #NFDB
126:Politics have no relation to morals. ~ Niccolo Machiavelli, #NFDB
127:Politics is a people business. I like people. ~ Laura Bush, #NFDB
128:Politics is just show business for ugly people. ~ Jay Leno, #NFDB
129:Politics is more difficult than physics. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
130:Politics were for those who had too much to eat. ~ Ken Liu, #NFDB
131:There is no gap between art and politics. ~ Bruce Cockburn, #NFDB
132:There is no leisure about politics. ~ Saint Thomas Aquinas, #NFDB
133:What goes for sex goes double for politics. ~ Kate Clinton, #NFDB
134:Any democratic sentiment propels my politics. ~ Cody Wilson, #NFDB
135:Economics is really politics in disguise. ~ Hazel Henderson, #NFDB
136:Everybody knows politics is a contact sport. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
137:Frankly, my politics are pretty left of left ~ Chris Cooper, #NFDB
138:From politics it was an easy step to silence. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
139:From politics, it was an easy step to silence ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
140:Fuck politics. I just want to burn shit down. ~ Joey Comeau, #NFDB
141:In politics, what appears is. ~ Antonio de Oliveira Salazar, #NFDB
142:Politics is not a science...but an art. ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
143:When done right, politics is a blood sport. ~ Morgan Blayde, #NFDB
144:Hypocrisy is the scarlet letter in politics. ~ Mark McKinnon, #NFDB
145:I don't get involved in record label politics. ~ Leona Lewis, #NFDB
146:I never let my politics supersede my manners. ~ Darren Criss, #NFDB
147:In politics, purity is the enemy of victory. ~ Haley Barbour, #NFDB
148:I think politics come out of psychology. ~ Bruce Springsteen, #NFDB
149:Our changing climate has changed our politics. ~ Hilary Benn, #NFDB
150:Partisan politics has no place in the classroom. ~ Juan Cole, #NFDB
151:Party politics divides friendships sometimes. ~ Jon Bon Jovi, #NFDB
152:Practical politics consists in ignoring facts. ~ Henry Adams, #NFDB
153:The movies were custard compared to politics. ~ Nancy Reagan, #NFDB
154:War is the ultimate tool of politics. ~ R Buckminster Fuller, #NFDB
155:You should never ask actors about politics. ~ Liev Schreiber, #NFDB
156:appearances, not reality, ruled in politics, he ~ Ron Chernow, #NFDB
157:Arkansas is a state where politics is retail. ~ Mike Huckabee, #NFDB
158:Art and politics have many things in common. ~ Tania Bruguera, #NFDB
159:Culture is always about politics in the end. ~ Yasmina Khadra, #NFDB
160:Finality is not the language of politics. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
161:In politics, appearance matters more than truth. ~ Robin Hobb, #NFDB
162:In politics, being deceived is no excuse. ~ Leszek Ko akowski, #NFDB
163:In politics, one is never finished. Look at me! ~ Alain Juppe, #NFDB
164:In politics stupidity is not a handicap. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte, #NFDB
165:Is politics just another word for injustice? ~ Sherwood Smith, #NFDB
166:I think the world of politics is pretty sleazy. ~ Jemima Khan, #NFDB
167:Passions change, politics are immutable. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte, #NFDB
168:Politics is simply the organization of hatreds. ~ Henry Adams, #NFDB
169:Politics was for those who had too much to eat. ~ Rich Horton, #NFDB
170:Without alienation, there can be no politics. ~ Arthur Miller, #NFDB
171:You have to be an optimist to be in politics. ~ Barbara Boxer, #NFDB
172:You never know what'll happen in politics. ~ Claire McCaskill, #NFDB
173:Conservatism is the politics of reality ~ William F Buckley Jr, #NFDB
174:he was a man of politics and a man of action. ~ Stephen Hunter, #NFDB
175:I follow politics, but I don't like to discuss it. ~ Tom Araya, #NFDB
176:In politics experiments means revolutions. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
177:[In politics] no good deed goes unpunished ~ Clare Boothe Luce, #NFDB
178:In politics, stupidity is not a handicap. ~ Napol on Bonaparte, #NFDB
179:Liberalism is Rationalism in politics. ~ Francis Parker Yockey, #NFDB
180:Politics and ethics belong to different worlds. ~ Adam Michnik, #NFDB
181:Politics for me is not Ambition but a Mission. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
182:Politics is how you think about life itself. ~ Gene Weingarten, #NFDB
183:There are no true friends in politics. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero, #NFDB
184:You don't go into politics unless you want to win. ~ Rand Paul, #NFDB
185:You help me, I'll help you. That's politics. ~ Terry McAuliffe, #NFDB
186:Half a truth is better than no politics. ~ Gilbert K Chesterton, #NFDB
187:I don't compromise my principles for politics. ~ Chris Christie, #NFDB
188:I don't want to force my politics on my readers. ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
189:I'm a Republican. I may go into politics myself. ~ Lou Ferrigno, #NFDB
190:I never saw anything funnier than Texas politics. ~ Molly Ivins, #NFDB
191:In politics all abstract terms conceal treachery. ~ C L R James, #NFDB
192:I think that politics needs a bit of spicing up. ~ Nigel Farage, #NFDB
193:Our best people don't go into politics. ~ Henry Steele Commager, #NFDB
194:Politics are not the task of a Christian. ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer, #NFDB
195:Politics is always driven by competing worries. ~ George F Will, #NFDB
196:Politics is organized hatred, that is unity. ~ John Jay Chapman, #NFDB
197:Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. ~ Frank Zappa, #NFDB
198:Politics, when I am in it, makes me sick. ~ William Howard Taft, #NFDB
199:Sexuality follows fashion, which follows politics. ~ Naomi Wolf, #NFDB
200:Sometimes nature is even crueller than politics. ~ Clive Barker, #NFDB
201:There's no such thing as gratitude in politics. ~ Graham Greene, #NFDB
202:This is familiar in contemporary politics. ~ Lin Manuel Miranda, #NFDB
203:War is merely a continuation of politics. ~ Carl von Clausewitz, #NFDB
204:War is politics for everyone but the warrior. ~ Tiffany Madison, #NFDB
205:We cannot cure the evils of politics with politics. ~ Anais Nin, #NFDB
206:We must change the culture of politics first. ~ Michael Skolnik, #NFDB
207:Entirely new concepts are very rare in politics. ~ Hannah Arendt, #NFDB
208:I do not sing politics. I merely sing the truth. ~ Miriam Makeba, #NFDB
209:I got into politics when I was eight years old. ~ Jonathan Krohn, #NFDB
210:Politics is about listening and it's about leading. ~ Tony Blair, #NFDB
211:Politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards. ~ Max Weber, #NFDB
212:Politics is far more complicated than physics. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
213:Politics is the art of making civilization work. ~ Louis L Amour, #NFDB
214:The art of politics is knowing what to do next. ~ James P Cannon, #NFDB
215:There is a limit to what you can do in politics. ~ Ronald Reagan, #NFDB
216:There might be some serious fun in politics. ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
217:They weren’t just typical keep-’em-scared politics. ~ Tim Tigner, #NFDB
218:I leave the politics at the office when I go out. ~ Rush Limbaugh, #NFDB
219:In politics evils should be remedied not revenged. ~ Napoleon III, #NFDB
220:Jesus did not mix his spirituality with politics. ~ Philip Yancey, #NFDB
221:Politics, in a sense, has always been a con game. ~ Joe McGinniss, #NFDB
222:Politics is activity in relation to power ~ Francis Parker Yockey, #NFDB
223:Politics is the womb in which war develops. ~ Carl von Clausewitz, #NFDB
224:Politics sure is the ruination of many a good man. ~ Harry Truman, #NFDB
225:The money in politics is a cash cow for the media. ~ Noam Chomsky, #NFDB
226:The politics of judges is getting to be red hot. ~ Lindsey Graham, #NFDB
227:The Pope doesn't get mixed up in Italian politics. ~ Pope Francis, #NFDB
228:There are no personal sympathies in politics. ~ Margaret Thatcher, #NFDB
229:You see, politics always change. Stories never do. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
230:Everything begins in mystery and ends in politics. ~ Charles P guy, #NFDB
231:Information upon points of practical politics. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
232:[I]n politics, reputation is the prologue to fact... ~ Todd Gitlin, #NFDB
233:It is dangerous to play politics with the Budget. ~ Clement Attlee, #NFDB
234:I was interested in politics since the age of 14. ~ George Brandis, #NFDB
235:Nobody likes, you know, the ugly parts of politics. ~ Barbara Bush, #NFDB
236:Politics are always involved, even in my love songs. ~ Lydia Lunch, #NFDB
237:Politics is about moving forward, looking forward. ~ Rush Limbaugh, #NFDB
238:Religion and politics are supposed to be separate. ~ Eleanor Clift, #NFDB
239:Talk politics, talk about study and talk positively. ~ Jiang Zemin, #NFDB
240:Tony Blair is the best friend I've had in politics. ~ Gordon Brown, #NFDB
241:A good deal of our politics is physiological. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
242:Gratitude belongs to history & not to politics, ~ Sonia Purnell, #NFDB
243:Having old friends is the politics of last resort. ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
244:In politics, if you're explaining, you're loosing. ~ Rick Perlstein, #NFDB
245:It's a big deal for me to say I'm over politics. ~ Shirley MacLaine, #NFDB
246:Mixing humor and politics is something that works. ~ Bryan Cranston, #NFDB
247:Politics and war are remarkably similar situations. ~ Newt Gingrich, #NFDB
248:Politics is a dance until the moment it becomes a war. ~ V E Schwab, #NFDB
249:Politics is traditionally a male domain in Russia. ~ Alexei Navalny, #NFDB
250:Politics may come and go, but Greed goes on forever. ~ Vernor Vinge, #NFDB
251:Politics will sooner or later make fools of everybody. ~ Dick Armey, #NFDB
252:There's politics in all aspects of our daily lives. ~ Michael Moore, #NFDB
253:when you have politics, you have corruption.” “Possibly. ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
254:Your politics are so far right,
They're wrong. ~ Harry Whitewolf,#NFDB
255:Either one lives for politics or one lives off politics. ~ Max Weber, #NFDB
256:Everything begins in mysticism and ends in politics. ~ Charles Peguy, #NFDB
257:Ideas" in politics are often intuition fancy dress. ~ Rick Perlstein, #NFDB
258:I like politics. I like traveling in the United States. ~ Laura Bush, #NFDB
259:In politics there are no principles, just opportunities ~ Bill Press, #NFDB
260:I played by the rules of politics as I found them. ~ Richard M Nixon, #NFDB
261:It is a vain hope to make people happy by politics. ~ Thomas Carlyle, #NFDB
262:politics is about the improvement of people’s lives.” I ~ Al Franken, #NFDB
263:Politics is always related to the history and genealogy. ~ Toba Beta, #NFDB
264:Politics is a war of causes; a joust of principles. ~ Woodrow Wilson, #NFDB
265:Politics is the shadow cast on society by big business. ~ John Dewey, #NFDB
266:Politics is too important to be left to politicians. ~ Warren Rudman, #NFDB
267:Rest of my life is more important to me than politics ~ Chuka Umunna, #NFDB
268:The politics of the flesh are the roots of power. ~ Ursula K Le Guin, #NFDB
269:There are no friends at cards or world politics ~ Finley Peter Dunne, #NFDB
270:I don't like politics, hypocrites, folks with poodles. ~ Alan Jackson, #NFDB
271:I don't think that good politics ever excuse a bad song. ~ Greg Brown, #NFDB
272:In morals as in politics anarchy is not for the weak. ~ Mary McCarthy, #NFDB
273:I view my time in politics as a chapter, not my life. ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
274:Law, lastly, stands between politics and morality. ~ Robert I Rotberg, #NFDB
275:Politics and power is a realm of relative influence. ~ Fareed Zakaria, #NFDB
276:Politics has become infused with narcissism in America. ~ John Oliver, #NFDB
277:Politics in America is the binding secular religion. ~ Theodore White, #NFDB
278:Politics was about watching where you put your feet. ~ Jonas Jonasson, #NFDB
279:Politics was sort of a way of life in our family. ~ Ann McLane Kuster, #NFDB
280:that conflict follows politics as night follows day, ~ Gloria Steinem, #NFDB
281:The environment has fallen to the wayside in politics. ~ Craig Venter, #NFDB
282:The only intelligent way to discuss politics is ~ Robert Anton Wilson, #NFDB
283:The world of politics is dictated by rules. ~ Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, #NFDB
284:When politics is too slow, change has to come from culture. ~ Al Gore, #NFDB
285:I cannot do politics under someone else's control. ~ Mikhail Prokhorov, #NFDB
286:I didn't think about politics until I came to Europe. ~ Robert Redford, #NFDB
287:I'm not the guy to ask about politics. I'm a gag writer. ~ David Mamet, #NFDB
288:In human life, economics precedes politics or culture. ~ Park Geun hye, #NFDB
289:I've had an interest in politics since I was a little kid. ~ Rand Paul, #NFDB
290:Office politics are bloody-minded, but weak on content. ~ Mason Cooley, #NFDB
291:Politics and hypocrites is turning us all into lunatics. ~ Marvin Gaye, #NFDB
292:Politics is a love-hate relationship. I sure know that. ~ Richard Lamm, #NFDB
293:Politics is an ugly picture with a pretty frame. ~ Matthew FitzSimmons, #NFDB
294:Politics is not a game. It is an earnest business. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
295:... privacy is ... connected to a politics of domination. ~ Bell Hooks, #NFDB
296:Washington D.C. politics is like Hollywood for ugly people. ~ Ted Cruz, #NFDB
297:We spend more money on antacids than we do on politics. ~ John Boehner, #NFDB
298:You can't just talk politics all the time - it's boring. ~ Chris Cuomo, #NFDB
299:A couple of weeks is a long time in American politics. ~ Peter Jennings, #NFDB
300:But I don't need to use politics as a way of making money. ~ Imran Khan, #NFDB
301:I believe every Christian should be involved in politics. ~ Bill Bright, #NFDB
302:I keep my politics a little closer to me than others do. ~ Willie Geist, #NFDB
303:I'll be active in politics through PACs at a later date. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
304:I'm at a place of deep cynicism about American politics. ~ Grace Dunham, #NFDB
305:In politics, as in business, leadership is crucial. ~ Edgar Bronfman Sr, #NFDB
306:In politics, guts is all. ~ Barbara Castle Baroness Castle of Blackburn, #NFDB
307:Politics is about putting yourself in a state of grace. ~ Paddy Ashdown, #NFDB
308:Politics is shit; it corrupts everything it touches... ~ Charles Stross, #NFDB
309:Politics is the choice between the lesser of two evils. ~ George Orwell, #NFDB
310:The key to success in politics: Never forget, seldom forgive. ~ Ed Koch, #NFDB
311:There is no politics that isn’t ultimately religious. ~ James K A Smith, #NFDB
312:To err is human. To blame someone else is politics. ~ Hubert H Humphrey, #NFDB
313:All politics are local, whether in Kabul or in Canada. ~ Chris Alexander, #NFDB
314:I don't get involved in politics. I just blow my horn. ~ Louis Armstrong, #NFDB
315:In politics, you either eat the baby or you are the baby. ~ Edward Klein, #NFDB
316:Is politics nothing other than the art of deliberately lying? ~ Voltaire, #NFDB
317:My politics is my religion, my religion is my politics. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
318:Negativity drove me out of politics in the mid-Nineties. ~ Mark McKinnon, #NFDB
319:Politics corrupted science because its own interest was only war. ~ Osho, #NFDB
320:Politics doesn't make strange bedfellows - marriage does. ~ Groucho Marx, #NFDB
321:Politics is a continuation of economics by other means ~ Michael Ruppert, #NFDB
322:Politics is how you live your life, not whom you vote for. ~ Jerry Rubin, #NFDB
323:Politics is the art of controlling your environment. ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
324:Politics is the art of enriching oneself, the art of robbery. ~ Ted Bell, #NFDB
325:Politics is the purview of scoundrels, tyrants, and fools. ~ Jim Butcher, #NFDB
326:Politics must be founded on the solid faith of God almighty ~ Alan Keyes, #NFDB
327:There can be no wise politics without thought beforehand. ~ Annie Besant, #NFDB
328:You subscribe politics to it. I subscribe freedom to it. ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
329:I don't believe your soul mate has to share your politics. ~ Rachel Weisz, #NFDB
330:I was crushingly bored talking about politics 30 hours a week. ~ Art Bell, #NFDB
331:Owes unions who endorsed him; that's why he's in politics. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
332:Politics as battle has given way to politics as spectacle. ~ Ronald Steel, #NFDB
333:Politics is like boxing - you try to knock out your opponents. ~ Idi Amin, #NFDB
334:Politics is the executive expression of human immaturity. ~ Vera Brittain, #NFDB
335:Politics is the science of who gets what, when, and why. ~ Sidney Hillman, #NFDB
336:Politics is very interesting and always leads to conflict. ~ Ridley Scott, #NFDB
337:The moment politics becomes dull, democracy is in danger. ~ Lord Hailsham, #NFDB
338:The only thing that's consistent in politics is change. ~ Martin O Malley, #NFDB
339:You cannot have politics without building mass-movements. ~ Vijay Prashad, #NFDB
340:A dose of humility goes a long way in life and in politics. ~ Ron Fournier, #NFDB
341:I could write for days about the disappointment of politics. ~ Jess Walter, #NFDB
342:I don't find music being less important than, like, politics. ~ Kurt Loder, #NFDB
343:If you don't turn on to politics, politics will turn on you. ~ Ralph Nader, #NFDB
344:I haven't been in politics too long so that's a good thing. ~ Justin Amash, #NFDB
345:I'll assure you this: I will have nothing to do with politics. ~ Lou Holtz, #NFDB
346:I loathe and detest all this trivialisation of politics. ~ Ken Livingstone, #NFDB
347:I'm in politics. I'm in government, so nothing surprises me ~ Andrew Cuomo, #NFDB
348:In politics, nothing good ever comes from the unexpected. ~ Chris Matthews, #NFDB
349:In politics, you also have to be cautiously optimistic. ~ Aung San Suu Kyi, #NFDB
350:Money is power in American politics. It always has been. ~ William Greider, #NFDB
351:Money is the original sin in politics and I am not sinless. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
352:Poetry is about the grief. Politics is about the grievance. ~ Robert Frost, #NFDB
353:Politics is all about a cold head, a dead heart and dirty hands. ~ Unknown, #NFDB
354:Politics is developing more comedians than radio ever did. ~ Jimmy Durante, #NFDB
355:Politics is for the moment and equation is for eternity. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
356:The science that studies the supreme good for man is politics. ~ Aristotle, #NFDB
357:To me, politics is an extension of what I do in medicine. ~ Tabare Vazquez, #NFDB
358:You can't ignore politics, no matter how much you'd like to. ~ Molly Ivins, #NFDB
359:Anything government or politics is always exciting for me. ~ Peter Jacobson, #NFDB
360:But lies were what people wanted; that was politics. ~ Kim Stanley Robinson, #NFDB
361:Citizens are all equal in politics: we each have one vote. ~ Elayne Boosler, #NFDB
362:He liked radical politics and had a fondness for chocolate. ~ Laura Kinsale, #NFDB
363:I don't know anything about politics. Like, zero. Nothing. ~ Norm MacDonald, #NFDB
364:If I do talk politics it's very surface, it's not in-depth. ~ Brad Williams, #NFDB
365:If you want to be loved by everyone, don't go into politics. ~ Teresa Heinz, #NFDB
366:In politics, a lie unanswered becomes truth within 24 hours. ~ Willie Brown, #NFDB
367:In politics, an organized minority is a political majority. ~ Jesse Jackson, #NFDB
368:In politics nothing is so absurd as rancor. ~ Camillo Benso Count of Cavour, #NFDB
369:I think politics is the biggest lever of change in India. ~ Nandan Nilekani, #NFDB
370:Just as all politics is local, all good history is personal. ~ Marcia Clark, #NFDB
371:Men who have greatness within them don't go in for politics. ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
372:Policy and politics generally go contrary to principle. ~ Flannery O Connor, #NFDB
373:Politics is a game, and games attract children, Meredith. ~ Michael Anderle, #NFDB
374:Politics is the most concentrated expression of economics. ~ Vladimir Lenin, #NFDB
375:Politics is the reflex of the business and industrial world. ~ Emma Goldman, #NFDB
376:Politics offers yesterday's answers to today's problems. ~ Marshall McLuhan, #NFDB
377:Resurrection, like politics, makes strange bedfellows. ~ Philip Jose Farmer, #NFDB
378:The end move in politics is always to pick up a gun. ~ R Buckminster Fuller, #NFDB
379:The equally is a political theory, but no a practical politics. ~ P D James, #NFDB
380:The Media: bold sex and violence, timid politics and morals. ~ Mason Cooley, #NFDB
381:There is nothing so bad that politics cannot make it worse. ~ Thomas Sowell, #NFDB
382:The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia. ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
383:We are witnessing the criminalization of conservative politics. ~ Tom DeLay, #NFDB
384:Don't ever get involved in politics, Theo. It's a dirty game. ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
385:Ethical politics requires more than rational demystification. ~ Jane Bennett, #NFDB
386:If people want go-along, get-along politics, I am not their guy. ~ Bill Sali, #NFDB
387:I got politics and economics moving and then others took over. ~ Lech Walesa, #NFDB
388:I have always hated celebrities lecturing people on politics. ~ Simon Cowell, #NFDB
389:In politics there is no right answer - and no final answer. ~ Ann Widdecombe, #NFDB
390:Modern politics is civil war carried on by other means. ~ Alasdair MacIntyre, #NFDB
391:Music is politics - it always has been and it always will be. ~ Thea Gilmore, #NFDB
392:No place could be less sympathetic to my politics than America. ~ Nan Goldin, #NFDB
393:Politics and the pulpit are terms that have little agreement. ~ Edmund Burke, #NFDB
394:Politics determines who has the power, not who has the truth. ~ Paul Krugman, #NFDB
395:Politics offers yesterday's answers to today's questions. ~ Marshall McLuhan, #NFDB
396:That's the problem in politics. One wrong word and it's over. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
397:The problem of the Middle East is poverty more than politics. ~ Shimon Peres, #NFDB
398:Those with shitty relationships can only have a shitty politics. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
399:Truth is a habit of integrity, not a strategy of politics. ~ George McGovern, #NFDB
400:Vertical lift-up politics rather than horizontal left-right. ~ Mike Huckabee, #NFDB
401:War has rules, mud wrestling has rules - politics has no rules. ~ Ross Perot, #NFDB
402:You know, in politics when you come in third, it's a win. ~ Paula Poundstone, #NFDB
403:You want to change the world? Forget politics. Learn to code. ~ Marcus Sakey, #NFDB
404:Identity politics isn't old school! It's still alive and well. ~ Grace Dunham, #NFDB
405:I fear we must use bad science to accomplish good politics. ~ James L Cambias, #NFDB
406:If politics were a musical, it would be "Promises, Promises". ~ Ronald Reagan, #NFDB
407:If you're not turned on by politics, politics will turn on you. ~ Ralph Nader, #NFDB
408:I have always believed in development over votebank politics. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
409:In politics, being deceived is no excuse. —LESZEK KOŁAKOWSKI ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
410:I realize it's probably best to keep my politics to myself. ~ Shannen Doherty, #NFDB
411:I seldom think of politics more than eighteen hours a day. ~ Lyndon B Johnson, #NFDB
412:Military action without politics is like a tree without a root. ~ Ho Chi Minh, #NFDB
413:Politics and religious leaders [are hindered] by their egotism. ~ Erich Fromm, #NFDB
414:Politics is opposed to morality, as philosophy to naïveté. ~ Emmanuel Levinas, #NFDB
415:Politics is war without blood, while war is politics with blood. ~ Mao Zedong, #NFDB
416:Politics now is rather like going into Starbucks for a coffee. ~ Rory Bremner, #NFDB
417:Politics or ideology must not get in the way of sound planning. ~ Chuck Hagel, #NFDB
418:The soul of our politics is the commitment to ending domination. ~ Bell Hooks, #NFDB
419:The soul of our politics is the commitment to ending domination. ~ bell hooks, #NFDB
420:This is not politics... it's to protect the innocence of children. ~ Bob Dole, #NFDB
421:Those who refuse to engage in politics will be led by their inferiors ~ Plato, #NFDB
422:You cannot adopt politics as a profession and remain honest. ~ Ambrose Bierce, #NFDB
423:A depraved culture supports a depraved politics and vice versa. ~ Ilana Mercer, #NFDB
424:Economics, politics, and personalities are often inseparable. ~ Charles Edison, #NFDB
425:England is unrivalled for two things - sport and politics. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
426:evil is our trade, but not so deep a darkness as politics. ~ Christopher Moore, #NFDB
427:I don't know why anyone would want to do that politics stuff. ~ Conor McGregor, #NFDB
428:I reject the cynical view that politics is a dirty business. ~ Richard M Nixon, #NFDB
429:I think for technology and innovation we have to ignore politics. ~ Ron Conway, #NFDB
430:Money is becoming one of the most corrosive elements of politics. ~ Trent Lott, #NFDB
431:My politics are short and sweet, like the old woman's dance. ~ Abraham Lincoln, #NFDB
432:My politics just kind of developed over time as a reaction. ~ Stephanie Miller, #NFDB
433:Ostrich politics were here combined with ostrich strategy. To ~ Heinz Guderian, #NFDB
434:party politics and religion now substituting for class conflict. ~ Howard Zinn, #NFDB
435:Politics is merely war by other means.
-an old Andorian saying ~ David Mack,#NFDB
436:Politics is so corrupt even the dishonest people get fucked. W ~ George Carlin, #NFDB
437:Politics is the art of acquiring, holding, and wielding power. ~ Indira Gandhi, #NFDB
438:Politics takes patience, time, listening and endless meetings. ~ Dick Gephardt, #NFDB
439:A leader has to lead otherwise he has no business in politics. ~ Harry S Truman, #NFDB
440:A nation that hates politics will not long survive as a democracy. ~ E J Dionne, #NFDB
441:Anyone in politics would like to have great economic numbers. ~ Terry McAuliffe, #NFDB
442:Fear sells better than hope. In business and in politics. ~ Holly Goddard Jones, #NFDB
443:I get no pleasure from politics; its not in my character. ~ Bidzina Ivanishvili, #NFDB
444:I'm not clever enough to be in machinations and real politics. ~ Natalie Dormer, #NFDB
445:In politics, the tripod is the most unstable of all structures. ~ Frank Herbert, #NFDB
446:Liberal politics meant the politics of common-sense. ~ Henry Campbell Bannerman, #NFDB
447:Nothing is so admirable in politics as a short memory. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith, #NFDB
448:Politics divides a nation, instead of bringing its people together. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
449:Politics is about ethics and morality, openly or not openly. ~ Aleksandar Hemon, #NFDB
450:Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
451:Politics ought to be fun. It shouldn't be just boring meetings. ~ Jim Hightower, #NFDB
452:Real politics are the possession and distribution of power. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
453:Rock and roll just used to be for kicks, now a days it's politics. ~ Billy Joel, #NFDB
454:There are ways in which art can have a longer reach than politics. ~ Ian Mcewan, #NFDB
455:Therefore I will not ‘learn’ politics but let politics teach me. ~ Adolf Hitler, #NFDB
456:Vote bank politics has put the future of our youth in darkness. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
457:War is merely the continuation of politics by other means ~ Carl von Clausewitz, #NFDB
458:What animates me in politics are the economic issues of opportunity. ~ Ted Cruz, #NFDB
459:What we need in politics today is not more democracy but less. ~ Fareed Zakaria, #NFDB
460:You need younger men in Africa, men and women in African politics. ~ Kofi Annan, #NFDB
461:Do you think it's possible to discuss politics without preaching? ~ Steven Brust, #NFDB
462:Frankly, health care and politics are "inextricably intertwined." ~ Angela Braly, #NFDB
463:I loved politics and, I confess, I enjoyed politicians immensely. ~ Jack Germond, #NFDB
464:I mean, the last thing I want to do is be involved in politics. ~ Dierks Bentley, #NFDB
465:I try to make it a rule not to meddle in other people's politics. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
466:It's very personal in its politics, very bitter and very negative. ~ John Bolton, #NFDB
467:None of us believe countering terrorism is about party politics ~ David Blunkett, #NFDB
468:Politics: distrust all parties but consider capitalism must go. ~ Louis MacNeice, #NFDB
469:Politics is a thankless occupation; I have no interest in it at all. ~ Ben Stein, #NFDB
470:Politics need to stop treating women as a special-interest group. ~ Eva Longoria, #NFDB
471:Politics requires sacrifice. The sacrifice of others, of course. ~ Michael Dobbs, #NFDB
472:To abstain from politics is in itself a political attitude. ~ Simone de Beauvoir, #NFDB
473:When politics is elevated over business, economic disaster follows. ~ James Cook, #NFDB
474:Work is pushing matter around. Politics is pushing people around. ~ Thomas Szasz, #NFDB
475:You know, I'm just not going to get into American politics. ~ Benjamin Netanyahu, #NFDB
476:Blood is thicker than water, but politics are thicker than blood. ~ Frank Herbert, #NFDB
477:Brain surgery is not like politics and vice versa. ~ Christopher Michael Cillizza, #NFDB
478:I don't talk about my politics. I am registered as an independent. ~ Charlie Rose, #NFDB
479:I guess I don't like the people in politics very much, to be blunt. ~ Nate Silver, #NFDB
480:I'm Canadian so American politics are not really in my wheelhouse. ~ Ryan Gosling, #NFDB
481:I'm involved in issues, and issues are about grass-roots politics. ~ J B Pritzker, #NFDB
482:In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly. ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge, #NFDB
483:Modern politics is, at bottom, a struggle not of men but of forces. ~ Henry Adams, #NFDB
484:"Morality, like politics, is the alternative to chaos and war." ~ Jordan Peterson, #NFDB
485:Politics and acting are very closely tied. The job is to convince. ~ Kevin Spacey, #NFDB
486:Politics and church are the same. They keep the people in ignorance. ~ Bob Marley, #NFDB
487:Politics are now nothing more than means of rising in the world. ~ Samuel Johnson, #NFDB
488:Politics isn't only about government. Politics is about the people. ~ Young Jeezy, #NFDB
489:Politics is the art of achieving prestige and power without merit. ~ P J O Rourke, #NFDB
490:Politics is the entertainment branch of industry.” —Frank Zappa ~ Robert H Lustig, #NFDB
491:Politics is the gizzard of society, full of gut and gravel. ~ Henry David Thoreau, #NFDB
492:Politics is the systematic cultivation of hatred. ~ Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, #NFDB
493:Politics moves upward into ethics, and ethics ascends to theology. ~ Russell Kirk, #NFDB
494:The best politics for any president is to be a good president. ~ Theodore H White, #NFDB
495:There is no such thing as gratitude in international politics. ~ Arnold J Toynbee, #NFDB
496:To me the function of politics is to make possible the desirable. ~ Indira Gandhi, #NFDB
497:Well, politics is war, and in war, truth is the first casualty. ~ Jeff Greenfield, #NFDB
498:Honesty and politics rarely ride in the same wagon,” Books said. ~ Lindsay Buroker, #NFDB
499:I don't want to pass a punitive law, or use politics as a vendetta. ~ Romano Prodi, #NFDB
500:If you ever injected truth into politics you would have no politics. ~ Will Rogers, #NFDB
501:In politics one should not expect big jumps. Everything takes time. ~ Sharad Pawar, #NFDB
502:In politics, sunny days and rainy days can change very quickly. ~ Giulio Andreotti, #NFDB
503:Next to courage, willpower is the most important thing in politics. ~ Paul Johnson, #NFDB
504:Not since murder became the continuation of politics by other means. ~ Philip Kerr, #NFDB
505:Novels are about men and women and children and dogs, not politics. ~ John Cheever, #NFDB
506:points at the road ahead. “It’s all politics and bullshit, and ~ John Joseph Adams, #NFDB
507:Politics bereft of religion is absolute dirt, ever to be shunned. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
508:Politics come from man. Mercy, compassion, and justice come from God. ~ John Terry, #NFDB
509:Politics inflame the passions in a way that few beloveds can match. ~ Mason Cooley, #NFDB
510:Politics isn’t about truth. It’s making people believe the story. ~ Tony Bertauski, #NFDB
511:Protecting Americans from nuclear terrorism rises above politics. ~ Lee H Hamilton, #NFDB
512:Therefore, the good of man must be the end of the science of politics. ~ Aristotle, #NFDB
513:When it comes to labor and politics, I am inclined to be sympathetic ~ Dorothy Day, #NFDB
514:You may not think about politics, but politics think about you. ~ Aung San Suu Kyi, #NFDB
515:Freedom may be a value in politics, but it is not a value in morals. ~ Iris Murdoch, #NFDB
516:History is the key to everything: politics, religion, even fashion. ~ Eva Herzigova, #NFDB
517:I am interested in politics only in order to secure and protect freedom. ~ Ayn Rand, #NFDB
518:I have been called a great many things in my time – that's politics. ~ Nigel Farage, #NFDB
519:In politics, an absurdity in public business is going into it. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte, #NFDB
520:In politics, being ridiculous is more damaging than being extreme. ~ Roy Hattersley, #NFDB
521:In politics, familiarity doesn't breed contempt. It breeds votes. ~ Paul Lazarsfeld, #NFDB
522:In politics intentions count for nothing; actions are what matter. ~ David Horowitz, #NFDB
523:I think politics have gotten vulgar and we comedically portray that. ~ Will Ferrell, #NFDB
524:I understand politics and I know there's gonna be a lot of verbage. ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
525:"Morality, like politics, is the alternative to chaos and war." ~ Jordan B Peterson, #NFDB
526:None of my counterparts in Europe interferes in politics. ~ Margrethe II of Denmark, #NFDB
527:Parody was one way Americans safely digested their class politics. ~ Nancy Isenberg, #NFDB
528:People like to do politics with me, and they like to do business. ~ Terry McAuliffe, #NFDB
529:Please don't ask me any questions about the politics of 30 years ago. ~ Helen Reddy, #NFDB
530:Politics, as a trade, finds most and leaves nearly all dishonest. ~ Abraham Lincoln, #NFDB
531:Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed ~ Mao Zedong, #NFDB
532:Politics should be the part-time profession of every citizen. ~ Dwight D Eisenhower, #NFDB
533:The politics of inevitability is a self-induced intellectual coma. ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
534:The way politics divides the world is into friend and enemy ~ Francis Parker Yockey, #NFDB
535:When a thing defies physical law, there's usually politics involved. ~ P J O Rourke, #NFDB
536:All art is political in the sense that it serves someone's politics. ~ August Wilson, #NFDB
537:Identity politics is the mother's milk of the Democratic Left. ~ Charles Krauthammer, #NFDB
538:If you change the society and a culture, the politics will follow. ~ Andrew Sullivan, #NFDB
539:I must not write a word to you about politics, because you are a woman. ~ John Adams, #NFDB
540:In politics, there is no use looking beyond the next fortnight. ~ Joseph Chamberlain, #NFDB
541:In today’s politics, everything was an act but no actor was permanent. ~ Sudha Murty, #NFDB
542:It is not polite for a Russian to interfere in British politics. ~ Alexander Lebedev, #NFDB
543:It seems that in the world of politics, lying is not such a big deal. ~ Ali Larijani, #NFDB
544:Justice in politics has an uncomfortable habit of being rough. ~ Robert Rhodes James, #NFDB
545:politics has contaminated religion, which should be a conduit for love. ~ Ay e Kulin, #NFDB
546:Politics has less to do with where you live than where your heart is. ~ Margaret Cho, #NFDB
547:Politics is a thing that only the unsophisticated can really go for. ~ Kingsley Amis, #NFDB
548:Politics is for the present, while our equations are for eternity. ~ Walter Isaacson, #NFDB
549:Politics is the art of the possible,the science of the relative. ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
550:Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed. ~ Mao Zedong, #NFDB
551:Politics is when the people in charge ruin things for everyone else. ~ Ernie Lindsey, #NFDB
552:The good thing about the IMF is there is no European politics involved. ~ Mark Rutte, #NFDB
553:The most practical kind of politics is the politics of Decency. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #NFDB
554:The most practical kind of politics is the politics of decency. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #NFDB
555:The secret of politics is to care about success, but not too much. ~ Kenneth Minogue, #NFDB
556:When people tap into this politics of resentment, it usually ends ugly. ~ John Avlon, #NFDB
557:All efforts to make politics aesthetic culminate in one thing, war. ~ Walter Benjamin, #NFDB
558:Excluding citizens' voices from politics leads down a very bad path. ~ Justin Trudeau, #NFDB
559:I am interested in risk, in art as well as in the realm of politics. ~ Rachel Kushner, #NFDB
560:I don't know a lot about politics, but I know a lot about baseball. ~ Richard M Nixon, #NFDB
561:In politics nothing matters very much, and few things matter at all. ~ Arthur Balfour, #NFDB
562:I tend to avoid televisions, politics, and places with velvet ropes. ~ Demetri Martin, #NFDB
563:Politics is for people who are too ugly to get into showbusiness. ~ William J Clinton, #NFDB
564:Politics is like football; if you see daylight, go through the hole. ~ John F Kennedy, #NFDB
565:Politics isn't about left versus right; it's about top versus bottom. ~ Jim Hightower, #NFDB
566:Politics isn't just a game of clashing parties and competing interests. ~ Sarah Palin, #NFDB
567:Sometimes people just don't understand the way that I work in politics. ~ John Kasich, #NFDB
568:The composition of a common world would be the definition of politics. ~ Bruno Latour, #NFDB
569:The US-Israel partnership transcends politics and it always will ~ Benjamin Netanyahu, #NFDB
570:Three people marooned on a desert island would soon reinvent politics. ~ Mason Cooley, #NFDB
571:Women have more to prove than men when it comes to politics. ~ Julie Nixon Eisenhower, #NFDB
572:Zuma had been infected by the most noxious disease of politics: greed. ~ Jacques Pauw, #NFDB
573:Art, freedom and creativity will change society faster than politics. ~ Victor Pinchuk, #NFDB
574:Everyone thinks politics will just go on the way it is. I don't agree. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
575:I don't fancy myself a political commentator. I hate politics. I hate it. ~ Glenn Beck, #NFDB
576:I have never thought of my life as divided between poetry and politics. ~ Pablo Neruda, #NFDB
577:I think it's a terrible shame that politics has become show business. ~ Sydney Pollack, #NFDB
578:Not that science is particularly pure, except compared to politics. ~ Orson Scott Card, #NFDB
579:Politics is about who wins and loses. The rest is of marginal interest. ~ Sean Wilentz, #NFDB
580:Religion has to stay in the heart, not in politics. It is private. ~ Tahar Ben Jelloun, #NFDB
581:Slate is not a political magazine but a lot of what it does is politics. ~ David Plotz, #NFDB
582:The politics of inevitability is a self-induced intellectual coma. So ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
583:There is a lack of leadership outside the Beltway, outside of politics. ~ Danny Glover, #NFDB
584:The sad duty of politics is to establish justice in a sinful world. ~ Reinhold Niebuhr, #NFDB
585:Truth is I don't think God on a daily basis. I think politics, science. ~ Peter Mullan, #NFDB
586:Well, the role of money in politics is pretty corrupting right now. ~ Caroline Kennedy, #NFDB
587:All efforts to render politics aesthetic culminate in one thing: war. ~ Walter Benjamin, #NFDB
588:All you need in politics is name recognition, even if the name is shit. ~ Jonathan Ames, #NFDB
589:Foreign influence in domestic politics could be deadly to any democracy. ~ John P Avlon, #NFDB
590:Going into politics is something people have asked me about forever. ~ Caroline Kennedy, #NFDB
591:He saw politics as a jumbled mess that accomplished little if anything at ~ Tracy Ewens, #NFDB
592:I am a passionate advocate of getting special interest money out of politics. ~ Al Gore, #NFDB
593:I don't like to dabble in anything I don't do well. I don't talk politics. ~ J B Smoove, #NFDB
594:I know I'm not supposed to have any opinions about politics, because I'm famous. ~ Cher, #NFDB
595:It kills your writing if you try to manipulate it with crude politics. ~ Louise Erdrich, #NFDB
596:It was a storm in a tea cup, but in politics we sail in paper boats. ~ Harold MacMillan, #NFDB
597:I would feel a little awkward because of my connection with politics. ~ Monica Lewinsky, #NFDB
598:Poetry is my politics. It's an opportunity that gives me a way to speak. ~ Eileen Myles, #NFDB
599:Politics is my second love, next to my love for Raisa [Gorbacheva]. ~ Mikhail Gorbachev, #NFDB
600:Politics was an illusion of service that cloaked the corruption of power. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
601:PRESIDENCY, n. The greased pig in the field game of American politics. ~ Ambrose Bierce, #NFDB
602:Progressive politics is not something to be bolted on to another cause. ~ Johann Lamont, #NFDB
603:Return to the fundamentals of politics - sell our story door to door. ~ Richard J Daley, #NFDB
604:The conflict between art and politics... cannot and must not be solved. ~ Hannah Arendt, #NFDB
605:The politics of the possible was being replaced by the politics of purity. ~ H W Brands, #NFDB
606:This is politics. People in power never have to play by the same rules. ~ Richelle Mead, #NFDB
607:To be honest, politics is so weird. I think it's more heavy than religion. ~ Chris Bosh, #NFDB
608:all the salt of Turkish life consists of politics and official intrigue. ~ Isabel Burton, #NFDB
609:America wants solutions. America wants a leader. No more tabloid politics. ~ Alveda King, #NFDB
610:Business is business and politics is politics and never between shall meet. ~ Suzy Welch, #NFDB
611:Certainly the policy is right and good politics usually follow good policy. ~ Jeff Flake, #NFDB
612:Clearly, politics is a team sport. Trump is not so much of a team player. ~ David Brooks, #NFDB
613:For most normal people, politics is a distant, occasionally irritating fog. ~ Tony Blair, #NFDB
614:I don't follow politics; it doesn't interest me. So why should I vote? ~ Mario Balotelli, #NFDB
615:I don't think at my age... you can start ruling people out in politics. ~ Kenneth Clarke, #NFDB
616:I hate politics. What they say and what they do is completely different. ~ Tadashi Yanai, #NFDB
617:I never realized he was such a good actor. He should go into politics. ~ Sophie Kinsella, #NFDB
618:In politics people build whole reputations off of getting one thing right. ~ Nate Silver, #NFDB
619:In science, progress is a fact, in ethics and politics it is a superstition. ~ John Gray, #NFDB
620:Much of today's psychiatric science is based on wish, myth, and politics. ~ Loren Mosher, #NFDB
621:Politics and music don't necessarily go hand in hand. They just do for me. ~ Steve Earle, #NFDB
622:Politics is ugly. Never doubt what small men will do for great power. ~ Paolo Bacigalupi, #NFDB
623:There's nothing more oily and cynical in politics than telling the truth. ~ P J O Rourke, #NFDB
624:To be locked into partisan politics doesn't permit you to think clearly. ~ Rudy Giuliani, #NFDB
625:When religion and politics ride in the same cart, the whirlwind follows. ~ Frank Herbert, #NFDB
626:Dealing with police and politics were the pivotal props of the system... ~ Tim Pat Coogan, #NFDB
627:Everybody in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it's troubling. ~ David Geffen, #NFDB
628:I don't think politics is any longer about a conversation with the country. ~ Jon Stewart, #NFDB
629:I'm into politics, and I love watching the heavier news magazine shows. ~ Chelsea Handler, #NFDB
630:In F1 too many things overshadow the racing. There is too much politics. ~ Kimi Raikkonen, #NFDB
631:It is hard to know what Sarah Palin means in Republican politics anymore. ~ Rachel Maddow, #NFDB
632:Politics in a democracy is, at the end, an educational process. ~ Arthur M Schlesinger Jr, #NFDB
633:Politics is everywhere.. it is in your shirt.. in your pants.. everywhere. ~ Rahul Gandhi, #NFDB
634:Politics is in my blood. I'd love to be involved in 2008, maybe even '06. ~ Judy Woodruff, #NFDB
635:Politics is like sausages, you don't want to watch either being made. ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
636:Politics is the entertainment division of the military industrial complex. ~ Frank Zappa, #NFDB
637:Politics is the name we give to the orchestration of power in any society. ~ Robert McKee, #NFDB
638:Politics is the science of how who gets what, when and why.” —Sidney Hillman ~ Zig Ziglar, #NFDB
639:Pure politics is merely the calculus of combinations and of chances. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte, #NFDB
640:Revolution - In politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment. ~ Ambrose Bierce, #NFDB
641:Russia has nothing, no successful politics or economy. All they have is this. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
642:Sports and politics are basically all I really care about or talk about. ~ Peter Jacobson, #NFDB
643:That’s the trouble getting involved in politics, nobody wears a name badge! ~ C J Cherryh, #NFDB
644:Theory-free science makes about as much sense as value-free politics. ~ Stephen Jay Gould, #NFDB
645:the public was tired of divisive politics, tired of radical social programs. ~ John Jakes, #NFDB
646:There are more inspirational people in music than there are in politics. ~ Kinky Friedman, #NFDB
647:Those against politics are in favor of the politics inflicted upon them. ~ Bertolt Brecht, #NFDB
648:What if politics is really largely about fund-raising and making money? ~ Peter Schweizer, #NFDB
649:What were the politics of my family? They were mainstream moderate politics. ~ Bill Ayers, #NFDB
650:Anybody who doesn't know that politics is crime has got a few screws loose. ~ James Ellroy, #NFDB
651:A purely objective viewpoint does not exist in the cosmos or in politics. ~ Howard Fineman, #NFDB
652:But you won't be able to pin her down on sex. Have you thought of politics? ~ Muriel Spark, #NFDB
653:Folk art has never been much about politics; it's about action and utility. ~ Cass McCombs, #NFDB
654:He has no understanding of the art of drawing power from men’s hearts: politics. ~ Ken Liu, #NFDB
655:I'm so unhappy with electoral politics that I switched to sports radio. ~ Bernardine Dohrn, #NFDB
656:In politics, manipulating reality can take presidence over finding reality. ~ George Soros, #NFDB
657:In politics... never retreat, never retract... never admit a mistake. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte, #NFDB
658:It is politics to please and hoodwink those
Who flatter but despise us. ~ Thiruvalluvar,#NFDB
659:Never believe anything in politics until it has been offically denied. ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
660:Not all negativity is bad. In politics, it's a necessary clarifying tool. ~ Jacob Weisberg, #NFDB
661:Obviously I think politics is interesting and important and educational. ~ William Kristol, #NFDB
662:Our politics are overrun with characters acting at the behest of shadows. ~ Charles M Blow, #NFDB
663:Politics have long been defined as “the systematic organization of hatreds. ~ Stacy Schiff, #NFDB
664:Politics is, for me, forgive and -as you may have heard- sometimes forget. ~ Ronald Reagan, #NFDB
665:Politics is pointless if it does nothing to enhance the beauty of our lives. ~ Howard Zinn, #NFDB
666:Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. ~ Ambrose Bierce, #NFDB
667:Spirituality actually must be above politics. Or some other sort of business. ~ Dalai Lama, #NFDB
668:The essence of politics is to direct oneself to the group which wields power ~ Steven Biko, #NFDB
669:The politics, I don't understand it, I'm not happy, don't feel good about it. ~ Neil Young, #NFDB
670:The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. ~ Jonathan Haidt, #NFDB
671:To survive, Byzantine society and politics folded itself around the state. ~ Chris Wickham, #NFDB
672:When we talk politics, we moralize. When we talk morality, we politicize. ~ Ravi Zacharias, #NFDB
673:Every artistic expression is either influenced by or adds something to politics. ~ Dario Fo, #NFDB
674:For two cents the voter buys his politics, prejudices, and philosophy. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald, #NFDB
675:I decided to go into politics because of our Soviet-style government. ~ Bidzina Ivanishvili, #NFDB
676:I'd like to apologise to the British people for the state our politics is in. ~ Anna Soubry, #NFDB
677:I don't know a lot about politics but I have great trust in him as leader. ~ Geri Halliwell, #NFDB
678:I don't know if anybody wants to mix their politics with their entertainment. ~ Fiona Apple, #NFDB
679:In my case, I was covering politics in Texas as a newspaper man in the 1960's. ~ Jim Lehrer, #NFDB
680:In so much of politics you're not allowed to disagree with what's been agreed. ~ Iain Banks, #NFDB
681:I think in the world of politics run by the left, men have been chickified. ~ Rush Limbaugh, #NFDB
682:I've been in politics long enough to know that polls just go poof at times. ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
683:My job is to look at what politics is doing, not be a politician myself. ~ Antonio Tabucchi, #NFDB
684:Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied. ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
685:Politics, as the word is commonly understood, are nothing but corruptions. ~ Jonathan Swift, #NFDB
686:Politics becomes a part of your life once you realize it has been all along. ~ Robin Morgan, #NFDB
687:Stop bothering me with your pathetic politics - I'd rather go to the whorehouse. ~ Otto Dix, #NFDB
688:The decision as to why a show makes it has to do with politics and money. ~ Ted Shackelford, #NFDB
689:The new politics was not the art of the compromise but the art of conflict. ~ Michael Wolff, #NFDB
690:The politics of inevitability is an intellectual coma we put ourselves in. ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
691:There can only be democracy when money is not allowed to be spent in Politics. ~ Imran Khan, #NFDB
692:There was something pretentious about politics when it was taken to extremes. ~ Orhan Pamuk, #NFDB
693:University politics make me long for the simplicity of the Middle East. ~ Henry A Kissinger, #NFDB
694:We must take an interest in politics. We must become spies on behalf of justice. ~ Ben Okri, #NFDB
695:when men in politics are together, testosterone poisoning makes them insane. ~ Peggy Noonan, #NFDB
696:[Adolf] Hitler didn't discuss politics or military with Eva [Braun]. Not once. ~ Gretl Braun, #NFDB
697:A man never stoops so low as when he rises to the challenge of politics. ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
698:Art has nothing to do with politics. It is the freest thing in the world. ~ Tatyana Tolstaya, #NFDB
699:A whole lot of the way identity politics has gone seems to me to deny empathy. ~ Cleve Jones, #NFDB
700:Dare! - this word contains all the politics of our revolution. ~ Louis Antoine de Saint Just, #NFDB
701:Government is like a vast ocean and politics is the six-inch layer on top. ~ Jennifer Pahlka, #NFDB
702:Idealism is the despot of thought, just as politics is the despot of will. ~ Mikhail Bakunin, #NFDB
703:I got interested in politics during the civil rights movement and then Vietnam. ~ Al Franken, #NFDB
704:In politics there is a large difference between loosing and being defeated. ~ Chris Matthews, #NFDB
705:I think it’s your civic obligation to be utterly fucking furious about politics. ~ Sara Gran, #NFDB
706:I will not rest until I have transformed the landscape of American politics. ~ Newt Gingrich, #NFDB
707:Leaders have devoted themselves to politics, little knowing, it seems ~ Booker T Washington, #NFDB
708:Organizational politics is an inescapable reality of corporate and public life. ~ W Chan Kim, #NFDB
709:Politics is a deleterious profession, like some poisonous handicrafts. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
710:Telling the truth, and confronting the challenge, is what politics is about. ~ Johann Lamont, #NFDB
711:The most courageous act in politics is to try to understand your opponent. ~ Alain de Botton, #NFDB
712:There is too much at stake for us to surrender to the politics of polarization. ~ Brad Henry, #NFDB
713:The world of politics is always twenty years behind the world of thought. ~ John Jay Chapman, #NFDB
714:They’re politicians, and politics is about leverage, not about the truth. ~ Jonathan Maberry, #NFDB
715:To listen to some people in Politics, you'd think-nice-was a four-letter word. ~ David Steel, #NFDB
716:What my future will not be is active politics in the Liberal Democrat party. ~ Paddy Ashdown, #NFDB
717:Who cares about politics when there are flames licking at your insides? ~ Karl Ove Knausg rd, #NFDB
718:Activity in politics also produces eager competition and sharp rivalry. ~ John George Nicolay, #NFDB
719:Afraid of the word “politics” (which eventually became a synonym for Communism ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
720:An independent is the guy who wants to take the politics out of politics. ~ Adlai Stevenson I, #NFDB
721:I hate to say that not everything is politics, but not everything is politics. ~ Neera Tanden, #NFDB
722:I never mix my religion with politics. But I feel values are very important. ~ Mufi Hannemann, #NFDB
723:[In politics,] when there is no reason to speak, there is a reason not to speak. ~ David Frum, #NFDB
724:It seems to be the thing now that young people are getting back into politics. ~ Susan George, #NFDB
725:I’ve come to believe that, fundamentally, art matters more than politics. ~ John Luther Adams, #NFDB
726:Man matures when he stops believing that politics solves his problems. ~ Nicol s G mez D vila, #NFDB
727:Nobody who really thinks about history can take politics altogether seriously. ~ Susan Sontag, #NFDB
728:Politics is a dance until the moment it becomes a war. And we control the music. ~ V E Schwab, #NFDB
729:Politics is a romantic search for the good and the true and the beautiful. ~ James M Buchanan, #NFDB
730:Politics is like driving. To go backward put it in R. To go forward put it in D. ~ Tom Harkin, #NFDB
731:Politics is more dangerous than war, for in war you are only killed once. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
732:Politics is not my life. I have a career in radio and another career in film. ~ Jesse Ventura, #NFDB
733:Politics /n/: from 'poly ticks', short for 'many small bloodsucking insects'. ~ Henry Spencer, #NFDB
734:Politics sometimes is not only unnecessary but also unnecessary complicated. ~ Jonas Jonasson, #NFDB
735:.....science-based popular education can have an enormous impact on politics. ~ Carl Phillips, #NFDB
736:Sports, politics, and religion are the three passions of the badly educated. ~ William H Gass, #NFDB
737:The politics of the greater evil was a common creation at a time of chaos. — ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
738:Well, in war, you can only be killed once. But in politics, many times. ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
739:Where there is politics or economics, there is no morality. ~ Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel, #NFDB
740:Worse, the language of politics itself has been vacated of substance and meaning. ~ Tony Judt, #NFDB
741:You can't have a discussion about politics without mentioning Ronald Reagan. ~ Eugene Jarecki, #NFDB
742:Your nationality and your politics did not show when you were dead. Robert ~ Ernest Hemingway, #NFDB
743:All politics is a struggle for power; the ultimate kind of power is violence. ~ C Wright Mills, #NFDB
744:All reality is political, but not all politics is human. GRAHAM HARMON ~ Stephen Harrod Buhner, #NFDB
745:Art is about play and about transcendent meanings, not reducible to politics. ~ Rachel Kushner, #NFDB
746:Experience has taught that politics is a game played by conmen and hypocrites. ~ Michela Wrong, #NFDB
747:Frankly, if you do politics, you should not be thinking about your dignity. ~ Aung San Suu Kyi, #NFDB
748:Good intentions are ubiquitous in politics; what is scarce is accurate beliefs. ~ Bryan Caplan, #NFDB
749:In politics shared hatreds are almost always the basis of friendships. ~ Alexis de Tocqueville, #NFDB
750:I suppose, just as an honest man in politics shines more than he would elsewhere. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
751:It's true that in chess as in politics, fund-raising and glad-handing matter. ~ Garry Kasparov, #NFDB
752:Jesus had no regard for the lifeboat politics you and I live within every day. ~ Donald Miller, #NFDB
753:My politics would be, must be, have to be, completely separate from my judgment. ~ Elena Kagan, #NFDB
754:One thing I've noticed about politics is that these guys have pretty thick hides. ~ Al Franken, #NFDB
755:People who give money in large amount in politics are basically not altruistic. ~ David Brooks, #NFDB
756:Politics can not only be drudgery and Captain Queeg with the balls in his hands. ~ John Kasich, #NFDB
757:Politics didn't lead me to working people. Working people led me into politics. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
758:Right now, we have no possibility of politics because we have a one-party state. ~ Todd Gitlin, #NFDB
759:Sucking the fun out of life has always been an important component of politics. ~ P J O Rourke, #NFDB
760:The practice of love is the most powerful antidote to the politics of domination. ~ Bell Hooks, #NFDB
761:Those who believe that politics and religion do not mix, understand neither. ~ Albert Einstein, #NFDB
762:To those who have exhausted politics, nothing remains but abstract thought. ~ Honore de Balzac, #NFDB
763:University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small. ~ Henry A Kissinger, #NFDB
764:We shouldn't leave the work of politics to people who run for public office. ~ Hillary Clinton, #NFDB
765:You can't say 'I don't do politics,' because silence is a political statement. ~ Tariq Ramadan, #NFDB
766:Dennis Kucinich's politics are more scrambled than Rod Steiger's dream journal. ~ Dennis Miller, #NFDB
767:I am raising my voice as a citizen of the country. I don?t want to enter politics. ~ Aamir Khan, #NFDB
768:I came to politics later in life so I bring a different life experience to it. ~ Kathleen Wynne, #NFDB
769:I could have made a fortune in cheeseburgers, but I finally chose politics. ~ Francois Hollande, #NFDB
770:I don't think consensus-building politics is what I'm meant to be doing. ~ Christopher Hitchens, #NFDB
771:If you want to have any success in politics, sing softly and carry a big guitar. ~ Jimmie Davis, #NFDB
772:I know too much about British politics to comment on British politics. ~ Helle Thorning Schmidt, #NFDB
773:I never saw the man yet that came out of politics as clean as he went into 'em. ~ Ellen Glasgow, #NFDB
774:In politics somebody has to lose, but invariably everybody thinks they can win. ~ Michael Wolff, #NFDB
775:I think the presidency is much too serious a thing to just play politics with. ~ Chris Christie, #NFDB
776:More than half the questions I am asked are about the politics of the way I look ~ Mindy Kaling, #NFDB
777:Politics is a jungle-torn between doing the right thing and staying in office. ~ John F Kennedy, #NFDB
778:Politics is everywhere. It's in your shirt, it's in your pants. It's everywhere. ~ Rahul Gandhi, #NFDB
779:Politics is such a torment that I advise everyone I love not to mix with it. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
780:Politics is the business of getting power and privilege without possessing merit ~ P J O Rourke, #NFDB
781:Politics is the food of sense exposed to the hunger of folly. ~ Fulke Greville 1st Baron Brooke, #NFDB
782:Rayner can't go into politics, she's got more shit on her than Elton John's cock! ~ Garth Ennis, #NFDB
783:Sincerity and competence is a strong combination. In politics, it is everything. ~ Peggy Noonan, #NFDB
784:Sitting out of politics isn't really an option if you don't want things to slide. ~ Alison Pill, #NFDB
785:The brutal reality of politics would be probably intolerable without drugs. ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
786:The next war in the Middle East will be fought over water, not politics ~ Boutros Boutros Ghali, #NFDB
787:There seem to me to be very few facts, at least ascertainable facts, in politics. ~ Robert Peel, #NFDB
788:With the end of the nominating process, American politics leaves logic behind. ~ Theodore White, #NFDB
789:You're extending hospitality, and hospitality is a big part of how politics works. ~ Kurt Meyer, #NFDB
790:A wise man once said, never discuss philosophy or politics in a disco environment. ~ Frank Zappa, #NFDB
791:Courage is indispensible because in politics not life but the world is at stake. ~ Hannah Arendt, #NFDB
792:For liberals, religion and politics mix as long as the results support their cause. ~ Gary DeMar, #NFDB
793:If you ever injected truth into politics you would have no politics.” –WILL ROGERS ~ Keith Giles, #NFDB
794:I grew up in a household where we talked politics a lot and argued politics a lot. ~ Chris Hayes, #NFDB
795:I'm not going to talk too much politics because I'm not smart enough to do that. ~ Brad Williams, #NFDB
796:In baseball when they say you're out, you're out. It's the same way in politics. ~ Gerald R Ford, #NFDB
797:In politics, as in life, we must above all things wish only for the attainable. ~ Heinrich Heine, #NFDB
798:It is a truism of American politics that no man who can win an election deserves to. ~ Trevanian, #NFDB
799:Politics is the means by which the will of the few becomes the will of the many. ~ Howard W Koch, #NFDB
800:Politics with me isn't theater. It's performance art. Sometimes, for its own sake. ~ Roger Stone, #NFDB
801:The flood of money that gushes into politics today is a pollution of democracy. ~ Theodore White, #NFDB
802:The welfare system is the breeding ground of crime, addiction and radical politics. ~ James Cook, #NFDB
803:The West Wing seems to be feeding the myth about how presidential politics are. ~ William Devane, #NFDB
804:The world would have peace if only men of politics would follow the Gospels. ~ Bridget of Sweden, #NFDB
805:Twenty million people are starving. Whatever their politics, they shall be fed! ~ Herbert Hoover, #NFDB
806:Wise politics is the art of invigorating society and weakening the State. ~ Nicol s G mez D vila, #NFDB
807:You cannot get them to talk of politics so long as they are well employed, ~ Robert L Heilbroner, #NFDB
808:A lot has been said about politics; some of it complimentary, but most of it accurate ~ Eric Idle, #NFDB
809:and money was the engine of American politics, especially in the Republican Party. ~ Bob Woodward, #NFDB
810:He was not a warm person, but he seemed to be, which in politics was more important. ~ H W Brands, #NFDB
811:If I did not speak with people who call me names, I could not engage in politics. ~ Geert Wilders, #NFDB
812:If you ever injected truth into politics you would have no politics.” – WILL ROGERS ~ Keith Giles, #NFDB
813:I'm enjoying turning down all requests for interviews. I don't miss being in politics. ~ Jeb Bush, #NFDB
814:I'm very interested in politics, and I feel TV is a more political medium than film. ~ Doug Liman, #NFDB
815:In argument, truth always prevails finally; in politics, falsehood always. ~ Walter Savage Landor, #NFDB
816:In politics it is necessary to take nothing tragically and everything seriously. ~ Adolphe Thiers, #NFDB
817:In politics, there's a fine line between too much conviction and too little. ~ Robert J Samuelson, #NFDB
818:It's all sex for me. Politics is sex. Race is sex. It's the novel. It's the novel! ~ James Ellroy, #NFDB
819:Jesus came to save us, not just from politics, enemies, challenges, or difficulties. ~ Max Lucado, #NFDB
820:No matter what your politics is, we ought to be thanking people for volunteering. ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
821:Politics are very much like war. We may even have to use poison gas at times. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
822:Politics has always been a mud fight - better that citizens jump in the trough ~ James Poniewozik, #NFDB
823:Politics is a country idiot capable of concentrating on only one thing at a time. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
824:[Politics] is always a means of conquering others and exercising power over them. ~ Jacques Ellul, #NFDB
825:The presidents I served under don't have anything to do with my politics. ~ William Eldridge Odom, #NFDB
826:There are times in politics when you must be on the right side and lose. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith, #NFDB
827:To do evil that good may come of it is for bunglers in politics as well as morals. ~ William Penn, #NFDB
828:We need leadership. We don't need a doubling down on the failed politics of the past. ~ Paul Ryan, #NFDB
829:We're not disinterested in politics. It's just that politicians are disinteresting. ~ John Lennon, #NFDB
830:You know, I'm not comfortable with people whose politics are static in a democracy. ~ Steve Earle, #NFDB
831:Everything is so weird in politics that it's very hard to be funny about it, I think. ~ Tom Lehrer, #NFDB
832:Except for politics, no business is scrutinized more exhaustively than journalism. ~ Russell Baker, #NFDB
833:I ain't never seen no head so level that it could bear the lettin' in of politics. ~ Ellen Glasgow, #NFDB
834:I don't sense an [Barack] Obama party. I think politics is transactional for him. ~ Chris Matthews, #NFDB
835:I haven't been paying attention to politics long enough to have really smart opinions. ~ Biz Stone, #NFDB
836:I more the "Autism World" gets imploded with politics the less voices will be heard. ~ Paul Isaacs, #NFDB
837:In politics, as in poetry, it is sometimes true that it is darkest before dawn. ~ Lawrence Summers, #NFDB
838:I think I could argue that the press has more impact on politics than corporations. ~ Eric Schmidt, #NFDB
839:My particular passion for Lincoln dates back from my earliest memories of politics. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
840:My passion for ideas is not matched with a passion for partisan or electoral politics. ~ Jack Kemp, #NFDB
841:No one is to blame for the breakdown in trust between politics, media and the public. ~ Tony Blair, #NFDB
842:Party gatekeeping also helped confine George Wallace to the margins of politics. ~ Steven Levitsky, #NFDB
843:Policy is driven by more than politics, however. It is equally driven by ideas. ~ Malcolm Gladwell, #NFDB
844:Politics and Religion are obsolete. The time has come for Science and Spirituality. ~ Vinoba Bhave, #NFDB
845:Politics is a dance until the moment it becomes a war. And we control the music. ~ Victoria Schwab, #NFDB
846:Politics is never a victory, it's just the remorseless grinding forward of events. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
847:Politics is not a science, as the professors are apt to suppose. It is an art. ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
848:Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best ~ Otto von Bismarck, #NFDB
849:Politics is the process by which a society chooses the rules that will govern it. ~ Daron Acemo lu, #NFDB
850:Politics: Poli a Latin word meaning many and tics meaning bloodsucking creatures. ~ Robin Williams, #NFDB
851:President Marcos was investing in precious metals long before he entered politics. ~ Imelda Marcos, #NFDB
852:Symbols mean a lot in politics. They indicate a will and create new realities. ~ Francois Hollande, #NFDB
853:The flood of money that gushes into politics today is a pollution of democracy. ~ Theodore H White, #NFDB
854:The fundamental question of politics has always been whether there should be politics. ~ Karl Hess, #NFDB
855:The reason that university politics is so vicious is because stakes are so small ~ Henry Kissinger, #NFDB
856:There's plenty of room for humor in politics, God knows, but it's a serious business. ~ Al Franken, #NFDB
857:The thing about politics is to plan 10 years ahead, and assume every year is your last. ~ Ed Balls, #NFDB
858:Those who believe religion and politics aren't connected don't understand either. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
859:Trump, said Bannon, noting the obvious, was the least disciplined man in politics. ~ Michael Wolff, #NFDB
860:When I came into politics I always thought there was a possibility I would be killed. ~ Imran Khan, #NFDB
861:DELEGATION, n. In American politics, an article of merchandise that comes in sets. ~ Ambrose Bierce, #NFDB
862:For me to go into politics would be like sending a virgin into a house of ill-repute. ~ H L Mencken, #NFDB
863:I believe everyone here has a right to speak out on politics as effectively as possible. ~ Ted Cruz, #NFDB
864:I feel at some point that the farm state politics will overwhelm the Florida politics. ~ Jeff Flake, #NFDB
865:If we approach medicine fearfully how much more so should we approach politics. But ~ Jordan M Poss, #NFDB
866:I'm always suspicious of politics dividing people instead of bringing them together. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
867:I'm not really much into politics, because it's rarely discussed in my line of work. ~ Tracy Morgan, #NFDB
868:In business, as in politics, the public is ever so tolerant of those who slime. ~ Christopher Moore, #NFDB
869:It isn’t politics that’s the problem. It’s the people who get into politics.” “Guess ~ J D Trafford, #NFDB
870:Medicine is a social science, and politics is nothing but medicine on a large scale. ~ Tracy Kidder, #NFDB
871:My politics were those of prophylaxis, my opponents preferred those of palliation. ~ Rudolf Virchow, #NFDB
872:People are very interested in politics, they just don't like it labelled 'politics'. ~ Douglas Hurd, #NFDB
873:Politics is largely governed by sententious platitudes which are devoid of truth ~ Bertrand Russell, #NFDB
874:Politics is the art of making your selfish desires seem like the national interest. ~ Thomas Sowell, #NFDB
875:Politics seemed to have fallen to a new wartime low of spite and pettiness. ~ James MacGregor Burns, #NFDB
876:Politics will help you understand the world until you don’t understand it anymore, ~ Heather Morris, #NFDB
877:Politics would be a helluva good business if it weren't for the goddamned people. ~ Richard M Nixon, #NFDB
878:Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has taken American politics by storm. ~ Sean Hannity, #NFDB
879:The central issue of poetry as of politics is the destiny of the human personality. ~ Martin Carter, #NFDB
880:The only way to get money out of politics is to get politics out of money-making. ~ Richard Salsman, #NFDB
881:The practice of politics in the East may be defined by one word: dissimulation. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
882:The proposed Bush regulations put politics above the health care needs of Americans. ~ Nancy Pelosi, #NFDB
883:The rancor ushered in a golden age of literary assassination in American politics. No ~ Ron Chernow, #NFDB
884:There is no hope even that woman, with her right to vote, will ever purify politics. ~ Emma Goldman, #NFDB
885:Those who are not interested in politics will be forever ruled by those who are. ~ G Edward Griffin, #NFDB
886:Unfortunately, politics has contaminated religion, which should be a conduit for love. ~ Ay e Kulin, #NFDB
887:When globalization collides with domestic politics, the smart money bets on politics. ~ Dani Rodrik, #NFDB
888:Donald Trump has been rewriting the rules since he got into politics. ~ Christopher Michael Cillizza, #NFDB
889:Economy is the bone, politics is the flesh,
watch who they beat and who they eat. ~ Marge Piercy,#NFDB
890:Honesty in politics is the result of strength; hypocrisy is the result of weakness. ~ Vladimir Lenin, #NFDB
891:I am confident that Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana will open the doors of good politics. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
892:I am genuinely not an over-the-top kind of person about politics or anything else. ~ Charles Kennedy, #NFDB
893:I am interested in politics so that one day I will not have to be interested in politics. ~ Ayn Rand, #NFDB
894:I am not averse to politics, but that does not mean that I am going to join politics. ~ Rahul Gandhi, #NFDB
895:I can't afford to be indifferent to politics, but I don't have personal ambitions. ~ Vagit Alekperov, #NFDB
896:If you're going to play the game [politics] properly, you'd better know every rule. ~ Barbara Jordan, #NFDB
897:I have British teeth. They are like British politics: they go in all directions at once. ~ Eric Idle, #NFDB
898:I have doubtless erred more or less in politics, but a crime I never committed. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte, #NFDB
899:In politics nothing is immutable. Events carry within them an invincible power. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte, #NFDB
900:I remain instinctively hostile to communitarian philosophy and communitarian politics. ~ Amartya Sen, #NFDB
901:I think more women should be involved in politics for the good of the human race. ~ Aung San Suu Kyi, #NFDB
902:It's perfectly possible for somebody to make the transition from politics to journalism. ~ Brit Hume, #NFDB
903:I've learned one thing in politics. You don't take a decision until you have to. ~ Margaret Thatcher, #NFDB
904:Politics hates a vacuum. If it isn't filled with hope, someone will fill it with fear. ~ Naomi Klein, #NFDB
905:Politics is not evil; politics is the human race’s most magnificent achievement. ~ Robert A Heinlein, #NFDB
906:Politics is the art of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith, #NFDB
907:Sex and politics are a lot alike. You don't have to be good at them to enjoy them. ~ Barry Goldwater, #NFDB
908:The first duty of an American citizen, then, is that he shall work in politics. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #NFDB
909:The intersection of religion and world politics has often been a bloody crossroads. ~ Elliott Abrams, #NFDB
910:The purpose of politics is to give people tools to make the most of their lives. ~ William J Clinton, #NFDB
911:there are men in politics whose greatest aim is to look exalted in their own eyes. ~ Phyllis T Smith, #NFDB
912:The so-called Real World. Human misery and sadness. Blind politics and general cruelty. ~ Tanith Lee, #NFDB
913:Those who can't teach - administrate. Those who can't administrate - go into politics. ~ H L Mencken, #NFDB
914:Tolerance is an admirable intellectual gift; but it is of little worth in politics. ~ Woodrow Wilson, #NFDB
915:We never raised the morality of the action, because our politics took care of that. ~ Zinzi Clemmons, #NFDB
916:When you start looking for purity in politics, you eventually get to unreality. ~ Mario Vargas Llosa, #NFDB
917:You can't understand Twenty-first-Century Politics with an Eighteenth-Century Brain. ~ George Lakoff, #NFDB
918:And so it is in politics, dear brother, Each for himself alone, there is no other. ~ Geoffrey Chaucer, #NFDB
919:An honest man in politics shines more there than he would elsewhere.
- A Tramp Abroad ~ Mark Twain,#NFDB
920:A president from a partner nation should not make comments on Italian politics. ~ Anibal Cavaco Silva, #NFDB
921:For politics is not like the nursery; in politics obedience and support are the same. ~ Hannah Arendt, #NFDB
922:Half of Japan still couldn't tell the difference between crime and politics. ~ Jon Courtenay Grimwood, #NFDB
923:History furnishes to politics all the arguments that it needs, for the chosen cause. ~ Romain Rolland, #NFDB
924:I don't really have funny things to say about politics. I wish I did, but I don't. ~ Janeane Garofalo, #NFDB
925:I doubt that I will get involved with politics. That's something I don't have in me. ~ Pedro Martinez, #NFDB
926:Medicine is a social science, and politics nothing but medicine on a large scale, ~ Robert M Sapolsky, #NFDB
927:Milton was the first person who really experimented with putting politics into sonnets. ~ Robert Hass, #NFDB
928:More things in politics happen by accident or exhaustion than happen by conspiracy. ~ Jeff Greenfield, #NFDB
929:Music is what I must do, business is what I need to do and politics is what I have to do ~ Bob Geldof, #NFDB
930:People go into politics because they want the affirmation, and they want the applause. ~ Andrew Cuomo, #NFDB
931:Politics can be strengthened by music, but music has a potency that defies politics. ~ Nelson Mandela, #NFDB
932:Politics can be the graveyard of the poet. And only poetry can be his resurrection. ~ Langston Hughes, #NFDB
933:Politics envelops us like the coils of a snake and no way out but to wrestle with it ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
934:Politics is the only field in which the more experience you have, the worse you get. ~ Kinky Friedman, #NFDB
935:Politics may be the art of the possible, but at least in life, give the impossible a go. ~ Tony Blair, #NFDB
936:SAMO as an end to to mindwash religion, nowhere politics and bogus philosophy. ~ Jean Michel Basquiat, #NFDB
937:secularism is simply a commitment to keeping religion out of politics and public policy. ~ Sam Harris, #NFDB
938:Tea, politics, and scandal, the ingredients of an Afghan Sunday at the flea market. ~ Khaled Hosseini, #NFDB
939:The great difficulty with politics is, that there are no established principles. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte, #NFDB
940:The great difficulty with politics is, that there are no established principles. ~ Napol on Bonaparte, #NFDB
941:The pressure of politics can change the course of history, and even the word of God. ~ Linda Lafferty, #NFDB
942:Those who have the least are usually the ones who know the most about politics. ~ Mokokoma Mokhonoana, #NFDB
943:Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
944:Vimes could never get a handle on politics, which was full of traps for honest men. ~ Terry Pratchett, #NFDB
945:Why, this fellow doesn't know any more about politics than a pig knows about Sunday. ~ Harry S Truman, #NFDB
946:You can't be involved in modern American politics without somebody attacking you. ~ William J Clinton, #NFDB
947:By 2000, politics will simply fade away. We will not see any political parties. ~ R Buckminster Fuller, #NFDB
948:Digest-digests, digest-digest-digests. Politics? One column, two sentences, a headline! ~ Ray Bradbury, #NFDB
949:He’s as hot, smooth, and rich as a lava cake. And he makes politics thrilling,” she says. ~ Katy Evans, #NFDB
950:I am an Anglo-Catholic in religion, a classicist in literature and a royalist in politics. ~ T S Eliot, #NFDB
951:I don't think there is anything more bitter in American politics than a close election. ~ Danny Strong, #NFDB
952:I don't want to be a politician. I don't like politics. It's petty; it fights dirty. ~ John Mellencamp, #NFDB
953:I don't watch the news, I don't care about politics, I don't care about other sports. ~ Conor McGregor, #NFDB
954:If you're interested in politics and you're not following it, then it's a little bizarre. ~ Tony Blair, #NFDB
955:I'm such a sap for democracy and politics that I get weepy when I see anybody voting. ~ Tucker Carlson, #NFDB
956:I see the confusion of politics and religion as one of the greatest barriers to grace. ~ Philip Yancey, #NFDB
957:I think generational trauma also plays a big part in the reactions to Israeli politics. ~ Jill Soloway, #NFDB
958:I think I do want to go into politics. I really, really do. And I don't know if I will. ~ Alec Baldwin, #NFDB
959:It's politics . . . It makes everybody stupid. When you grow up, you'll know what I mean. ~ Pat Conroy, #NFDB
960:I wish that all Americans would realize that American politics is world politics. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #NFDB
961:Politics and Religion are obsolete. The time has come for Science and Spirituality. ~ Jawaharlal Nehru, #NFDB
962:Politics are close to me, but there are different ways of participating in politics. ~ Vagit Alekperov, #NFDB
963:Politics may be the art of the possible; but, at least in life, give the impossible a go. ~ Tony Blair, #NFDB
964:Sex and politics are a lot alike. You don't have to be good at them to enjoy them. ~ Barry M Goldwater, #NFDB
965:The unholy alliance of religion and politics collaborated in finding Jesus guilty. ~ Eugene H Peterson, #NFDB
966:They're not the best women covering politics, They're the best reporters covering politics. ~ Katy Tur, #NFDB
967:War is nothing but a continuation of politics with the admixture of other means. ~ Carl von Clausewitz, #NFDB
968:When I entered politics, I took the only downward turn you could take from journalism. ~ Jim Hightower, #NFDB
969:When I'm out of politics I'm going to run a business, it'll be called rent-a-spine ~ Margaret Thatcher, #NFDB
970:All I know is politics. Really, politics takes up most of my time; it's nonstop. ~ Jean Claude Duvalier, #NFDB
971:Art is not the handmaid of politics. It is its own remedy! And its healing is sacral. ~ William Everson, #NFDB
972:I can't see why anyone would want to be in politics because you get so much criticism. ~ David Walliams, #NFDB
973:I don't think that politics are as complex as people like to make them seem or out to be. ~ Lupe Fiasco, #NFDB
974:I'm not really a fan of, like, rock stars, movie stars, people like that. I like politics. ~ Alex Jones, #NFDB
975:In elective politics, it's up or out. You go up the ladder, or you get out of the game. ~ Edward Brooke, #NFDB
976:Is there a way to discuss climate change without politics or religion getting in the way? ~ Don Cheadle, #NFDB
977:I've always had my voice as a comic. I was never that into politics, or prop comedy. ~ Andrew Dice Clay, #NFDB
978:Of all sciences there is none where first appearances are more deceitful than in politics. ~ David Hume, #NFDB
979:...Politics is not about facts. It is about what politicians can get people to believe. ~ Thomas Sowell, #NFDB
980:Politics, like religion, hold up the torches of martyrdom to the reformers of error. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
981:Politics was often not only unnecessary, but sometimes also unnecessarily complicated. ~ Jonas Jonasson, #NFDB
982:To Dewey, if brevity was the soul of wit, stagecraft was the very center of politics. ~ David Pietrusza, #NFDB
983:When you look at our world, the truth is that we're all under the influence of politics. ~ Roland Joffe, #NFDB
984:You get involved in politics because politics are a weapon to use in the cause of Islam. ~ Siraj Wahhaj, #NFDB
985:Being political is an integral part of being Iranian. Our lives are defined by politics. ~ Shirin Neshat, #NFDB
986:Eternal life should be sought elsewhere, perhaps in the religious community, not politics. ~ Matt Salmon, #NFDB
987:Giving votes in exchange for ideological support. To wit: identity politics for homosexuals. ~ Harry Hay, #NFDB
988:I have the most reliable friend you can have in American politics, and that is ready money. ~ Phil Gramm, #NFDB
989:In a democracy, dynasty politics is wrong. We need to free the state and nation from it. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
990:In philosophy, as in politics, the longest distance between two points is a straight line. ~ Will Durant, #NFDB
991:In politics almost all of us are nerds, so that's just a given... but we're cool nerds. ~ Jonathan Krohn, #NFDB
992:In truth I care little about any party's politicsthe man behind it is the important thing. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
993:Of all sciences there is none, where first appearances are more deceitful than in politics. ~ David Hume, #NFDB
994:Politics and prostitution have to be the only jobs where inexperience is considered a virtue. ~ Tina Fey, #NFDB
995:Politics follows the lines of physics: every action creates an equal and opposite reaction. ~ John Avlon, #NFDB
996:That is how politics work; if you don’t drink wine they will consider to bring you milk. ~ M F Moonzajer, #NFDB
997:The intersection of law, politics, and technology is going to force a lot of good thinking. ~ Bill Gates, #NFDB
998:To be frank, politics is about wanting power, getting it, exercising it, and keeping it. ~ Jean Chretien, #NFDB
999:We can seize this future together because we are not as divided as our politics suggests. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
1000:Where we are in politics is running down whatever doesn't agree with you. ~ Christopher Michael Cillizza, #NFDB
1001:You can achieve anything in politics provided that you let someone else take the credit. ~ Ronald Reagan, #NFDB
1002:you have a bright career ahead of you as a criminal mastermind. Or, you, know, politics. ~ Craig Alanson, #NFDB
1003:Calm, thinking villains, whom no faith could fix, Of crooked counsels and dark politics. ~ Alexander Pope, #NFDB
1004:Campaigning in Wyoming is politics at its most retail level. It's done one voter at a time. ~ Mary Cheney, #NFDB
1005:David Boaz has been my guide to the history, economics, and politics of freedom for years. ~ John Stossel, #NFDB
1006:Even if a poet writes about sitting in a glass house drinking tea, it reflects politics. ~ Yehuda Amichai, #NFDB
1007:I don't really like labels in politics, but I will gladly accept the label of conservatism. ~ Marco Rubio, #NFDB
1008:If churches want to play the game of politics, let them pay admission like everyone else. ~ George Carlin, #NFDB
1009:I mean if politics was my main motivation I would be doing politics. But I'm a filmmaker. ~ Michael Moore, #NFDB
1010:In politics a community of hatred is almost always the foundation of friendships. ~ Alexis de Tocqueville, #NFDB
1011:Insect politics, indifferent universe. Bang your head against the wall, but apathy is worse. ~ Don Henley, #NFDB
1012:Let's not be intimidated by secular people who disparage Christian involvement in politics. ~ Joel Hunter, #NFDB
1013:Newark might be one of few the places where the politics is tougher than even Brooklyn. ~ Hakeem Jeffries, #NFDB
1014:Politics and government are certainly among the most important of practical human interests. ~ P T Barnum, #NFDB
1015:Politics and the fate of mankind are formed by men without ideals and without greatness... ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
1016:Politics is a choice of enemas. You're gonna get it up the ass, no matter what you do. ~ George V Higgins, #NFDB
1017:Politics is not religion and we should govern on the basis of evidence, not theology. ~ William J Clinton, #NFDB
1018:The Fate of good men who refuse to become involved in politics is to be ruled by evil men. ~ Edmund Burke, #NFDB
1019:The whole art of politics consists in directing rationally the irrationalities of men. ~ Reinhold Niebuhr, #NFDB
1020:To be sure, nobody who really thinks about history can take politics altogether seriously. ~ Susan Sontag, #NFDB
1021:We've had the trivialization of our politics going on ever since we had electronic media. ~ Robert Scheer, #NFDB
1022:Yeah, I don't deal with current events or pop culture, and I avoid politics like the plague. ~ Max Cannon, #NFDB
1023:You can choose not to be interested in politics, but you can’t choose to be unaffected by it ~ Penny Wong, #NFDB
1024:you should take your consciences with you, and leave your politics in the chamber.’ Lord ~ Jeffrey Archer, #NFDB
1025:I hate politics, hate deals, and deal-making, hate meeting with attorneys and agents. ~ Kathie Lee Gifford, #NFDB
1026:I'm very open about my politics. I don't believe in any political party at all, none of them. ~ John Lydon, #NFDB
1027:In the United States, politics is a profession, whereas in Europe it is a right and a duty . ~ Umberto Eco, #NFDB
1028:Like art and politics, gangsterism is a very important avenue of assimilation into society. ~ E L Doctorow, #NFDB
1029:politics?” “A necessary evil that on rare occasions works without corruption, abuse, and waste. ~ J D Robb, #NFDB
1030:Politics cannot stop to study psychology Its methods are rough; its judgments rougher still. ~ Henry Adams, #NFDB
1031:Politics in the true sense, have to do with the prosperity, peace and security of the people. ~ Henry Ford, #NFDB
1032:Politics is like navigation in a sea without charts, and wise men live the lives of pilgrims. ~ Joyce Cary, #NFDB
1033:Politics is not a tea party. When it is time to act, you have to move fast and decisively. ~ Edward Brooke, #NFDB
1034:Politics works on the principle that an idiot who knows more idiots is an intelligent. ~ Thiruman Archunan, #NFDB
1035:Reformers must remember always that religion shapes culture, and culture trumps politics. ~ Douglas Wilson, #NFDB
1036:The fundamentalist Zionist lobby controls politics and the media in the US and Australia. ~ Margo Kingston, #NFDB
1037:There are a lot of grotesqueries in politics, not the least of which is the fund-raising side. ~ Jack Kemp, #NFDB
1038:The world of American politics is more contentious than it has ever been in my lifetime. ~ Chuck Palahniuk, #NFDB
1039:To make even fewer friends try talking about politics as much as you talk about yourself. ~ Demetri Martin, #NFDB
1040:What is politics? Political system is equal to development politics plus political politics. ~ Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
1041:American politics are important because it affects the entire world in often negative ways. ~ Bryce Dessner, #NFDB
1042:Anyone who does not understand the utter cynicism of politics does not understand politics. ~ Thomas Sowell, #NFDB
1043:As a very young poet, I had been brought up on that dogma that politics was bad for poetry. ~ Adrienne Rich, #NFDB
1044:Do not allow a gentleman to overhear you speaking about courtship, literature, or politics. ~ Laila Ibrahim, #NFDB
1045:Explosion without an objective,” declared Miles Blundell, “is politics in its purest form. ~ Thomas Pynchon, #NFDB
1046:Gandhi, a devout Hindu, had consistently maintained that politics without religion was immoral. ~ Anonymous, #NFDB
1047:I began to see that for some, religion was just a form of politics you couldn’t criticize. ~ Gloria Steinem, #NFDB
1048:If you want to succeed in politics you must keep your conscience firmly under control. ~ David Lloyd George, #NFDB
1049:I got into writing and thinking about politics because I was told there would be no math. ~ Jeff Greenfield, #NFDB
1050:I have always believed the iron rule of politics was that women don't vote for men who yell. ~ Gail Collins, #NFDB
1051:In politics there are so many holes, so many contradictions, you don't know what's happening. ~ Matt Dillon, #NFDB
1052:In the anarchic world of international politics, it is better to be Godzilla than Bambi. ~ John Mearsheimer, #NFDB
1053:I think few people of education enter politics because it seems like a contact blood sport. ~ Sherry Turkle, #NFDB
1054:Jesse Ventura took American politics and raised it to the level of professional wrestling. ~ Argus Hamilton, #NFDB
1055:Medals are all right, but they have a lot to do with politics, and I am not a fan of politics. ~ Chris Kyle, #NFDB
1056:Medicine is a social science, and politics is nothing more than medicine on a grand scale. ~ Rudolf Virchow, #NFDB
1057:Modern politics has become little more than shirking responsibility and blaming somebody else. ~ Ross Perot, #NFDB
1058:My art will reflect not necessarily conscious politics but the unanalysed politics of my life. ~ Carl Andre, #NFDB
1059:No great advance has ever been made in science, politics, or religion, without controversy. ~ Lyman Beecher, #NFDB
1060:Part of what's changed in politics is social media and how people are receiving information. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
1061:Politics don't exist, actually. It's just a cheap business. Economics is what makes politics. ~ Eugene Hutz, #NFDB
1062:Politics has become a blood sport that goes beyond just the person whose name is on the ballot. ~ Paul Ryan, #NFDB
1063:Politics is a dirty business, but if you do not do politics, politics will be done to you. ~ Will Shetterly, #NFDB
1064:Politics is a profession; a serious, complicated and, in its true sense, a noble one. ~ Dwight D Eisenhower, #NFDB
1065:Politics is a science. You can demonstrate that you are right and that others are wrong. ~ Jean Paul Sartre, #NFDB
1066:Politics is for people who have a passion for changing life but lack a passion for living it. ~ Tom Robbins, #NFDB
1067:Their minds were geared to the old problems and to their own problems and their own politics. ~ C J Cherryh, #NFDB
1068:There's no point in getting into politics at all unless you plan to lash things around. ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
1069:TV-based politics is to political action as watching ER is to saving someone in distress. ~ Robert D Putnam, #NFDB
1070:Well, I think the great tragedy in American politics is what is legal, not what is illegal. ~ Jack Abramoff, #NFDB
1071:We should realize that the average family in America spends five minutes a week on politics. ~ Celinda Lake, #NFDB
1072:What politics I ever learned, I learned in the streets, because it was part of the environment. ~ Bob Dylan, #NFDB
1073:Where politics is concerned, I think poets have to be pragmatists, philosophical pragmatists. ~ Robert Hass, #NFDB
1074:Do you know what's the politics? -It's a big project for sale a conscience, buy a position and make money! ~, #NFDB
1075:Emotion is emotion, and politics is politics, and one has nothing to do with the other. ~ Seth Grahame Smith, #NFDB
1076:Every Iranian artist, in one form or another, is political. Politics have defined our lives. ~ Shirin Neshat, #NFDB
1077:Explosion without an objective', declared Miles Blundell, 'is politics in its purest form'. ~ Thomas Pynchon, #NFDB
1078:Face the truth squarely. In politics that is always the best and the only correct attitude. ~ Vladimir Lenin, #NFDB
1079:Growing up in politics I know that women decide all elections because we do all the work. ~ Caroline Kennedy, #NFDB
1080:I have friends in politics who really put the friendship to the test through their behavior. ~ Martin Schulz, #NFDB
1081:I have nothing to do with politics. I came here [Yugoslavia] to play chess and nothing else. ~ Bobby Fischer, #NFDB
1082:I know that the politics around trade can be very difficult - especially in an election year. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
1083:I'm not really involved with politics... I'm living in my cocoon with my classical music around. ~ Eva Green, #NFDB
1084:I never played politics, I was never a party girl, and I never slept with any of the producers. ~ Ann Miller, #NFDB
1085:In the politics of the everyday, our words and gestures, or their absence, count very much. ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
1086:It will help erase the idea that politics is a second-rate profession and a dirty business. ~ Robert Kennedy, #NFDB
1087:Money is the mother's milk of everything, and it certainly is the mother's milk of politics. ~ Rush Limbaugh, #NFDB
1088:One of the things about federal politics is that it has been remarkably free of corruption. ~ George Brandis, #NFDB
1089:Politics don’t begin in Washington. Politics begin with those who are oppressed right here. ~ Gloria Steinem, #NFDB
1090:Politics,” he spat. “Everyone is always looking for material to use against everybody else–my ~ Claire North, #NFDB
1091:Politics isn’t won by commanding the facts, but by connecting with people’s experiences. ~ Milo Yiannopoulos, #NFDB
1092:Spiritual power and spiritual authority notoriously shade over into both politics and poetry. ~ Harold Bloom, #NFDB
1093:Surely there are enough Celtic songs without introducing religion or politics or anything else. ~ Jock Stein, #NFDB
1094:Television doesn't like politics very well, if you can infer that from the way they cover it. ~ Jack Germond, #NFDB
1095:The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude. ~ George Orwell, #NFDB
1096:The student of politics therefore as well as the psychologist must study the nature of the soul. ~ Aristotle, #NFDB
1097:tired of status quo politics and wanted real change in the world in which they were living. ~ Bernie Sanders, #NFDB
1098:We are not in politics to ignore peoples' worries, we are in politics to deal with them. ~ Margaret Thatcher, #NFDB
1099:We mistake politics for legislative debate. You can be passionate without being personal. ~ Richard Dreyfuss, #NFDB
1100:A fundamental premise of politics is we can make this work if people just never figure it out. ~ John F Kerry, #NFDB
1101:ARENA, n. In politics, an imaginary rat-pit in which the statesman wrestles with his record. ~ Ambrose Bierce, #NFDB
1102:A sick society must think much about politics, as a sick man must think much about his digestion. ~ C S Lewis, #NFDB
1103:As the Russians say: 'If you don't pay attention to politics, politics pays attention to you. ~ Marc Bennetts, #NFDB
1104:But then sanity was a movable feast, wasn't it? One man's madness might be another's politics. ~ Clive Barker, #NFDB
1105:But transitions from the politics of violence to democratic compromise are always messy. ~ Timothy Garton Ash, #NFDB
1106:Cicero’s eloquence, even if only half understood, still informs the language of modern politics. ~ Mary Beard, #NFDB
1107:did what people will do in politics, or on the sea when the wind is against them,—I tacked. ~ Alexandre Dumas, #NFDB
1108:Economics dominates politics - and with that domination comes different forms of ruthlessness. ~ Chris Hedges, #NFDB
1109:Everyone wants to demagogue everyone else. That may be good politics, but it's awful policy. ~ Chris Christie, #NFDB
1110:Good thing we've still got politics in Texas - finest form of free entertainment ever invented. ~ Molly Ivins, #NFDB
1111:He had avoided what he regarded as some obvious errors of life, such as politics and golf. ~ Richard Flanagan, #NFDB
1112:He shortly found himself arrived at politics; and from politics it was an easy step to silence. ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1113:I adore political parties. They are the only place left to us where people don't talk politics. ~ Oscar Wilde, #NFDB
1114:I always say, when they ask me about American politics, is for you guys to decide who you elect. ~ Tony Blair, #NFDB
1115:I don't think that modesty is the outstanding characteristic of contemporary politics, do you? ~ Edward Heath, #NFDB
1116:I have not the least sympathy for these useless and destructive pastimes, football and politics. ~ C sar Aira, #NFDB
1117:I know my limitations, and I don't like politics. I was only involved because of my husband. ~ Corazon Aquino, #NFDB
1118:I'm asking the American people to rise above the noise and the clutter of our broken politics. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
1119:I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. ~ John Adams, #NFDB
1120:I never had a single conversation about politics with Ross Perot in my life; still haven't. ~ James Stockdale, #NFDB
1121:In politics, the things that do not happen are frequently as significant as those that do. ~ Theodore H White, #NFDB
1122:In the politics of the every day, our words and gestures, or their absence, count very much. ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
1123:I've never been interested in, much in the politics of the art world, it doesn't interest me. ~ David Hockney, #NFDB
1124:JFK to RFK: To survive in politics, you sometimes have to be willing to make fun of yourself. ~ Robert Dallek, #NFDB
1125:Politics is a fascinating game, because politics is government. It is the art of government. ~ Harry S Truman, #NFDB
1126:Politics is not about big money or power games; it's about the improvement of people's lives ~ Paul Wellstone, #NFDB
1127:Politics, like advertising, is about people selling you things you didn't really want or need. ~ Tom Tomorrow, #NFDB
1128:The last thing I wanted to do was put politics into my music... because music was my escape. ~ Gloria Estefan, #NFDB
1129:The study of law was devoid of politics, of pettiness, of bad judges and incompetent attorneys. ~ Marti Green, #NFDB
1130:Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber. ~ Plato, #NFDB
1131:Truth becomes a relative and disputable term in the alternate reality of partisan politics ~ Michael Rejebian, #NFDB
1132:When we accept bad art because it's good politics, we're killing the swan to feed the chickens. ~ Tom Robbins, #NFDB
1133:Women in politics are more honest and forthright. We are not in it for the ego gratification. ~ Hanan Ashrawi, #NFDB
1134:First of all, I think it's odd that people who cover politics wouldn't have any political views. ~ Nate Silver, #NFDB
1135:I don't feel, finally, that my politics are entirely determined by the fact that I'm a gay man. ~ Tony Kushner, #NFDB
1136:I don't know anything about politics. I wouldn't put too much into my prediction on politics. ~ Norm MacDonald, #NFDB
1137:If it wasn't for what goes on in the world of politics, we wouldn't really have much of a show. ~ Samantha Bee, #NFDB
1138:I just don't like politics. My rule is if I can put a spotlight on something, I'll do that. ~ Harvey Fierstein, #NFDB
1139:I'm afraid that's in the nature of modern politics - it's as much conducted by abuse as argument. ~ Tony Blair, #NFDB
1140:In politics, If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman. ~ Margaret Thatcher, #NFDB
1141:It is easier for women to succeed in business, the arts, and politics in America than in Europe. ~ Hedy Lamarr, #NFDB
1142:It turns out that it's easier to do politics in a movie. People really don't want it in their TV. ~ Doug Liman, #NFDB
1143:I will not be sucked into a discussion of politics by people who prefer emotion to reason. The ~ Brian D Meeks, #NFDB
1144:Many a man has been dined out of his religion, and his politics, and his manhood, almost. ~ Henry Ward Beecher, #NFDB
1145:Mingling religion with politics may be disavowed and reprobated by every inhabitant of America. ~ Thomas Paine, #NFDB
1146:Not everybody is comfortable with the idea that politics is a guilty addiction. But it is. ~ Hunter S Thompson, #NFDB
1147:Only fanatics — in religion as well as in politics — can find a meaning in someone else’s death. ~ Elie Wiesel, #NFDB
1148:People too smart to get involved in politics are doomed to live in societies run by people who aren't. ~ Plato, #NFDB
1149:People who are wise, good, smart, skillful, or hardworking don't need politics, they have jobs. ~ P J O Rourke, #NFDB
1150:Political correctness? In my humor, I never talk about politics. I was never much into all that. ~ Don Rickles, #NFDB
1151:Politics are not my concern.... They impressed me as a dog's life without a dog's decencies. ~ Rudyard Kipling, #NFDB
1152:Religion is organized to satisfy and guide the soul -- politics does the same thing for the body. ~ Joyce Cary, #NFDB
1153:The cure for bad politics is the same as the cure for tuberculosis. It is living in the open. ~ Woodrow Wilson, #NFDB
1154:The rhetoric of hate and binarisms pervades the politics of the "Third-World" and of the West. ~ Nyla Ali Khan, #NFDB
1155:They who have been bred in the school of politics fail now and always to face the facts. ~ Henry David Thoreau, #NFDB
1156:Things it is not polite to discuss at the dinner table: politics, religion, and the walking dead. ~ Mira Grant, #NFDB
1157:We can't make any statements here. We can't talk about the internal politics of Paraguay. ~ Alfredo Stroessner, #NFDB
1158:You also want to fire people who a) create office politics, and b) who are persistently negative. ~ Sam Altman, #NFDB
1159:A lot of people have been asking whether I would ever go into politics. I'm not sure I would. ~ Richard Sherman, #NFDB
1160:Big Business and Politics are twins, they are the monsters who kill everything, corrupt everything. ~ Anais Nin, #NFDB
1161:But I don't believe in organised politics, organised religion, organised music, organised anything. ~ Link Wray, #NFDB
1162:Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered. ~ Aristotle, Politics, II, 8, #NFDB
1163:Every traditional ways in politics that you get rid of an enemy has not worked on Donald Trump. ~ Rush Limbaugh, #NFDB
1164:Gods and politics are the tools with which the godless and unprincipled manipulate the gullible. ~ Janet Morris, #NFDB
1165:I have always noticed in politics how often men are ruined by having too good a memory. ~ Alexis de Tocqueville, #NFDB
1166:I like politics and history and am happiest when having a good argument about ideas. ~ Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, #NFDB
1167:In politics, if you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman ~ Margaret Thatcher, #NFDB
1168:I would say that by virtue of transforming politics, [Dalai Lama] is in fact easily underestimated. ~ Pico Iyer, #NFDB
1169:Like Indiana Jones, I don't like snakes - though that might lead some to ask why I'm in politics. ~ Theresa May, #NFDB
1170:Neither. I did not bring my crown, and the last thing I would want to do is get into politics. ~ Gloria Estefan, #NFDB
1171:Politics is not perfect but it's the best available nonviolent means of changing how we live. ~ Maynard Jackson, #NFDB
1172:Politics is perhaps the only profession for which no preparation is thought necessary. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson, #NFDB
1173:Politics is the art of preventing people from busying themselves with what is their own business. ~ Paul Val ry, #NFDB
1174:Politics: the art of appearing candid and completely open while concealing as much as possible. ~ Frank Herbert, #NFDB
1175:The heaviest penalty for deciding to engage in politics is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself. ~ Plato, #NFDB
1176:The justification of majority rule in politics is not to be found in its ethical superiority. ~ Walter Lippmann, #NFDB
1177:Those who have been bred in the school of politics fail now and always to face the facts. ~ Henry David Thoreau, #NFDB
1178:We have not come into politics with 'Badle ki Bhavna' but we have come with 'Badlav Ki Bhavna'. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
1179:All politics is marketing. And in marketing, there are but two variables: product and salesmanship. ~ Tim Dorsey, #NFDB
1180:Doing the right thing is apparently harder than it sounds when politics are involved. ~ Cassie Dandridge Selleck, #NFDB
1181:Every one in polite circles knew that, in America, "a gentleman couldn't go into politics." But, ~ Edith Wharton, #NFDB
1182:Identity politics are wearisome; you don't want to go on speaking for any one group as a writer. ~ Emma Donoghue, #NFDB
1183:I didn't come into politics to change the Labour Party. I came into politics to change the country. ~ Tony Blair, #NFDB
1184:I don't find biology as interesting as politics and humanism. I talk more about existential stuff. ~ Dana Carvey, #NFDB
1185:In politics a capable ruler must be guided by circumstances, conjectures and conjunctions. ~ Catherine the Great, #NFDB
1186:In politics people give you what they think you deserve and deny you what they think you want. ~ Cecil Parkinson, #NFDB
1187:I saw a survey and it is that NFL fans are fed up with listening to players talk about politics. ~ Rush Limbaugh, #NFDB
1188:It is hostile to a democratic system to involve the judiciary in the politics of the people. ~ Felix Frankfurter, #NFDB
1189:It's called political economy because it is has nothing to do with either politics or economy. ~ Stephen Leacock, #NFDB
1190:I was raised with the idea that if you're not smart enough to do science you can do politics. ~ Michael Crichton, #NFDB
1191:Politics in the middle of things of the imagination is like a pistol shot in the middle of a concert. ~ Stendhal, #NFDB
1192:Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.” —Mao Tse Tung ~ Nicholas Sansbury Smith, #NFDB
1193:Politics, noun: [Poly ‘many’ + tics ‘blood-sucking parasites’]” —Larry Hardiman ~ Douglas E Richards, #NFDB
1194:Skip the religion and politics, head straight to the compassion. Everything else is a distraction. ~ Talib Kweli, #NFDB
1195:the futility of something is not always (in love and in politics) a sufficient argument against it ~ Jane Austen, #NFDB
1196:The only thing worse than a silly politician analyzing art is a silly artist analyzing politics ~ Jonathan Alter, #NFDB
1197:The President's post should not be politicised. Once a president is elected, he is above politics. ~ Abdul Kalam, #NFDB
1198:Third party politics, at least since La Follette, has always had an element of romance. ~ John Kenneth Galbraith, #NFDB
1199:This unprecedented mass murder would have been impossible without a special kind of politics. — ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
1200:Those that deem politics beneath their dignity are doomed to be governed by those of lesser talents. ~ Aristotle, #NFDB
1201:War is not an independent phenomenon, but the continuation of politics by different means. ~ Carl von Clausewitz, #NFDB
1202:What good would politics be, if it didn’t give everyone the opportunity to make moral compromises. ~ Thomas Mann, #NFDB
1203:What is the first part of politics? Education. The second? Education. And the third? Education. ~ Jules Michelet, #NFDB
1204:What matters is that this spectacular act of terror initiated the politics of emergency. Gazing ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
1205:When something really comes from the soul, I think it has a truth that you cannot find in politics. ~ Frank Rich, #NFDB
1206:When we talk about safety and security of the American people, politics falls aside pretty quickly. ~ Bill Frist, #NFDB
1207:Women are never again going to be mindless coffee-makers or mindless policy-makers in politics. ~ Gloria Steinem, #NFDB
1208:An emerging market is a country where politics matters at least as much as economics to the market. ~ Ian Bremmer, #NFDB
1209:A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues. ~ Theodore Roosevelt, #NFDB
1210: Bouvard thought: 'Ah, progress, what a farce!' He added: 'And politics, what a filthy mess!' ~ Gustave Flaubert, #NFDB
1211:Divorced from ethics, leadership is reduced to management and politics to mere technique. ~ James MacGregor Burns, #NFDB
1212:Gods and politics are the tools with which the godless and unprincipled manipulate the gullible. ~ Janet E Morris, #NFDB
1213:He had avoided what he regarded as some obvious errors of life, such as politics and golf. But ~ Richard Flanagan, #NFDB
1214:I am an apolitical Prime Minister. Apart from elections, I don't get involved into politics ever. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
1215:I am neither a Whig nor Tory. My politics are described in one word and that word is England. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
1216:I didn't come into politics to change the Labour Party. I came into politics to change the country. ~ Tony Blair, #NFDB
1217:I have always stayed out of politics, I don't believe it would be appropriate to talk about it. ~ Kirsty Coventry, #NFDB
1218:In America the press rules the countrty; it rules its politics, its religion, its social practices. ~ E W Scripps, #NFDB
1219:In politics, the truth is strictly optional and that also seems to be true in parts of the media. ~ Thomas Sowell, #NFDB
1220:Is literature better, is politics better, for having discarded the moralist and the philosopher? ~ G K Chesterton, #NFDB
1221:I was a political journalist; I came to writing novels through an interest in politics and power. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1222:Just because you are not interested in politics, does not mean that politics is not interested in you. ~ Pericles, #NFDB
1223:Kurti had believed in politics, and politics had deceived him, the way politics deceives everyone. ~ Imre Kert sz, #NFDB
1224:Mingling religion with politics may be disavowed
and reprobated by every inhabitant of America. ~ Thomas Paine,#NFDB
1225:Politics are a smooth file, which cuts gradually, and attains its end by slow progression. ~ Baron de Montesquieu, #NFDB
1226:Politics does not concern itself who should rule us. It is about what kind of rule people should have. ~ Periyar, #NFDB
1227:Politics doesn't have to be a drag. It can be positive, and it can be fun, and it can be inspiring. ~ John Kasich, #NFDB
1228:"Politics" per se is absent from my writing but there is usually a moral (if ironic) compass. ~ Joyce Carol Oates, #NFDB
1229:President Obama chose politics over leadership. 'Hope' and 'Change' have become bait-and-switch. ~ Lindsey Graham, #NFDB
1230:Speeches are more important in politics than talking points, as a rule, and are better remembered. ~ Peggy Noonan, #NFDB
1231:The one thing we can all be sure about in politics is you are as well to expect the unexpected. ~ Charles Kennedy, #NFDB
1232:Trees stand at the heart of ecology, and they must come to stand at the heart of human politics. ~ Richard Powers, #NFDB
1233:War is far worse. At least where politics is going on, there are usually nice hors d’oeuvres. ~ Brandon Sanderson, #NFDB
1234:A better politics is one where we appeal to each other’s basic decency instead of our basest fears. ~ Barack Obama, #NFDB
1235:a boundless contempt for everything outside their art, for society, and above all, for politics. (64) ~ mile Zola, #NFDB
1236:But it was I, yes I, who discovered the link between excessive masturbation and entry into politics! ~ Woody Allen, #NFDB
1237:Dirksen's Three Laws of Politics: 1. Get elected. 2. Get re-elected. 3. Don't get mad, get even. ~ Everett Dirksen, #NFDB
1238:Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war. ~ Maria Montessori, #NFDB
1239:Everything in this world is primarily a matter of morals, and only very much later one of politics. ~ Franz Werfel, #NFDB
1240:For Aristotle, politics is about something higher. It’s about learning how to live a good life. ~ Michael J Sandel, #NFDB
1241:For many people, politics in Brussels and Strasbourg might as well be happening on another planet. ~ Martin Schulz, #NFDB
1242:God has no role to play in politics except to make sure politicians go where they belong. To hell. ~ P J O Rourke, #NFDB
1243:I am only concerned with politics so I may see the day when I don't have to be concerned with politics. ~ Ayn Rand, #NFDB
1244:I can get into politics. I'm a pretty straight guy for this business. I have a pretty healthy outlook. ~ Rex Smith, #NFDB
1245:I didn't -- I swear I didn't -- get into politics to feather my nest or feather my friends' nests. ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
1246:I don't even like the word politics. It implies something underhanded and I think we need less government. ~ Jay Z, #NFDB
1247:I feel about politics the same way I do about religion: I find the best I can from different things. ~ Patti Smith, #NFDB
1248:I have always been interested in politics. I was in the student union before, very active. ~ Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, #NFDB
1249:In art, religion, and politics the respect must be mutual, no matter how violent the disagreement. ~ Vincent Price, #NFDB
1250:I really didn’t like messing with politics or religion, and this had holy water stamped all over it. ~ Parker Blue, #NFDB
1251:I've never worked in politics, never been a member of an official committee or a political party. ~ Naguib Mahfouz, #NFDB
1252:My friend told me later he got the chicken pox. I told him I caught politics and never got over it. ~ Jack Johnson, #NFDB
1253:Politics is almost never violent toward the people who are actually making the political decisions. ~ Mur Lafferty, #NFDB
1254:Race is a lie, and the people who conjure by it, no matter their color or their politics, are liars. ~ Holly Lisle, #NFDB
1255:Scatter her enemies, And make them fall; Confound their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1256:The focus of a politics of compassion is the alleviation of suffering caused by social structures. ~ Marcus J Borg, #NFDB
1257:The manufacturing and packaging of homogeneous experience is what politics in America is about. ~ Howard Rheingold, #NFDB
1258:The more you observe politics, the more you've got to admit that each party is worse than the other. ~ Will Rogers, #NFDB
1259:There are two things that you have to lie to get through. One is politics, and the other is marriage. ~ Bill Maher, #NFDB
1260:What Englishman will give his mind to politics as long as he can afford to keep a motor car? ~ George Bernard Shaw, #NFDB
1261:When politics are used to allocate resources, the resources all end up being allocated to politics. ~ P J O Rourke, #NFDB
1262:All things merge in one another - good into evil, generosity into justice, religion into politics... ~ Thomas Hardy, #NFDB
1263:Finishing second in the Olympics gets you silver. Finishing second in politics gets you oblivion. ~ Richard M Nixon, #NFDB
1264:I am not interested in politics at all. At home, around the dinner table, we never discuss politics. ~ Columba Bush, #NFDB
1265:If he's being honest, half the reason he studied politics in college was because he liked the drama. ~ Austin Chant, #NFDB
1266:In Geo-Politics, a nation has no permanent allies or permanent enemies, only permanent interests. ~ George Friedman, #NFDB
1267:In politics and in trade, bruisers and pirates are of better promise than talkers and clerks. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, #NFDB
1268:In politics, arts / no issue's dramatic / nor will 'play' till its heart's / simplified to fanatic. ~ Mona Van Duyn, #NFDB
1269:In politics, you know, as well as I do, there are no men, but ideas - no feelings, but interests. ~ Alexandre Dumas, #NFDB
1270:In the early West, law and politics were parallel roads to usefulness as well as distinction. ~ John George Nicolay, #NFDB
1271:I think the media loves taking the most absurd clips for a sport that has become congressional politics. ~ Kal Penn, #NFDB
1272:It's the height of the Cold War, but I grew up in apolitical family and politics wasn't on the agenda. ~ Bill Ayers, #NFDB
1273:I was supposed to be women's lib, and now I'd exceeded it and gone over into international politics. ~ Kate Millett, #NFDB
1274:Money has always been in politics. And I'm not sure you'd want money to be completely out of politics. ~ Bill Gates, #NFDB
1275:No Indian who aspires to follow the way of true religion can afford to remain aloof from politics. ~ Mahatma Gandhi, #NFDB
1276:Politics is like waking up in the morning. You never know whose head you'll find on the pillow. ~ Winston Churchill, #NFDB
1277:Politics must drive military strategy as strategy drives tactics. Only when politics fail do we fight. ~ B V Larson, #NFDB
1278:The good news about me is that my friends and social network is entirely independent of politics. ~ Andrew Sullivan, #NFDB
1279:There is no gambling like politics. Nothing in which the power of circumstance is more evident. ~ Benjamin Disraeli, #NFDB
1280:This is the new politics. Personal responsibility. Not leaving it to others. I am my planet's keeper. ~ Hilary Benn, #NFDB
1281:Unfortunately the global warming hysteria, as I see it, is driven by politics more than by science. ~ Freeman Dyson, #NFDB
1282:Whoever decides to dedicate their life to politics knows that earning money isn't the top priority. ~ Angela Merkel, #NFDB
1283:worldwide heroin traffic, which has been well documented in The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia ~ Martin A Lee, #NFDB
1284:After politics, journalism has always been the preferred career of the ambitious but lazy second-rater. ~ Gore Vidal, #NFDB
1285:Art does not exist for politics, or for instruction- it exists primarily for pleasure, or it is nothing. ~ A S Byatt, #NFDB
1286:But it was I - yes I - who discovered the link between excessive masturbation and entry into politics! ~ Woody Allen, #NFDB
1287:Divide and rule is the way Congress does their politics while we say let's unite and do development. ~ Narendra Modi, #NFDB
1288:... Half of politics is "image-making", the other half is the art of making people believe the image ~ Hannah Arendt, #NFDB
1289:I am, as many people are, inspired by Jack Layton's legacy and the way that he approached politics. ~ Justin Trudeau, #NFDB
1290:I am not made for politics because I am incapable of wanting or accepting the death of the adversary. ~ Albert Camus, #NFDB
1291:If compassion and mercy are not compatible with politics then something is the matter with politics. ~ Gerald R Ford, #NFDB
1292:I have the unmitigated gall to think that I could lead men anywhere, business, politics or combat. ~ Barry Goldwater, #NFDB
1293:I know what high stakes politics demands, it is a twenty-four seven, totally consuming experience. ~ Hillary Clinton, #NFDB
1294:In my right-wing politics of the time, I held that unemployment was usually the fault of the unemployed. ~ Luke Ford, #NFDB
1295:In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way. ~ Franklin D Roosevelt, #NFDB
1296:In politics, strangely enough, the best way to play your cards is to lay them face upwards on the table. ~ H G Wells, #NFDB
1297:I was really lucky that I came to puberty at a time when music and politics were completely intertwined ~ Bob Geldof, #NFDB
1298:Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you! ~ Pericles, #NFDB
1299:Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. ~ Pericles, #NFDB
1300:Politics is still the No. 1 sport in town and the scoreboard shows the U.S. attorney's office leading. ~ Bill Kurtis, #NFDB
1301:Politics is the activity by which the framework of human life is sustained; it is not life itself. ~ Kenneth Minogue, #NFDB
1302:Politics is the conspiracy of the unproductive but organized against the productive but unorganized. ~ Joseph Sobran, #NFDB
1303:Politics is the only field of human endeavor where the more experience you have, the worse you get. ~ Kinky Friedman, #NFDB
1304:Politics is topical - it's what's happening now, and we can either respond in the present or avoid it. ~ Hank Azaria, #NFDB
1305:Politics is tricky; it cuts both ways. Every time you make a choice, it has unintended consequences. ~ Stone Gossard, #NFDB
1306:The awareness that we are all human beings together has become lost in war and through politics. ~ Albert Schweitzer, #NFDB
1307:The intellectual architecture means focusing on doing great work instead of focusing on agency politics. ~ Jay Chiat, #NFDB
1308:The origin of corruption in politics is surely in the thought that you are the bearer of ultimate virtue. ~ B W Powe, #NFDB
1309:the public entertainment of any period distinguishing the period as clearly as its so-called politics, ~ John Irving, #NFDB
1310:Whenever you discuss politics, it is always better to use individual names rather then the term neocon. ~ David Frum, #NFDB
1311:When I got into politics, it was a shock. People promise all sorts of things and then never deliver. ~ Matt Gonzalez, #NFDB
1312:When I was 17, I came to the U.S. to study Middle Eastern history and politics at Columbia University. ~ Julia Bacha, #NFDB
1313:When you're in politics sometimes you step on toes and they come back and kick you in the backside. ~ Steve Bartlett, #NFDB
1314:A lot of times in politics you have people look you in the eye and tell you what's not on their mind. ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
1315:And you don't want to always write about politics just for the sake of writing about politics. ~ Billie Joe Armstrong, #NFDB
1316:Because that’s what it all comes down to. Just as all politics is local, all good history is personal. ~ Marcia Clark, #NFDB
1317:Hillary Clinton follows a cardinal rule in politics - don't commit to a decision before you have to. ~ Chris Matthews, #NFDB
1318:I believe that it is an unchanging value of democracy that ends cannot justify the means in politics. ~ Park Geun hye, #NFDB
1319:I hate injustice, and I can't help but speak against it. But I don't want to get involved in politics. ~ Serj Tankian, #NFDB
1320:I have some very personal feelings about politics, but I don't get into it because I do comedy already. ~ Jerry Lewis, #NFDB
1321:I'm interested in current affairs and social policy as a whole, but I don't watch politics for sport. ~ Anna Chlumsky, #NFDB
1322:In American religious history, theological qualms tend to get pushed aside when politics intervenes. ~ Rick Perlstein, #NFDB
1323:It is the civilian part of the politics that is very, very bad, and we have to change that. ~ Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, #NFDB
1324:Political order, in short, requires cultural unity, something that politics itself can never provide. ~ Roger Scruton, #NFDB
1325:Politics is not a picture on a wall or a television sitcom that you can decide you don't much care for. ~ Molly Ivins, #NFDB
1326:That’s just silly. Closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish. ~ Dick Costolo, #NFDB
1327:The challenge is to practice politics as the art of making what appears to be impossible, possible. ~ Hillary Clinton, #NFDB
1328:There are no lasting victories in politics, there is only the remorseless grinding forward of events. ~ Robert Harris, #NFDB
1329:There's a similarity in both being young people who are not about the politics of respectability. ~ Stanley Nelson Jr, #NFDB
1330:Thomas Hobbes's politics are fitted only to promote tyranny, and his ethics to encourage licentiousness. ~ David Hume, #NFDB
1331:Those people who treat politics and morality separately will never understand either of them. ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau, #NFDB
1332:War is not a means to an end, it is the end, whereas politics is merely the hiatus between wars. ~ Norman Finkelstein, #NFDB
1333:What I've tried to do in politics is two very simple things: tell the truth and do what I said I would do. ~ Ted Cruz, #NFDB
1334:You know, it's just politics, it's a game grown-ups like to play, like we lil' children play with toys. ~ Sharon Maas, #NFDB
1335:80 per cent of people who care about politics and national issues fall in the ‘taking sides’ category. ~ Chetan Bhagat, #NFDB
1336:And I have always believed that one’s politics and the character of his particular work are inseparable. ~ Steven Levy, #NFDB
1337:British politics is more nuanced. Part of the problem with New Labour is that they are a moving target. ~ Rory Bremner, #NFDB
1338:Due to their meddling, activities which were considered routine politics in America are now suspect. ~ Malcolm W Nance, #NFDB
1339:Here is one of the first rules of politics: it's not enough that I do well; I must also destroy my enemy. ~ Bill Press, #NFDB
1340:I am not a politics wonk. I like the idea of my writing reflecting more about who I am or other people. ~ Peter Morgan, #NFDB
1341:I care about politics just like any other citizen. I'm against the war in Iraq, or any type of war. ~ Enrique Iglesias, #NFDB
1342:I designed collections around whatever struck my fancy ... fruits, vegetables, politics, or peacocks! ~ Lilly Pulitzer, #NFDB
1343:I'm sure I could fall in love with a Democrat as easily as a Republican. Some things transcend politics. ~ Jeff Gannon, #NFDB
1344:In modern politics, even the leader of the free world needs help from the sultan of Facebookistan. ~ Rebecca MacKinnon, #NFDB
1345:In politics as on a sickbed men toss from side to side in hope of lying more comfortably. ~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #NFDB
1346:In the service, when a man gives you his word, his word is binding. In politics, you never know. ~ Dwight D Eisenhower, #NFDB
1347:I think what's fascinating is how many people are playing in politics who maybe haven't played before. ~ Carly Fiorina, #NFDB
1348:Kirah growled. "Politics." ... "It's nothing but games for boys grown in body, but still small in mind. ~ Tim Marquitz, #NFDB
1349:nothing transformed the politics, the economy and the table of Europe like the potato. The tuber from Peru. ~ A A Gill, #NFDB
1350:Peron had a wise saying. In politics, you can recover from anything except looking like a fool. ~ Alma Guillermoprieto, #NFDB
1351:Politics should make a thief, a roué, and a pessimist of anyone but I don't believe I am any of them... ~ Harry Truman, #NFDB
1352:Remember that politics, colonialism, imperialism and war also originate in the human brain. ~ Vilayanur S Ramachandran, #NFDB
1353:So much of modern politics is focused not on honest differences of policy but on personal attacks. ~ William J Clinton, #NFDB
1354:The former pair offered physics and logic; the latter offered primarily politics and fear plus a ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson, #NFDB
1355:the futility of something is not always (in love and in politics) a sufficient argument against it. ~ Malcolm Gladwell, #NFDB
1356:The one thing sure about politics is that what goes up comes down and what goes down often comes up. ~ Richard M Nixon, #NFDB
1357:The only motive that can keep politics pure is the motive of doing good for one's country and its people. ~ Henry Ford, #NFDB
1358:The results of the divorce between truth and human beings can be most graphically observed in politics. ~ Tom Stoppard, #NFDB
1359:This self-defeating behavior, so the argument goes, must be the result of warped domestic politics. ~ John Mearsheimer, #NFDB
1360:we will not have a politics of justice and compassion unless we have a religion of God’s freedom. ~ Walter Brueggemann, #NFDB
1361:Circumstances in the world of politics contribute substantially to whether or not you can be successful. ~ Willie Brown, #NFDB
1362:Concerning politics: "The American media is like a watchdog who has developed an affection for the burglar." ~ Ron Dart, #NFDB
1363:Democracies must have equilibrium... and the entanglement of politics and information must be minimized. ~ Romano Prodi, #NFDB
1364:Every aspect of the world today - even politics and international relations - is affected by chemistry. ~ Linus Pauling, #NFDB
1365:Every citizen, scientists included, has some obligation to be involved in public affairs and politics. ~ Rush D Holt Jr, #NFDB
1366:I avoid contemporary TV...politics...art: all too frantic, fevered, and frivolous, or else angry, bitter. ~ Dean Koontz, #NFDB
1367:Ideology, politics and journalism, which luxuriate in failure, are impotent in the face of hope and joy. ~ P J O Rourke, #NFDB
1368:If we do not allow free thinking in chemistry or biology, why should we allow it in morals or politics? ~ Auguste Comte, #NFDB
1369:I have come to the conclusion that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. ~ Charles de Gaulle, #NFDB
1370:In government you carry each hope; each disillusion. And in politics it's always about the next challenge. ~ Tony Blair, #NFDB
1371:I've been able to watch and to weather a lot of different periods in entertainment, politics and life. ~ Marilyn Manson, #NFDB
1372:I was obsessed with politics in the '80s. I've recovered and I'm feeling much better now, thank you. ~ Steven Van Zandt, #NFDB
1373:Military missions cannot be a normal tool of politics, but instead must remain the great exception. ~ Guido Westerwelle, #NFDB
1374:Not too many professions out there that value forgetfulness. Prostitution, maybe. Politics, of course. ~ Jonathan Nolan, #NFDB
1375:One of the key problems today is that politics is such a disgrace, good people don't go into government. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
1376:One of the things being in politics has taught me is that men are not a reasoned or reasonable sex. ~ Margaret Thatcher, #NFDB
1377:Photography is a universal language, transcending the boundaries of race, politics, and nationality. ~ Arthur Rothstein, #NFDB
1378:Politics is like waking up in the morning. You never know whose head you will find on the pillow. ~ Winston S Churchill, #NFDB
1379:Politics, like theater, is one of those things where you've got to be wise enough to know when to leave. ~ Richard Lamm, #NFDB
1380:PUSH, n. One of the two things mainly conducive to success, especially in politics. The other is Pull. ~ Ambrose Bierce, #NFDB
1381:Secretaries of Astronautics don’t have to know much about science. They have to know about politics. ~ Octavia E Butler, #NFDB
1382:Some of the FDA's own scientists have charged that politics, not science, is behind the FDA's actions. ~ Joseph Crowley, #NFDB
1383:When it comes to foreign policy, it is important to remember that politics stops at the water's edge. ~ Hillary Clinton, #NFDB
1384:All politics takes place on a slippery slope. The most important four words in politics are up to a point. ~ George Will, #NFDB
1385:Another debate merged politics and technology. Could the nation’s new democratic traditions survive in the ~ Jill Lepore, #NFDB
1386:Divorced from ethics,
leadership is reduced to management
and politics to mere technique. ~ James MacGregor Burns,#NFDB
1387:Economics and politics are the governing powers of life today, and that's why everything is so screwy. ~ Joseph Campbell, #NFDB
1388:Even if my neighbor doesn’t understand my religion or understand my politics, he can understand my story. ~ Paulo Coelho, #NFDB
1389:Every type of politics could be addressed from the point of view of leaders trying to survive. ~ Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, #NFDB
1390:Having old friends is the politics of last resort. And making new ones is the first step toward change. ~ Timothy Snyder, #NFDB
1391:I like the way hip-hop is now. It's grown up enough so that it can get involved with politics if it feels like it. ~ Nas, #NFDB
1392:I'm not very big on politics. I'm a comedian and not that smart. I don't have the mind capacity for it. ~ Bobby Moynihan, #NFDB
1393:In Israel, generally speaking, politics is much more familiar than any other place. We all know each other. ~ Ehud Barak, #NFDB
1394:It's not just in politics that you can be a servant of the people, you can do it in so many other ways. ~ Corazon Aquino, #NFDB
1395:One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. ~ Plato, #NFDB
1396:Politics are private. I don't understand people who try to convince you to join one party or another. ~ Carolina Herrera, #NFDB
1397:Politics, as any observer of the modern world knows, is the enemy of economics, everywhere and always. ~ John Derbyshire, #NFDB
1398:Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. ~ Henry Adams, #NFDB
1399:Politics, as a practise, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds. ~ Henry Adams, #NFDB
1400:Politics is the art of making the people believe that they are in power, when in fact, they have none. ~ Mumia Abu Jamal, #NFDB
1401:Politics is way cool, as long as it’s progressive. Conservatives by nature hate politics and politicians. ~ Greg Gutfeld, #NFDB
1402:Politics matters. Ideas matter. Democracy matters, because all of us need to be able to make a difference. ~ Jack Layton, #NFDB
1403:Politics really is a team sport. You really have to work the whole system to get somewhere down the road. ~ David Brooks, #NFDB
1404:The invisible hand in politics operates in the opposite direction to the invisible hand in the market. ~ Milton Friedman, #NFDB
1405:Well, if I ever suffer brain damage I know there's always a career waiting for me in local politics. ~ Jonathan L Howard, #NFDB
1406:We should vigorously debate policy differences. We have too much all-or-nothing in American politics. ~ Benjamin E Sasse, #NFDB
1407:Whether in families or in politics, a good observation: "One can disagree without being disagreeable." ~ Barry Goldwater, #NFDB
1408:You've got to watch the politics of AIDS. The politics of AIDS can work both for and against the victims of AIDS. ~ Bono, #NFDB
1409:[ Zionists] dominate the Banking institutions of America and they are the biggest contributors in politics. ~ David Duke, #NFDB
1410:As soon as you start mixing up politics and some sort of ethical code in music, you've got it all wrong. ~ Patrick Carney, #NFDB
1411:...as sound politics diffuse liberty, mankind, including woman, will become more wise and virtuous. ~ Mary Wollstonecraft, #NFDB
1412:Even if we don't know it or aren't aware of it, politics and philosophy are really what make our up lives. ~ Roland Joffe, #NFDB
1413:Forget politics, his father had always said. Just give 'em something they need, or they'll eat you alive. ~ Joe Schreiber, #NFDB
1414:I am not fond of speaking about politics because I don't have in my possession an army of 200,000 soldiers. ~ Franz Liszt, #NFDB
1415:I could say much about politics, our only entertainment here, but you would not care a fig about that. ~ Thomas Jefferson, #NFDB
1416:I don’t pay attention to politics.” “You should. It’s barely less important than your own heart beat. ~ Robert A Heinlein, #NFDB
1417:I don't take a great deal of interest in party politics. Social politics interests me a great deal more. ~ Robert Carlyle, #NFDB
1418:I don't think I've had any great success in predicting politics or social change, nor have I really tried. ~ Paul Krugman, #NFDB
1419:If there was one thing she found more tedious than thinking about politics it was talking about politics. ~ Kate Atkinson, #NFDB
1420:Imagining the overthrow of the current political system is the only way I can be enthused about politics. ~ Russell Brand, #NFDB
1421:In politics, love is a stranger, and when it intrudes upon it nothing is being achieved except hypocrisy. ~ Hannah Arendt, #NFDB
1422:My suspension was a long-planned move... and was done to protect would-be convicts in Romanian politics. ~ Traian Basescu, #NFDB
1423:One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. ~ Plato, #NFDB
1424:Only very intelligent people don't wish they were in politics, and I'm dumb enough to want to be in there. ~ Orson Welles, #NFDB
1425:People always have been and they always will be stupid victims of deceit and self-deception in politics. ~ Vladimir Lenin, #NFDB
1426:Politics, n. For the Elder Races, this generally involves bloodshed of some sort and a spate of funerals. ~ Thea Harrison, #NFDB
1427:Politics' the polite word for antediluvian prejudices, the rags put on by enmity and tribal resentment. ~ Joseph O Connor, #NFDB
1428:Sam Brewer enjoyed discussing Middle Eastern politics with Philby; Philby enjoyed sleeping with his wife. ~ Ben Macintyre, #NFDB
1429:The American people will regret the day I was crucified by politics and bureaucracy."
Billy Mitchell ~ James D Bradley,#NFDB
1430:The politics of banking is bad everywhere, including UK. Eurozone has more problems, unhealthy symbiosis. ~ Anat R Admati, #NFDB
1431:You begin saving the world by saving one man at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics. ~ Charles Bukowski, #NFDB
1432:You cannot even begin to understand contemporary African politics if you have not read this fascinating book ~ Bob Geldof, #NFDB
1433:A lot of politics in art is just institutional critique, which, in my opinion, is not all that political. ~ Rachel Kushner, #NFDB
1434:And above all, I am not interested enough in politics to let them encumber my last days. —DRIEU LA ROCHELLE, ~ Clive James, #NFDB
1435:A politician is a person with whose politics you don't agree; if you agree with him he's a statesman. ~ David Lloyd George, #NFDB
1436:British Conservatives base their entire approach to politics on the rule of law, and rightly so. ~ William Randolph Hearst, #NFDB
1437:But then, to those behind the First Order, sowing fear and terror was merely politics by another means. ~ Alan Dean Foster, #NFDB
1438:hate politics, and politicians even more. They make a religion of being greedy. It’s unforgivable. ~ Gregory David Roberts, #NFDB
1439:He’s a two-faced, cutthroat, dirt-dumb, chickenshit, slimy little bastard with a bright future in politics. ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
1440:I could throw 56-pound words clear across the Grand Canyon. As a matter of course, I went into politics. ~ Henry F Ashurst, #NFDB
1441:...if the beginnings of love and amorous politics are equally rosy, then the ends may be equally bloody. ~ Alain de Botton, #NFDB
1442:I grew up a witness to gay politics in its early days. I remember seeing Harvey Milk and been moved by him. ~ Margaret Cho, #NFDB
1443:I think a lot of gay people who are not dealing with their homosexuality get into right- wing politics. ~ Armistead Maupin, #NFDB
1444:I think it's a terrible system, but money in politics is like water running downhill -- it finds its way. ~ Jonathan Alter, #NFDB
1445:It's a no-win situation with politics, it's always going to be stressful. I'm more into the comedy of life. ~ Jordan Peele, #NFDB
1446:It's very difficult to talk about religion in Iran because religion has gotten so mixed up with politics. ~ Asghar Farhadi, #NFDB
1447:I was in civil society long before I was ever in politics or my husband was ever even elected president. ~ Hillary Clinton, #NFDB
1448:Man is a political animal. But seeing what the animal is, what may politics become?” His door closed on us. ~ Rebecca West, #NFDB
1449:My observation is China is thinking more as a global player than regionally, in both politics and economics. ~ Ban Ki moon, #NFDB
1450:Politics draws lines between people; in contrast, Jesus’ love cuts across those lines and dispenses grace. ~ Philip Yancey, #NFDB
1451:Silence is the language of faith. Action—be it church or charity, politics or poetry—is the translation. ~ Christian Wiman, #NFDB
1452:So my degree was in political science, which I think was - the closest I could come to marketing is politics. ~ Steve Case, #NFDB
1453:That's probably the most boring conversation you could hear - an actor talk about politics. I won't go there. ~ Anne Heche, #NFDB
1454:The acid test of politics is not what you say at the hustings, but what you actually do in government. ~ Margaret Thatcher, #NFDB
1455:the business of politics, which essentially meant screwing others before they got around to screwing you. ~ David Baldacci, #NFDB
1456:The penalty that good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves. ~ Plato, #NFDB
1457:There’s nothing of honesty left in politics,” said Mr. Bonteen, declaring that he was sick of the life. ~ Anthony Trollope, #NFDB
1458:Why waste your money looking up your family tree? Just go into politics and your opponent will do it for you. ~ Mark Twain, #NFDB
1459:Book-publishing is all about politics. Agents, editors, which books will be puffed, which ignored, etc. ~ Alexander Theroux, #NFDB
1460:[Donald Trump] doesn't have the money to run commercials and I launched into a tirade on money in politics. ~ Rush Limbaugh, #NFDB
1461:How can I, that girl standing there, My attention fix On Roman or on Russian Or on Spanish politics? ~ William Butler Yeats, #NFDB
1462:I don't feel too comfortable talking about politics and media as I feel like I don't sound too smart. ~ Andrew VanWyngarden, #NFDB
1463:If American politics are too dirty for women to take part in, there's something wrong with American politics. ~ Edna Ferber, #NFDB
1464:If you're sick and tired of the politics of cynicism and polls and principles, come and join this campaign. ~ George W Bush, #NFDB
1465:I got into politics a little bit by chance, as a person from the first generation of the Solidarity movement. ~ Donald Tusk, #NFDB
1466:Money has too big an influence on our politics in Washington and somehow we need to do something about that. ~ James Hansen, #NFDB
1467:No more book recommendations, politics, or amusing dog pictures for the immediate future. I'm shutting down. ~ Stephen King, #NFDB
1468:One of the reasons I came into politics was because I thought I lacked the skills to be a social worker. ~ Margaret Beckett, #NFDB
1469:On Politics: When our people get to the point where they can do us some good, they stop being our people. ~ M Stanton Evans, #NFDB
1470:Politics is that rare sport where the amateur contest is actually more interesting than the professional. ~ Lawrence Lessig, #NFDB
1471:The fact that Hitler was a political genius unmasks the nature of politics in general as no other fact can. ~ Wilhelm Reich, #NFDB
1472:The only way I could be extradited is through the principle of what my lawyers call "politics trumps law." ~ Edward Snowden, #NFDB
1473:Tom Jr. was steeped in Free Soil politics and was now chief justice of the Kansas State Supreme Court. ~ Robert L O Connell, #NFDB
1474:Whatever I may believe in theology, I do not believe in the doctrine of vicarious atonement in politics. ~ James A Garfield, #NFDB
1475:When people communicate deceit, it's called politics. When people communicate honesty, it's called art. ~ Gerard de Marigny, #NFDB
1476:Whoever you are, or want to be, you may not be interested in politics, but politics is interested in you. ~ Marshall Berman, #NFDB
1477:Women's sport helps break down a lot of barriers for women in other areas, whether in religion or politics. ~ Clare Balding, #NFDB
1478:Decent people should ignore politics, if only they could be confident that politics would ignore them ~ William F Buckley Jr, #NFDB
1479:He's a two-faced, cutthroat, dirt-dumb, chicken shit, slimy, little bastard with a bright future in politics. ~ John Grisham, #NFDB
1480:I came into American politics and into this political system proud of politics and the way we make decisions. ~ Byron Dorgan, #NFDB
1481:I despise politics. There is no room for it in a company. My life is going to be way too short to deal with that. ~ Tim Cook, #NFDB
1482:If you don't like being attacked for your point of view, you shouldn't be in politics in the first place. ~ Andrew Breitbart, #NFDB
1483:I grew up with three brothers and no sisters. That's the best preparation for politics any girl can have. ~ Michele Bachmann, #NFDB
1484:In politics, every year in the White House is like dog years, it takes off seven years of your life. ~ George Stephanopoulos, #NFDB
1485:It was politics and religion, in van Dyck’s private view, that made men dangerous. Trade made them wise. ~ Edward Rutherfurd, #NFDB
1486:I've never noticed that being nonsensical keeps things from happening. Don't you ever read about politics? ~ Murray Leinster, #NFDB
1487:Just because you do not take an interest in politics...does not mean that politics won't take an interest in you. ~ Pericles, #NFDB
1488:Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together. ~ Edmund Burke, #NFDB
1489:Nobody, nobody, perhaps in the history of politics was worse to women or abused women more than Bill Clinton. ~ Donald Trump, #NFDB
1490:[On going into politics:] My husband went to bed with Debbie Reynolds and he woke up with Eleanor Roosevelt. ~ Barbara Boxer, #NFDB
1491:Religion, politics, sports, art, and technological innovation are the result of people’s immortality projects. ~ Mark Manson, #NFDB
1492:Silence is the language of faith. Action--be it church or charity, politics or poetry--is the translation. ~ Christian Wiman, #NFDB
1493:the influence of organised crime reaches into the economy, our politics and everyday life- dongri to dubai ~ S Hussain Zaidi, #NFDB
1494:Transparency is not about restoring trust in institutions. Transparency is the politics of managing mistrust. ~ Ivan Krastev, #NFDB
1495:You begin saving the world by saving one person at a time; all else is grandiose romanticism or politics. ~ Charles Bukowski, #NFDB
1496:After many, many years, I fell out of love with politics. It's not something I like but it's the truth. ~ Bernardo Bertolucci, #NFDB
1497:A man in his own secret meditation / Is lost amid the labyrinth that he has made / In art or politics. ~ William Butler Yeats, #NFDB
1498:A political reading of Shakespeare is bound to be less interesting than a Shakespearean reading of politics[.] ~ Harold Bloom, #NFDB
1499:Effective communication is built on the cement of trust. And trust is based on trustworthiness, not politics. ~ Stephen Covey, #NFDB
1500:Fear is the main factor in Arab politics... There is no Arab who is not harmed by Jews' entry into Palestine. ~ Moshe Sharett, #NFDB
95 Integral Yoga
31 Poetry
21 Philosophy
6 Occultism
5 Mysticism
4 Fiction
3 Psychology
3 Christianity
2 Philsophy
1 Science
1 Cybernetics
35 The Mother
35 Sri Aurobindo
34 Satprem
20 Walt Whitman
16 A B Purani
15 Nolini Kanta Gupta
7 Plato
6 Aldous Huxley
5 William Butler Yeats
5 Friedrich Nietzsche
5 Aleister Crowley
4 Nirodbaran
2 Ralph Waldo Emerson
2 Plotinus
2 Percy Bysshe Shelley
2 Jordan Peterson
2 H P Lovecraft
2 George Van Vrekhem
2 Carl Jung
20 Whitman - Poems
16 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
10 The Human Cycle
7 Agenda Vol 12
7 Agenda Vol 10
6 The Perennial Philosophy
6 Letters On Yoga II
6 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
5 Yeats - Poems
5 Twilight of the Idols
5 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
4 Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo
4 Magick Without Tears
4 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
3 Questions And Answers 1957-1958
3 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02
3 Agenda Vol 08
3 Agenda Vol 07
3 Agenda Vol 03
2 The Secret Doctrine
2 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
2 Shelley - Poems
2 Preparing for the Miraculous
2 Maps of Meaning
2 Lovecraft - Poems
2 Isha Upanishad
2 Emerson - Poems
2 Agenda Vol 09
2 Agenda Vol 06
2 Agenda Vol 02
000 - Humans in Universe, #Synergetics - Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking, #R Buckminster Fuller, #Science
follows that all Politics and warring are obsolete and invalid. We no longer need to
rationalize selfishness. No one need ever again "earn a living." Further living for all
--
success, thereby eliminating forevermore all world Politics and competition for the
right to live. The hydrogen atom does not have to compromise its function potential
0.03 - III - The Evening Sittings, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo was never a social man in the current sense of the term and definitely he was not a man of the crowd. This was due to his grave temperament, not to any feeling of superiority or to repulsion for men. At Baroda there was an Officers' Club which was patronised by the Maharajah and though Sri Aurobindo enrolled himself as a member he hardly went to the Club even on special occasions. He rather liked a small congenial circle of friends and spent most of his evenings with them whenever he was free and not occupied with his studies or other works. After Baroda when he went to Calcutta there was hardly any time in the storm and stress of revolutionary Politics to permit him to lead a 'social life'. What little time he could spare from his incessant activities was spent in the house of Raja Subodh Mallick or at the Grey Street house. In the Karmayogin office he used to sit after the office hours till late chatting with a few persons or trying automatic writing. Strange dictations used to be received sometimes: one of them was the following: "Moni [Suresh Chakravarty] will bomb Sir Edward Grey when he will come as the Viceroy of India." In later years at Pondicherry there used to be a joke that Sir Edward took such a fright at the prospect of Moni's bombing him that he never came to India!
After Sri Aurobindo had come to Pondicherry from Chandernagore, he entered upon an intense period of Sadhana and for a few months he refused to receive anyone. After a time he used to sit down to talk in the evening and on some days tried automatic writing. Yogic Sadhan, a small book, was the result. In 1913 Sri Aurobindo moved to Rue Franois Martin No. 41 where he used to receive visitors at fixed times. This was generally in the morning between 9 and 10.30.
0.10 - Letters to a Young Captain, #Some Answers From The Mother, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
If it is from the political point of view, Politics is steeped in
falsehood, and I am not interested in it.
0 1961-04-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The following is the exact text referred to, an extract from one of Sri Aurobindo's letters: 'I don't believe in advertisement except for books etc., and in propaganda except for Politics and patent medicines. But for serious work it is a poison. It means either a stunt or a boom and stunts and booms exhaust the thing they carry on their crest and leave it lifeless and broken high and dry on the shores of nowhereor it means a movement. A movement in the case of a work like mine means the founding of a school or a sect or some other damned nonsense. It means that hundreds or thousands of useless people join in and corrupt the work or reduce it to a pompous farce from which the Truth that was coming down recedes into secrecy and silence. It is what has happened to the "religions" and is the reason of their failure....'
2.10.1934
0 1961-11-05, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
As a matter of fact, the books he wrote (especially the first one, The Living Ether) were based on my knowledge; he put my knowledge into French and beautiful French, I must say! I would tell him my experiences and he would write them down. Later he wrote The Gods (it was incomplete, one-sided). Then he became a lawyer and entered Politics (he was a first-class orator and fired his audiences with enthusiasm) and was sent to Pondicherry to help a certain candidate who couldnt manage his election campaign single-handed. And since Richard was interested in occultism and spirituality, he took this opportunity to seek a Master, a yogi. When he arrived, instead of involving himself in Politics, the first thing he did was announce, I am seeking a yogi. Someone said to him, Youre incredibly lucky! The yogi has just arrived. It was Sri Aurobindo, who was told, Theres a Frenchman asking to see you. Sri Aurobindo wasnt particularly pleased but he found the coincidence rather interesting and received him. This was in 1910.
When Richard had finished his work, he returned to France with a poor photograph of Sri Aurobindo and a completely superficial impression of him, yet with the feeling that Sri Aurobindo KNEW (he hadnt at all understood the man that Sri Aurobindo was, he hadnt felt the presence of an Avatar, but he had sensed that he had knowledge). Moreover, I think he always held this opinion, because he used to say that Sri Aurobindo was a unique intellectual giant without many spiritual realizations! (The same type of stupidity as Romain Rollands.) Well, my relationship with Richard was on an occult plane, you see, and its difficult to touch upon. What happened was far more exciting than any novel imaginable.
0 1962-06-12, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
No, I dont believe he thought you were insulting him or whatever I think its all Politics, mon petit!
When Z first spoke to him, you know, he didnt deny anything; all he said was, Oh, lets not pay any heed to these worldly things. And then he talked about Zs arm, which he wanted to heal. The second time, he denied one par the denied he had spoken of my health, when actually. The third time. You follow, the more it became necessary to take a clear stand, the more he denied, simply saying, No, I never said that.
0 1962-07-21, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
You may say, what need is there of a Samgha? Let me be free and live in every vessel; let all become one without form and let whatever must be happen in the midst of that vast formlessness. There is a truth there, but only one side of the truth. Our business is not with the formless Spirit alone; we have also to direct the movement of life. And there can be no effective movement of life without form. It is the Formless that has taken form and that assumption of name and form is not a caprice of Maya. Form is there because it is indispensable. We do not want to rule out any activity of the world as beyond our province. Politics, industry, society, poetry, literature, art will all remain, but we must give them a new soul and a new form.
Why have I left Politics? Because the Politics of the country is not a genuine thing belonging to India. It is an importation from Europe and an imitation. At one time there was a need of it. We also have done Politics of the European kind. If we had not done it, the country would not have risen and we too would not have gained experience and attained full development. There is still some need of it, not so much in Bengal as in the other provinces of India. But the time has come to stop the shadow from extending and to seize on the reality. We must get to the true soul of India and in its image fashion all works.
People now talk of spiritualizing Politics. Its result will be, if there be any permanent result, some kind of Indianized Bolshevism. Even to that kind of work I have no objection. Let each man do according to his inspiration. But that is not the real thing. If one pours the spiritual power into all these impure forms the water of the Causal ocean into raw vesselsei ther the raw vessels will break and the water will be spilt and lost or the spiritual power will evaporate and only the impure form remain. In all fields it is the same. I can give the spiritual power but that power will be expended in making the image of an ape and setting it up in the temple of Shiva. If the ape is endowed with life and made powerful, he may play the part of the devotee Hanuman and do much work for Rama,2 so long as that life and that power remain. But what we want in the Temple of India is not Hanuman, but the god, the avatar, Rama himself.
We can mix with all, but in order to draw all into the true path, keeping intact the spirit and form of our ideal. If we do not do that we shall lose our direction and the real work will not be done. If we remain individually everywhere, something will be done indeed; but if we remain everywhere as parts of a Samgha, a hundred times more will be done. As yet that time has not come. If we try to give a form hastily, it may not be the exact thing we want. The Samgha will at first be in unconcentrated form. Those who have the ideal will be united but work in different places. Afterwards, they will form something like a spiritual commune and make a compact Samgha. They will then give all their work a shape according to the demand of the spirit and the need of the agenot a bound and rigid form, not an achalayatana3, but a free form which will spread out like the sea, mould itself into many waves and surround a thing here, overflood a thing there and finally take all into itself. As we go on doing this there will be established a spiritual community. This is my present idea. As yet it has not been fully developed. All is in Gods hands; whatever He makes us do, that we shall do.
--
You say that what is needed is maddening enthusiasm, to fill the country with emotional excitement. In the time of the Swadeshi [fight for independence, boycott of English goods] we did all that in the field of Politics, but what we did is all now in the dust. Will there be a more favorable result in the spiritual field? I do not say there has been no result. There has been. Any movement will produce some result, but for the most part in terms of an increase of possibility. This is not the right method, however, to steadily actualize the thing. Therefore I no longer wish to make emotional excitement or any intoxication of the mind the base. I wish to make a large and strong equanimity the foundation of the yoga. I want established on that equality a full, firm and undisturbed Shakti in the system and in all its movements. I want the wide display of the light of Knowledge in the ocean of Shakti. And I want in that luminous vastness the tranquil ecstasy of infinite Love, Delight and Oneness. I do not want hundreds of thousands of disciples. It will be enough if I can get a hundred complete men, purified of petty egoism, who will be the instruments of God. I have no faith in the customary trade of the guru. I do not wish to be a guru. If anybody wakes and manifests from within his slumbering godhead and gets the divine lifebe it at my touch or at anothersthis is what I want. It is such men that will raise the country.
You must not think from all this lecture that I despair of the future of Bengal. I too hope, as they say, that this time a great light will manifest itself in Bengal. Still I have tried to show the other side of the shield, where the fault is, the error, the deficiency. If these remain, the light will not be a great light and it will not be permanent.
0 1962-11-17, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Dont keep this. I dont want to keep political memories. I havent said anything about the world situation for a long time, because I dont want people to know (its not that I dont know, but I dont want it known). If I ever get involved in Politicsif things take a positive turn, that is I will start saying what I know in 1967. But not before.
Prior to that: complete silence. I say nothing. I try to act, thats all.7
0 1964-08-14, #Agenda Vol 05, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(After a long silence) Its a subject I dont talk about, first because its understood that we do not concern ourselves with Politics; I made the decision not to concern myself with Politics until WE do it, that is, until we are in power. But in spite of this, since the day of liberation (already seventeen years ago to the dayseventeen years!), I have ceaselessly repeated, These people are going to ruin the country. They have neither consciousness nor knowledge nor will, and they are going to ruin the country. Every time, whenever they made a blunder, I repeated the same thing.
Now the country is ruined.
--
I think its the result of having been under the domination of another country for such a long time. People lost interest in Politics (people of value, those who werent after personal gains). I think thats why.
Because I feel very clearly that if one man with a bit of sincerity arose, it would be enough
0 1965-06-23, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
where men and women of all countries will be able to live in peace and progressive harmony above all creed, all Politics and all nationalities, straining to realize human unity.
It was only three years later, in February, 1968, that Auroville would be founded.
0 1965-10-27, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I arrived where I always go to find him, in the subtle physical, last night around 2: 30, and what a crowd there was! Thousands of people. When I arrived there, before going in I met someone, who must have been one of the former politicians, from the time of the revolution, when Sri Aurobindo was involved in Politics; he is dead, naturally, but he was there and he told me (he was quite jubilant), he told me (in English), Sri Aurobindo has come out of meditation, he has started playing! And there was indeed a feeling that everyone was playing, playing. I crossed the courtyard (I even crossed a room where some people were still in meditation, and they looked surprised to see me come in like that, I told them, Dont worry, I dont want to disturb you!), then I found Sri Aurobindo, who was playingvery young and strong and amused and joyful, and he was playing. He was playing with something that cannot be described, and he was playing and playing. And then, the same gentleman whom I had seen at the entrance came and told me in my ear, He has played with that a lot it is worn-out, its a bit damaged, a bit worn-out. So I drew near, and Sri Aurobindo, who had heard, told me, Yes, it is worn-out, take it and bring me another. And he handed it to me I cant describe it, it didnt look like anything, it was something there was something black moving inside something and it did look a little broken down. So I left, I went back downstairs; and the symbol of the physical body was a pair of shoes I put my shoes on again and left.
There were lots of details; it began after two-thirty, and it lasted till about four-thirty.
0 1966-06-15, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Maybe what you want to write is very human? I mean, very much in the human consciousness: the human reactions, human perceptions. Because if thats the case I find it so useless, futile, uninteresting, absurd, and, ninety-nine times out of a hundred, untrue, false. So then, maybe I am responsible! I find it sickening, you know, now that there is that sort of sweetness a sweetness Its not drowsy, it has nothing to do with inertia; its a sort of (same gesture of a pendulum), its like letting oneself flow along, but on a luminous stream. So, ever since this has been there, all human stories, all their stories in all fields, from Politics to artistic creation and all that, oh, I find it terribly futile and so ridiculously agitated.
My idea (if I have one), and what makes me persist in writing, is that all that I have said in an intellectual way, which appeals to peoples intellectual consciousness, Id like to say it in a deeper way, which is a rhythm (people call it poetry, but as for me I dont understand a thing about poetry). What Id like is to express an inner rhythm, to touch another layer of the being, deeper than those things of the intellect. The Adventure of Consciousness appeals to peoples intellectual consciousness, its to make them understand. But what Id like is to touch something else. To say the same thing with an inner rhythm images.
0 1966-09-21, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I am not saying anything officially; because I have said and always repeat that Politics is in complete Falsehood, based on Falsehood, and I am not dealing with it, meaning that I am not in Politics, I dont want to be but that doesnt stop me from seeing clearly! People have come and asked me (from every side, by the way) for my opinion, view or advice; I said, No, I dont deal in Politics. You see, all diplomacy is absolutely based on a DELIBERATE Falsehood. As long as it is like that, theres no hope: the inspirations will always come from the wrong side; inspirations, impulsions, ideas, everything will always come from the wrong sidewhich means the inescapable blunder, for everyone. A few rare individuals feel that and are aware of it, and they are half desperate because nobody listens to them.
Unfortunately, following the present tendencies, for Auroville they are trying to get UNESCOS support (!) I, of course, knew beforeh and that those [UNESCO] people couldnt understand, but they are trying. Because everywhere people (its a sort of superstition), everywhere people say, No, Ill open my purse strings only with UNESCOs approval and encouragement I am talking about those whose contri bution matters, lots of people, so
0 1966-11-30, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
There is clearly a great movement. Yesterday again I saw a man who was governor of Madras for a while. He came here (he was passing through Pondicherry but wanted to stop here), and the man asked me, Is there a solution? And he added, We are all praying that you may give it. I answered (Mother smiles) that I had nothing to do with Politics. But he represents a whole category of people in India who now think that there is indeed only one solution, which is precisely an attempt to realize a higher life.
There is a great movement.
0 1967-05-30, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
A time may come when well have to tell Sri Aurobindos vision and how the world has evolved since he spoke about it (that would be very interesting). For that wed have to find again everything he said on the different subjects. From the religious point of view, I have been thinking about it for a long time. Those are the two things that cant be touched without instantly arousing human passions, and there, peoples vision is quite narrow, limited, so that they no longer understand anything. Politics and religion, it would be better to wait a little. In ten years, perhaps. It could be, things are going fast. In ten years, maybe well be able to see and say a little something. In any case, its better to put this letter aside. (Laughing) Its not the time to fling stones at them!
***
0 1967-06-07, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
(Mother laughs) But hes not willing! He doesnt want to touch Politics. Oh, in his field, he is strong indeed! (Mother laughs) But he isnt a politician.
(long silence)
0 1967-08-02, #Agenda Vol 08, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
All present Politics is based on falsehood, and no nation can entirely escape this falsehood.
De Gaulle has an embryo of inner life, he knows that there is a force higher than the physical and mental forcesand that is why he is more receptive than many others.
0 1968-05-02, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Oh, yes, its nothing but Politics.
Because hes much too passionate for the job.
0 1968-07-03, #Agenda Vol 09, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The government (I dont know who) has asked the chief of the Radio here to ask me for a message on Indias condition. At first I answered, I dont deal with Politics. Then he told me, No, its not from a political but from a spiritual standpoint. I said, I dont know. But he insisted, he told me, Ive been asked by the government; if I cant give it to them, Ill be in trouble. The poor man knew how to get round me! (Mother laughs)
See, heres his letter (Satprem reads): I pray the Mother to record a message for my radio on integration and unity of India.
0 1969-03-12, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
These last few days, there were elections here1 (an awful mess), and I was put in contact with all that. (I should say that the Lieutenant Governor here has very great trust in me, and before it started he came here to get the forcethings arent going too well, anyway theyre rather chaotic, but he said, Oh, Mother is here, which means he feels he is being supported.) So, through him, I was put in contact with all that. And there was a whole series of very interesting experiences. There was a very acute sense of all the conventional in political parties, because under a single political flag there are the most opposite opinions, each one in the name of the same principle! So it became so clear, so clear! Generally I wasnt interested, because I always felt histrionics there, but I was put in contact because of the Governor (wordlessly: he didnt tell me anything, but because of him I wordlessly made contact with the atmosphere), and then I saw to what extent its really an illusiona complete illusion; Politics is something in the name of the same principle, people do absolutely opposite things! In the name of the same political principle. Everyone is anxious that HIS party should have the upper hand and it appeared to me that it didnt matter in the least! It was only peoples quality of receptivity that mattered, and also their level of consciousness. As far as the party was concernedanything.
It was a rather interesting study, which was made under the auspices of this new consciousness, and so in quite a general way, and very clearly, very clearly And with the sense of a GREAT power. This Consciousness contains a GREAT power. Especially a psychological power, that is, an immunity to any reaction from outside. Thats interesting. All anxiety, fear, desire, covetousness, all that was a whole world which I had always deliberately kept at arms length because it didnt interest me, but from this new angle some work can be done.
0 1969-04-19, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Thats how it is. The previous days I had seen all kinds of catastrophic things. (I didnt know what the situation was.) When I was told, I instantly knew: I saw the Chinese HERE. Yes. It stirred me a lot, a lot. And with HORRIBLE things, horrible. So I had to send someone immediately to tell her, For heavens sake, support the army. Its Indias only hope. The army is good, but its not supported. But that shouldnt be told, because I am not supposed to concern myself with Politics, so
But it seems that in three States the Communists WANT the Chinese to come. Thats dreadful. The Chinese, mon petit, you cant imagine what it is. Horrible! Theyre horrible. With a cold, terrible cruelty.
0 1969-05-07, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And its taken it into its head to compel me to concern myself with Politics, and that bothers me. But if the time has come
I have the impression that just as it has tried, not exactly to dissolve religions, but to get inside them and remove barriers, its taken it into its head to do the same thing with Politics (if I may say so). It seems to be working to create, not a disharmony, but a sort of to take away cohesion among people: cohesion among parties, cohesion among religions. As though this Consciousness were doing that.
Its odd.
--
And also I am compelled to intervene (not outwardly, but inwardly) in the actions of people involved in Politics.
Well see.
0 1969-05-10, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Politics?
No.
Politics, yes, it has shoved me right into it! I have been asked to choose the President [of India] who will replace the one who has just died!1 And the best part of the story is that this Consciousness immediately suggests what needs to be done. Well see.
But regarding money, it doesnt tell me what it replaces it with. You see, it wants money to be a circulating force. Thats perfectly true, but
0 1969-07-19, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Anyway, I was in no condition to see anyone. Thats troublesome. Its about their Politicshere [in Pondicherry], its some nasty business, but in Delhi, its about their president.2 Anyway, I think they have found someone. Theres Deshmukh (it seems his name has been proposed), and I said, Very good. Yes, this Deshmukh is a very fine manif he agrees. I didnt think he would accept, but it seems his name is there.3 But all that Well, all that is to tell you why I didnt see you on Wednesday.
But who did mischief?
0 1969-08-16, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
And if one didnt do that! From every side it comes like that (gesture of waves of onslaught). Now they want to force me into Politics and its an unspeakable mud pit! Ive never seen it as I now do, because now I SEE: I see people, things, reactions, what goes on. Its so disgusting! Sri Aurobindo had always told me, We must keep out of Politics, and I kept out of it.
From every side theyre asking me for blessings and I give blessings to everyone!1 (Mother laughs) But I warn them, I tell them, blessings TO DO THE WORK. Each of them is asking for himself to be victorious, but that doesnt budge. All that Ive done (because I have been dragged into it) is to ask for what happens to be the best for the countrys futureit has already had enough difficulties! I mean, there were two centuries of servitude under the British: that has left them com-plete-ly rotten. So its enough. They would need to pull through. Oh unimaginable, its unimaginable. The chief of the police here says, I cant intervene anymore, because now Ill be told that democratic rights allow you to do anything. If people enter your house (he says this personally), if rebellious servants enter your house and I intervene, Ill be reprimanded, Ill be told, You have interfered in their democratic rights.They have a democratic right to invade a house! Thats what theyve turned ideas into! Which means were in complete madness.
0 1969-08-23, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
But I must say that from the standpoint of action (not even merely material action, because I have almost no material action left, so to say), but of invisible action, with this Consciousness I have learned a LOT, quite a lot. It has our means are very childish, and, you know, it has such a wonderful sense of humor, a way of making people face their stupidity, which is really really charming. And I see it constantly, all the time, for very small things, for big things, for a countrys Politics or the organization of a houseall the same thing. And with a delightful irony and so benevolent: no sense of reprobation, no The idea of evil and sin and all thatprrrt! all gone.
Its only the pressure of the Consciousness on the inconscientand then, in people, the measure of the resistance or of the receptivity. its like that. In some people (and not always the apparently bad ones), theres such resistance! Its like like iron. While others
0 1970-08-01, #Agenda Vol 11, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
They must be pulled out of Politics.
Sri Aurobindo said in black and white what they should do.
0 1971-01-30, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
I dont believe in advertisement except for books etc., and in propaganda except for Politics and patent medicines. But for serious work it is a poison. It means either a stunt or a boom and stunts and booms exhaust the thing they carry on their chest and leave it lifeless and broken high and dry on the shores of nowhereor it means a movement. A movement in the case of a work like mine means the founding of a school or a sect or some other damned nonsense. It means that hundreds or thousands of useless people join in and corrupt the work or reduce it to a pompous farce from which the Truth that was coming down recedes into secrecy or silence. It is what has happened to the religions and is the reason of their failure.
October 2, 1934
0 1971-03-03, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
All this, everything that concerns Politics and countries cannot be published. Its to be kept. Because officially I dont do Politics.
Yes, of course, Mother.
0 1971-05-12, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
All that is the continuation of Gandhis legacythis false Politics is being perpetrated by Gandhis sons.
No, you see you see, theyre even fighting on the wrong side in Ceylon.
0 1971-07-17, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yes, one has the impression that America is doing the Politics of the adverse forces. Youd say theyre working for the adverse forces.
(silence)
0 1971-10-20, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Because I know this very well, I am content to work still on the spiritual and psychic plane, preparing there the ideas and forces, which may afterwards at the right moment and under the right conditions precipitate themselves into the vital and material field, and I have been careful not to make any public pronouncement as that might prejudice my possibilities of future action. What that will be will depend on developments. The present trend of Politics may end in abortive unrest, but it may also stumble with the aid of external circumstances into some kind of simulacrum of self-government. In either case the whole real work will remain to be done. I wish to keep myself free for it in either case.
Aurobindo
0 1971-11-24, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Yes, I have seen it, but I dont think it can be published in its present form as it prolongs the political Aurobindo of that time into the Sri Aurobindo of the present time. You even assert that I have thoroughly revised the book and these articles are an index of my latest views on the burning problems of the day and there has been no change in my views in 27 years (which would surely be proof of a rather unprogressive mind). How do you get all that? My spiritual consciousness and knowledge at that time was as nothing to what it is nowhow would the change leave my view of Politics and life unmodified altogether?
21 April 1937
0 1971-12-04, #Agenda Vol 12, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
In the Bulletin? But weve never spoken of Politics in the Bulletin.
But this isnt Politics. Its the world situation!
(Mother laughs) Youd say it was written now.
02.04 - The Right of Absolute Freedom, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A nation cannot claim the right, even in the name of freedom, to do as it pleases. An individual has not that right, the nation too has not. A nation is a member of humanity, there are other members and there is the common welfare of all. A nation by choosing a particular line of action, in asserting its absolute freedom, may go against other nations, or against the general good. Such freedom has to be curbed and controlled. Collective lifeif one does not propose to live the life of the solitary the animal or the saintis nothing if not such a system of controls. "The whole of Politics is an interference with personal liberty. Law is such an interference; protection is such an interference; the rule which makes the will of the majority prevail is such an interference. The right to prevent such use of personal liberty as will injure the interests of the race is the fundamental law of society. From this point of view the nation is only using its primary rights when it restrains the individual from buying or selling foreign goods." Thus spoke a great Nationalist leader in the days of Boycott and Swadeshi. What is said here of the individual can be said of the nation too in relation to the greater good of humanity. The ideal of a nation or state supreme all by itself, with rights that none can challenge, inevitably leads to the cult of the Super-state, the Master-race. If such a monster is not to be tolerated, the only way left is to limit the absolute value of nationhood, to view a nation only as a member in a comity of nations forming the humanity at large.
A nation not free, still in bondage, cannot likewise justify its claim to absolute freedom by all or any means, at all times, in all circumstances. There are times and circumstances when even an enslaved nation has to bide its time. Man, in order to assert his freedom and individuality, cannot sign a pact with Mephistopheles; if he does so he must be prepared for the consequences. The same truth holds with regard to the nation. A greater danger may attend a nation than the loss of freedom the life and soul of humanity itself may be in imminent peril. Such a cataclysmic danger mankind has just passed through or is still passing through. All nations, however circumstanced in the old world, who have stood and fought on the side of humanity, by that very gesture, have acquired the rightand the might too,to gain freedom and greatness and all good things which would not be possible otherwise.
02.05 - Federated Humanity, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The last great war, out of its bloody welter, threw up a mantra for the human consciousness to contemplate and seize and realise: it was self-determination. The present world-war has likewise cast up a mantra that is complementary. The problem of the unification of the whole human race has engaged the attention of seers and sages, idealists and men of action, since time immemorial; but only recently its demand has become categorically imperative for a solution in the field of practical Politics. Viewed from another angle, one can say that it is also a problem Nature has set before herself, has been dealing with through the ages, elaborating and leading to a final issue.
The original unit of the human aggregate is the family; it is like the original cell which lies at the back of the entire system that is called the human body or, for that matter, any organic body. A living and stable nucleus is needed round which a crystallisation and growth can occur. The family furnished such a nucleus in the early epochs of humanity. But with the growth of human life there came a time when, for a better and more efficient organization in collective life, larger units were needed. The original unit had to be enlarged in order to meet the demands of a wider and more complex growth. Also it is to be noted that the living body is not merely a conglomeration of cells, all more or less equal and autonomous something like a democratic or an anarchic organization; but it consists of a grouping of such cells in spheres or regions or systems according to differing functions. And as we rise in the scale of evolution the grouping becomes more and more complex, well-defined and hierarchical. Human collectivity also shows a similar development in organization. The original, the primitive unit the familywas first taken up into a larger unit, the clan; the clan, in its turn, gave place to the tribe and finally the tribe merged into the nation. A similar widening of the unit can also be noticed in man's habitat, in his geographical environment. The primitive man was confined to the village; the village gradually grew into the township and the city state. Then came the regional unit and last of all we arrived at the country.
02.11 - New World-Conditions, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
It is a trite saying that one must change with the changing times. But how many can really do so or know even how to do so? In Politics, as in life generally ( Politics is a part of life, the "precipitated" part, one may say in chemical language), the principle is well-known, though often in a pejorative sense, as policy or tactics. Anyhow the policy pays: for it is one of the main lines, if not the main line of action along which lies success in the practical field. And precisely he who cannot change, who does not see the necessity of change, although conditions and circumstances have changed, is known as the ideologist, the doctrinaire, the fanatic. The no-changer does not change with the times: for, according to him, that is the nature of the weather-cock, the time-server. On the contrary, he seeks to impose his ideas (sometimes called ideals), notions, prejudgments and even prejudices upon time and circumstance. Such an endeavour, on most occasions, can have only a modicum of success; and a blind insistence may even lead to disaster. It may not be difficult to modify some surface movements of the oceanic surge of life, but to control and comm and it is quite a different proposition. This, however, is not to say that opportunism, slavery to circumstances should be the order of the day. Not at all. One is not asked to sacrifice the bed-rock truth and principle and run after the fleeting mode, the momentary need, the passing interest, to follow always the comfortable line of least resistance. But one has to distinguish. There are things of local and transient utility and there are things of abiding value brought up by deeper world-currents in the conditions and circumstances that face us. When such great occasionsgolden opportunities they are calledcome, they come with their own norms, and then it is foolish to force upon them the narrow strait-jacket forms fabricated by our old habits and preconceived notions.
We talk even today of British Imperialism, of the Shylock nature of the white coloniser and exploiter
--
The geographical revolution has led inevitably to the economic revolution which is not less momentous, pregnant with prophecies of brave new things. We all know that the modern world was ushered in with the industrial revolution. As a result of this new dispensation, world and society gradually divided into two camps: on one side, the industrialists and on the other the agriculturists, or, in a general way, the possessors of raw materials. The Imperialists formed the first group, while the latter, dominated by these, belonged to the Colonies. The "backward" countries and people who could not take to industry, but continued the old system became a helpless prey to the industrial nations. Africa and Asia and the South American countries came under the domination of European nations, rather the West European Nations: they became the suppliers of raw materials and also the market for finished products. Also within the same country occupying the imperial status, there came a division, a class division, as it is called. A few industrial magnates or trusts (France had its famous Two-Hundred Families) monopolised all the wealth, became the top-dog, the "Haves", the others were mere hewers of wood and drawers of water, serfs and slaves, the "Have-Nots". Exploitation was-the motto of the age. The "exploiters" and the "exploited", this trenchant duality was the whole truth of the social scheme and that summed up the entire malady of the collective life. Then came the First World War and the Bolshevik Revolution which brought to a head the great crisis and initiated the change-over to new conditions. The French Revolution called up from the rear of social ranks and set in front the Third Estate and gradually formed and crystallised, with the aid of the Industrial Revolution, what is known as the Bourgeoisie. The Russian Revolution went a step farther. It dislodged the bourgeoisie and installed the Fourth Estate, the proletariate, as the head and front of society, its centre of power and governmental authority. In the meantime there was developing in the bourgeois society, too, a kind of socialism which aimed at the uplift and remoulding of the working class into a total social power. But the process could not, go far enough. The Industrial League, no doubt, began to release some of its monopolies, delegate some of its power and authority to the Proletariate and sought an armistice and entente; but still it is they who wielded the real power and gave to society the tone and impress of their characteristic authority. The Russian experiment made a bold departure and attempted to build up a new society from the very bottom: the manual labourers, they who produce with the sweat of their brow and make a society living and prosperous must also be its rulers. Now whatever the success or failure in regard to the perfect ideal, the thing achieved is solid; certain forces have been released that are working inexorably in and through even contrary appearances, they have come to stay and cannot be negatived. The urge, for example, towards a more equitable distribution of wealth and wealth-producing implements; an even balancing of economic values has been growing and gathering strength: it has become an asset of the body social. Instead of an unfettered competition between rival agencies, the mad drive for a jealous and closely guarded appropriation (rather, mis-appropriation) by private cartels, there has arisen an inevitable need for a unitary or co-operative control under a common direction, whether it be that of the state or some other body equally representing the common interest. In other words, the principle of co-operation has now become a living reality, a thing of practical Politics. All effort towards progress and amelioration, cure of social ills and regaining of health and strength must lie in that direction: anything going the contrary way shall perforce be out of tune with the Time-Spirit and can cause only confusion, bring in stagnation or even regression.
First of all, the colonies, which mean practically the Eastern hemisphere, can no longer be regarded, even by those who would very much wish to, as the field of exploitation, the granary of raw materials or the dumping ground of finished articles. Industrialism, the spirit and urge of it at least, has reached these places too: the exploiters themselves have been instrumental In bringing it about. The growing industrialism in countries so long held in subjection or tutelage, as safe preserves, need not necessarily mean a further spell of keen competition. If we look closely, we see things moving in a different direction. It is self-evident that all countries do not and cannot grow or manufacture all things with equal ease and facility. Countries are naturally complementary or supplementary to each other with regard to their raw produce or industrial manufacture. And an inevitable give and take, mutual understanding and help must follow such an alignment of economic forces.
03.05 - The Spiritual Genius of India, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
There was no department of life or culture in which it could be said of India that she was not great, or even, in a way, supreme. From hard practical Politics touching our earth, to the nebulous regions of abstract metaphysics, everywhere India expressed the power of her genius equally well. And yet none of these, neither severally nor collectively, constituted her specific genius; none showed the full height to which she could raise herself, none compassed the veritable amplitude of her innermost reality. It is when we come to the domain of the Spirit, of God-realisation that we find the real nature and stature and genius of the Indian people; it is here that India lives and moves as in her own home of Truth. The greatest and the most popular names in Indian history are not names of warriors or statesmen, nor of poets who were only poets, nor of mere intellectual philosophers, however great they might be, but of Rishis, who saw and lived the Truth and communed with the gods, of Avataras who brought down and incarnated here below something of the supreme realities beyond.
The most significant fact in the history of India is the unbroken continuity of the line of her spiritual masters who never ceased to appear even in the midst of her most dark and distressing ages. Even in a decadent and fast disintegrating India, when the whole of her external life was a mass of ruins, when her political and economical and even her cultural life was brought to stagnation and very near to decomposition, this undying Fire in her secret heart was ever alight and called in the inevitable rebirth and rejuvenation. Ramakrishna, with Vivekananda as his emanation in life dynamic and material, symbolises this great secret of India's evolution. The promise that the Divine held out in the Gita to Bharata's descendant finds a ready fulfilment in India, in Bharata's land, more perhaps than anywhere else in the world; for in India has the. Divine taken birth over and over again to save the pure in heart, to destroy the evil-doer and to establish the Right Law of life.
03.05 - The World is One, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
We badly needed a United Nations Organisation, but we are facing the utmost possible disunity. The lesson is that Politics alone will not save us, nor even economics. The word has gone forth: what is required is a change of heart. The leaders of humanity must have a new heart grafted in place of the old. That is the surgical operation imperative at the moment. That heart will declare in its beats that the cosmos is not atomic but one and indivisible,ekam sat, neha nnsti kicana.
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03.06 - The Pact and its Sanction, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The leaders overhead should be actuated by the truth of the soul (indeed for that they should have first a soul). A mainly political deal covers up the fissure, an apparent solution or easing of the situation hides a festering sore. We should have understood by now, it has been the bitter lesson of the epoch comprising the last two great wars that mere Politics does not save, on the contrary, it leads you into a greater and greater mess. And still if governments have not learnt the lesson, if they follow the old system of real-politick, well, we can say only God save us, for we are heading straight over the precipicea final crash or a terrible revolution.
The Pact has to be implemented not only at the top but equally at the bottom. Here the matter seems somewhat easier. For in reality the common people have no interest in quarrels, they would prefer to live and let live peacefully; the burden of daily life is sufficient for them and they are not normally inclined to be busy about things that would disturb their routine work. Difference in religion or caste or creed is not such a serious matter with them. They tolerate and accommodate themselves to any variety easily and if there is a clash on an occasion, they forget it soon, and live amicably together as before. That has been the life in the villages for millennia. And if there is a formal Pact on the upper levels, it is what is normal and natural to the common mass.
03.08 - The Democracy of Tomorrow, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The great mantra of individual liberty, in the social and political domain, was given by Rousseau in that famous opening line of his famous book,The Social Contract, almost the Bible of an age; Man is born free. And the first considerable mass rising seeking to vindicate and realise that ideal came with the toxin of the mighty French Revolution. It was really an awakening or rebirth of the individual that was the true source and sense of that miraculous movement. It meant the advent of democracy in Politics and romanticism in art. The century that followed was a period of great experiment: for the central theme of that experiment was the search for the individual. In honouring the individual and giving it full and free scope the movement went far and even too far: liberty threatened to lead towards licence, democracy towards anarchy and disintegration; the final consequence of romanticism was surrealism, the deification of individual reason culminated in solipsism or ego-centricism. Naturally there came a reaction and we are in this century, still, on the high tide of this movement of reaction. Totalitarianism in one form or another continues to be the watchword and although neither Hitler nor Mussolini is there, a very living ghost of theirs stalks the human stage. The liberty of the individual, it is said and is found to be so by experience, is another name of the individual's erraticism and can produce only division and mutual clash and strife, and, in the end, social disintegration. A strong centralised power is necessary to hold together the warring elements of a group. Indeed, it is asserted, the group is the true reality and to maintain it and make it great the component individuals must be steamrollered into a compact mass. Evidently this is a poise that cannot stand long: the repressed individual rises in revolt and again we are on the move the other way round. Thus a never-ending see-saw, a cyclic recurrence of the same sequence of movements appears to be an inevitable law governing human society: it seems to have almost the absolutism of a law of Nature.1
In this connection we can recall Plato's famous serial of social types from aristocracy to tyranny, the last coming out of democracy the type that precedes it, (almost exactly as we have experienced it in our own days). But the most interesting point to which we can look with profit is Plato's view that the types are as men are, that is to say, the character and nature of man in a given period determines the kind of government or social system he is going to have. There has been this cyclic rotation of types, because men themselves were rotating types, because, in other words, the individuals composing human society had not found their true reality, their abiding status. Plato's aristocracy was the ideal society, it was composed of and ruled by the best of men (aristas, srestha) the wisest. And the question was put by many and not answered by Plato himself, what brought about the decline in a perfect system. We have attempted to give our answer.
1.00 - PREFACE - DESCENSUS AD INFERNOS, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology
offered the first two years of undergraduate education. I involved myself there in university Politics
which were more-or-less left wing at that time and was elected to the college board of governors. The
1.01 - THAT ARE THOU, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
In India, as in Persia, Mohammedan thought came to be enriched by the doctrine that God is immanent as well as transcendent, while to Mohammedan practice were added the moral disciplines and spiritual exercises, by means of which the soul is prepared for contemplation or the unitive knowledge of the Godhead. It is a significant historical fact that the poet-saint Kabir is claimed as a co-religionist both by Moslems and Hindus. The Politics of those whose goal is beyond time are always pacific; it is the idolaters of past and future, of reactionary memory and Utopian dream, who do the persecuting and make the wars.
Behold but One in all things; it is the second that leads you astray.
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More legitimate and more intrinsically plausible are the inferences that may be drawn from what we know about our own physiology and psychology. We know that human minds have proved themselves capable of everything from imbecility to Quantum Theory, from Mein Kampf and sadism to the sanctity of Philip Neri, from metaphysics to crossword puzzles, power Politics and the Missa Solemnis. We also know that human minds are in some way associated with human brains, and we have fairly good reasons for supposing that there have been no considerable changes in the size and conformation of human brains for a good many thousands of years. Consequently it seems justifiable to infer that human minds in the remote past were capable of as many and as various kinds and degrees of activity as are minds at the present time.
It is, however, certain that many activities undertaken by some minds at the present time were not, in the remote past, undertaken by any minds at all. For this there are several obvious reasons. Certain thoughts are practically unthinkable except in terms of an appropriate language and within the framework of an appropriate system of classification. Where these necessary instruments do not exist, the thoughts in question are not expressed and not even conceived. Nor is this all: the incentive to develop the instruments of certain kinds of thinking is not always present. For long periods of history and prehistory it would seem that men and women, though perfectly capable of doing so, did not wish to pay attention to problems, which their descendants found absorbingly interesting. For example, there is no reason to suppose that, between the thirteenth century and the twentieth, the human mind underwent any kind of evolutionary change, comparable to the change, let us say, in the physical structure of the horses foot during an incomparably longer span of geological time. What happened was that men turned their attention from certain aspects of reality to certain other aspects. The result, among other things, was the development of the natural sciences. Our perceptions and our understanding are directed, in large measure, by our will. We are aware of, and we think about, the things which, for one reason or another, we want to see and understand. Where theres a will there is always an intellectual way. The capacities of the human mind are almost indefinitely great. Whatever we will to do, whether it be to come to the unitive knowledge of the Godhead, or to manufacture self-propelled flame-throwers that we are able to do, provided always that the willing be sufficiently intense and sustained. It is clear that many of the things to which modern men have chosen to pay attention were ignored by their predecessors. Consequently the very means for thinking clearly and fruitfully about those things remained uninvented, not merely during prehistoric times, but even to the opening of the modern era.
1.01 - The Ideal of the Karmayogin, #Essays In Philosophy And Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The task we set before ourselves is not mechanical but moral and spiritual. We aim not at the alteration of a form of government but at the building up of a nation. Of that task Politics is a part, but only a part. We shall devote ourselves not to Politics alone, nor to social questions alone, nor to theology or philosophy or literature or science by themselves, but we include all these in one entity which we believe to be all-important, the dharma, the national religion which we also believe to be universal. There is a mighty law of life, a great principle of human evolution, a body of spiritual knowledge and experience of which India has always been destined to be guardian, exemplar and missionary. This is the sanatana dharma, the eternal religion. Under the stress of alien impacts she has largely lost hold not of the structure of that dharma, but of its living reality.
For the religion of India is nothing if it is not lived. It has to be applied not only to life, but to the whole of life; its spirit has to enter into and mould our society, our Politics, our literature, our science, our individual character, affections and aspirations.
To understand the heart of this dharma, to experience it as a truth, to feel the high emotions to which it rises and to express and execute it in life is what we understand by Karmayoga. We believe that it is to make the yoga the ideal of human life that
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We do not believe that our political salvation can be attained by enlargement of Councils, introduction of the elective principle, colonial self-government or any other formula of European Politics. We do not deny the use of some of these things as instruments, as weapons in a political struggle, but we deny their sufficiency whether as instruments or ideals and look beyond to an end which they do not serve except in a trifling degree. They might be sufficient if it were our ultimate destiny to be an outlying province of the British Empire or a dependent adjunct of European civilisation. That is a future which we do not think it worth making any sacrifice to accomplish.
We believe on the other hand that India is destined to work out her own independent life and civilisation, to stand in the forefront of the world and solve the political, social, economical and moral problems which Europe has failed to solve, yet the pursuit of whose solution and the feverish passage in that pursuit from experiment to experiment, from failure to failure she calls her progress. Our means must be as great as our ends and the strength to discover and use the means so as to attain the end can only be found by seeking the eternal source of strength in ourselves.
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We must know our past and recover it for the purposes of our future. Our business is to realise ourselves first and to mould everything to the law of India's eternal life and nature. It will therefore be the object of the Karmayogin to read the heart of our religion, our society, our philosophy, Politics, literature, art, jurisprudence, science, thought, everything that was and is ours, so that we may be able to say to ourselves and our nation, 'This is our dharma.' We shall review European civilisation entirely from the standpoint of Indian thought and knowledge and seek to throw off from us the dominating stamp of the Occident; what we have to take from the West we shall take as Indians.
And the dharma once discovered we shall strive our utmost not only to profess but to live, in our individual actions, in our social life, in our political endeavours."
1.02 - The Age of Individualism and Reason, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The individualistic age of Europe was in its beginning a revolt of reason, in its culmination a triumphal progress of physical Science. Such an evolution was historically inevitable. The dawn of individualism is always a questioning, a denial. The individual finds a religion imposed upon him which does not base its dogma and practice upon a living sense of ever verifiable spiritual Truth, but on the letter of an ancient book, the infallible dictum of a Pope, the tradition of a Church, the learned casuistry of schoolmen and Pundits, conclaves of ecclesiastics, heads of monastic orders, doctors of all sorts, all of them unquestionable tribunals whose sole function is to judge and pronounce, but none of whom seems to think it necessary or even allowable to search, test, prove, inquire, discover. He finds that, as is inevitable under such a regime, true science and knowledge are either banned, punished and persecuted or else rendered obsolete by the habit of blind reliance on fixed authorities; even what is true in old authorities is no longer of any value, because its words are learnedly or ignorantly repeated but its real sense is no longer lived except at most by a few. In Politics he finds everywhere divine rights, established privileges, sanctified tyrannies which are evidently armed with an oppressive power and justify themselves by long prescription, but seem to have no real claim or title to exist. In the social order he finds an equally stereotyped reign of convention, fixed disabilities, fixed privileges, the self-regarding arrogance of the high, the blind prostration of the low, while the old functions which might have justified at one time such a distribution of status are either not performed at all or badly performed without any sense of obligation and merely as a part of caste pride. He has to rise in revolt; on every claim of authority he has to turn the eye of a resolute inquisition; when he is told that this is the sacred truth of things or the comm and of God or the immemorial order of human life, he has to reply, But is it really so? How shall I know that this is the truth of things and not superstition and falsehood? When did God comm and it, or how do I know that this was the sense of His comm and and not your error or invention, or that the book on which you found yourself is His word at all, or that He has ever spoken His will to mankind? This immemorial order of which you speak, is it really immemorial, really a law of Nature or an imperfect result of Time and at present a most false convention? And of all you say, still I must ask, does it agree with the facts of the world, with my sense of right, with my judgment of truth, with my experience of reality? And if it does not, the revolting individual flings off the yoke, declares the truth as he sees it and in doing so strikes inevitably at the root of the religious, the social, the political, momentarily perhaps even the moral order of the community as it stands, because it stands upon the authority he discredits and the convention he destroys and not upon a living truth which can be successfully opposed to his own. The champions of the old order may be right when they seek to suppress him as a destructive agency perilous to social security, political order or religious tradition; but he stands there and can no other, because to destroy is his mission, to destroy falsehood and lay bare a new foundation of truth.
But by what individual faculty or standard shall the innovator find out his new foundation or establish his new measures? Evidently, it will depend upon the available enlightenment of the time and the possible forms of knowledge to which he has access. At first it was in religion a personal illumination supported in the West by a theological, in the East by a philosophical reasoning. In society and Politics it started with a crude primitive perception of natural right and justice which took its origin from the exasperation of suffering or from an awakened sense of general oppression, wrong, injustice and the indefensibility of the existing order when brought to any other test than that of privilege and established convention. The religious motive led at first; the social and political, moderating itself after the swift suppression of its first crude and vehement movements, took advantage of the upheaval of religious reformation, followed behind it as a useful ally and waited its time to assume the lead when the spiritual momentum had been spent and, perhaps by the very force of the secular influences it called to its aid, had missed its way. The movement of religious freedom in Europe took its stand first on a limited, then on an absolute right of the individual experience and illumined reason to determine the true sense of inspired Scripture and the true Christian ritual and order of the Church. The vehemence of its claim was measured by the vehemence of its revolt from the usurpations, pretensions and brutalities of the ecclesiastical power which claimed to withhold the Scripture from general knowledge and impose by moral authority and physical violence its own arbitrary interpretation of Sacred Writ, if not indeed another and substituted doctrine, on the recalcitrant individual conscience. In its more tepid and moderate forms the revolt engendered such compromises as the Episcopalian Churches, at a higher degree of fervour Calvinistic Puritanism, at white heat a riot of individual religious judgment and imagination in such sects as the Anabaptist, Independent, Socinian and countless others. In the East such a movement divorced from all political or any strongly iconoclastic social significance would have produced simply a series of religious reformers, illumined saints, new bodies of belief with their appropriate cultural and social practice; in the West atheism and secularism were its inevitable and predestined goal. At first questioning the conventional forms of religion, the mediation of the priesthood between God and the soul and the substitution of Papal authority for the authority of the Scripture, it could not fail to go forward and question the Scripture itself and then all supernaturalism, religious belief or suprarational truth no less than outward creed and institute.
For, eventually, the evolution of Europe was determined less by the Reformation than by the Renascence; it flowered by the vigorous return of the ancient Graeco-Roman mentality of the one rather than by the Hebraic and religio-ethical temperament of the other. The Renascence gave back to Europe on one hand the free curiosity of the Greek mind, its eager search for first principles and rational laws, its delighted intellectual scrutiny of the facts of life by the force of direct observation and individual reasoning, on the other the Romans large practicality and his sense for the ordering of life in harmony with a robust utility and the just principles of things. But both these tendencies were pursued with a passion, a seriousness, a moral and almost religious ardour which, lacking in the ancient Graeco-Roman mentality, Europe owed to her long centuries of Judaeo-Christian discipline. It was from these sources that the individualistic age of Western society sought ultimately for that principle of order and control which all human society needs and which more ancient times attempted to realise first by the materialisation of fixed symbols of truth, then by ethical type and discipline, finally by infallible authority or stereotyped convention.
1.02 - The Development of Sri Aurobindos Thought, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
science, Politics, history, sociology, psychology, religion
and traditional spirituality were checked against his day-
1.02 - The Three European Worlds, #The Ever-Present Origin, #Jean Gebser, #Integral
This intense desire evident at the turn of the sixteenth century to conquer space, and to break through the flat ancient cavern wall, is exemplified not only by he transition from sacred fresco painting to that on canvas, but even by the most minute and mundane endeavours. It was around this time that lace was first introduced; and here we see that even the fabric could no longer serve merely as a surface, but had to be broken open, as it were, to reveal the visibility of the background or substratum. Nor is it accidental that in those years of the discovery of space via perspective, the incursions into the various spatial worlds mentioned above brought on with finality a transformation of the world into a spatial, that is, a sectored world. The previous unity breaks apart; not only is the world segmented and fragmented, but the age of colonialism and the other divisions begins: schisms and Splits in the church, conquests and power Politics, unbounded technology, and all types of emancipations.
The over-emphasis an space and spatiality that increases with every century since 1500is at once the greatness as well as the weakness of perspectival man. His over-emphasis on the "objectively" external, a consequence of an excessively visual orientation, leads not only to rationalization and haptification but to an unavoidable hypertrophy of the "I," which is in confrontation with the external world. This exaggeration of the "I" amounts to what we may call an ego-hypertrophy: the "I" must be increasingly emphasized, indeed over-emphasized in order for it to be adequate to the ever-expanding discovery of space. At the same time, the increasing materialization and haptification of space which confronts the ego occasions a corresponding rigidification of the ego itself. The expansion of space brings on the gradual expansion and consequent disintegration of the "I" on the one hand, preparing favorable circumstances for collectivism. On the other hand, the haptification of space rigidifies and encapsulates the "I," with the resultant possibility of isolation evident in egocentrism.
10.36 - Cling to Truth, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The Life Divine is the life of Truth. It is based on Truth, it is Truth, body and substanceTruth absolute, pure and simple. But it may be asked as we are actually in the ignorant and half-ignorant consciousness, in a world of almost total falsehood, is it not necessary, is it not inescapable for us to accept the falsehood for the moment, in order to be able to work in the world and succeed? We have to live in an environment and move in it; if we try to go against it openly, how can we do it practically? As individuals we are infinitesimal particles and the mass of the whole will bear us down each one of us and crush us out of existence. Truth is all right, but the approach to it needs to be cautious and careful. If falsehood is clever we too have to be clever. In a game where success is the aim, diplomacy and strategy are not outlawed. You have to accept certain terms of your enemy in order that certain terms of yours might be accepted. You can move to success in this mixed world only through a process of give and take. An absolute saintly attitude is not a thing of practical Politics. That is why, to keep their truth unsullied, the ancients abandoned this field of practical Politics, retired to the forest or into the cosy laps of the hills.
Beware, this is the voice of the adversary trying to tempt you by confusing your mind. The path is straight and narrow, it is not wide and comfortable and strewn with roses. To find the Truth, to live the Truth we must begin by finding it in its purity and living it. As is the start, so is the end. Our steadfastness, our faithfulness must be unalloyed, our sincerity of utmost purity. It is Truth alone that leads to Truth, a compromise or semblance leads only to the untruth. Your diplomacy or duplicity may bring you the coveted result or it may not; but surely it will put a layer of soot upon your soul, push you back one step more into your inconscience. And if you continue you may become the biggest success in the eyes of the world, but your soul will be nowhere, leaving behind perhaps only a hopeless sob in a wilderness. Has not the Mother said, "Even if there is a particle of falsehood in your expression In your word or in your acthow can you hope to express the Supreme Truth?" Remember also the words of Sri Aurobindo: "Do not imagine that truth and falsehood, light and darkness, surrender and selfishness can be allowed to dwell together in a house consecrated to the Divine. The transformation must be integral, and integral therefore the rejection of all that withstands it."1
1.03 - Meeting the Master - Meeting with others, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sarala Devi Chowdhurani came to Pondicherry to meet Sri Aurobindo. It was evident she wanted to ascertain his future programme and his views on current Politics. She met him for two days.
As she came up to meet him at the time fixed, 4.30 p.m., Sri Aurobindo got up from his chair to greet her. Both greeted each other with folded hands. After formal exchanges Sarala Devi began:
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Sri Aurobindo: As for myself, I have a personal programme. But if I was in Politics, even then I would have taken another stand. I would first be sure of my ground before I fought the government.
Sarala Devi: Don't you think that sufficient work has been done in the country to start the fight?
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Question: Dr. Bhagwandas and some others are trying to spiritualise Politics particularly the western institutions in our Politics, and there is the village organisation work also. What is your opinion in this matter?
Sri Aurobindo: These are two things which must be kept apart. There are first those who want to work for political freedom and they fix that as their final goal. Secondly, there are those who want to organise the future life of the community in India.
These two require different kinds of organisations and they must be allowed to work with the utmost rapidity. It goes without saying that without organisation there can be no success in any work. But the political worker's path is straight. He need not go in for constructive work. He has to organise in the village something like the peasant organisations and associations in Ireland. When they are sufficiently well-organised then they can throw their weight into Politics. The second path is much harder and longer and the workers method also will be different. If he succeeds he is one of those who win the highest victory.
Of late, in some quarters, too much weight is being put upon village work. I know that in India it is a very important work to do. But I do not like people trying to picture future India as a mass of villages only. The village has a lot of life-problems and the villagers must be rescued from their living death. But they cannot be leaders of thought.
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Now the problem is how to organise the future life of the country. I myself am a communist in a certain sense but I cannot agree with the Russian method. One may ask: After all what has Russia created? Even among our present workers in India there is a lack of that definite idea as to what they are about and what kind of thing they want. That is the reason why men like Dr. Bhagwandas propose some mental constructions like asking men to go in for Politics after 50 years of age and so on. That does not seem to me to be the correct method, and I believe whoever pursues it will encounter complete failure.
Question: Anything would be better than the present condition.
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Sri Aurobindo: It is always a sign of a weak mind when one tries to combine things that rationally cannot be put together such as purity, Swaraj, Politics, religion etc. with Khadi! Nobody objects to Khadi being used on its own merits. Why not use it as such? Why put music, religion, Swaraj, etc. into it?
Disciple: In the days of the Khilafat agitation they used to say: "Swaraj is Khilafat" (meaning thereby the identification of Khilafat agitation with the fight for Swaraj); "Khilafat is cow" (because the cow, the emblem of Hinduism, should be protected by the Muslims); and we used to say "Yes, Swaraj is a cow!" (Laughter)
1.03 - PERSONALITY, SANCTITY, DIVINE INCARNATION, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
We have seen that, in critical emergencies, solthers specifically trained to cope with that kind of thing tend to forget the inborn and acquired idiosyncrasies with which they normally identify their being and, transcending selfness, to behave in the same, one-pointed, better-than-personal way. What is true of solthers is also true of saints, but with this important difference that the aim of spiritual training is to make people become selfless in every circumstance of life, while the aim of military training is to make them selfless only in certain very special circumstances and in relation to only certain classes of human beings. This could not be otherwise; for all that we are and will and do depends, in the last analysis, upon what we believe the Nature of Things to be. The philosophy that rationalizes power Politics and justifies war and military training is always (whatever the official religion of the politicians and war makers) some wildly unrealistic doctrine of national, racial or ideological idolatry, having, as its inevitable corollaries, the notions of Herrenvolk and the lesser breeds without the Law.
The biographies of the saints testify unequivocally to the fact that spiritual training leads to a transcendence of personality, not merely in the special circumstances of battle, but in all circumstances and in relation to all creatures, so that the saint loves his enemies or, if he is a Buddhist, does not even recognize the existence of enemies, but treats all sentient beings, sub-human as well as human, with the same compassion and disinterested good will. Those who win through to the unitive knowledge of God set out upon their course from the most diverse starting points. One is a man, another a woman; one a born active, another a born contemplative. No two of them inherit the same temperament and physical constitution, and their lives are passed in material, moral and intellectual environments that are profoundly dissimilar. Nevertheless, insofar as they are saints, insofar as they possess the unitive knowledge that makes them perfect as their Father which is in heaven is perfect, they are all astonishingly alike. Their actions are uniformly selfless and they are constantly recollected, so that at every moment they know who they are and what is their true relation to the universe and its spiritual Ground. Of even plain average people it may be said that their name is Legionmuch more so of exceptionally complex personalities, who identify themselves with a wide diversity of moods, cravings and opinions. Saints, on the contrary, are neither double-minded nor half-hearted, but single and, however great their intellectual gifts, profoundly simple. The multiplicity of Legion has given place to one-pointedness not to any of those evil one-pointednesses of ambition or covetousness, or lust for power and fame, not even to any of the nobler, but still all too human one-pointednesses of art, scholarship and science, regarded as ends in themselves, but to the supreme, more than human one-pointedness that is the very being of those souls who consciously and consistently pursue mans final end, the knowledge of eternal Reality. In one of the Pali scriptures there is a significant anecdote about the Brahman Drona who, seeing the Blessed One sitting at the foot of a tree, asked him, Are you a deva? And the Exalted One answered, I am not. Are you a gandharva? I am not, Are you a yaksha? I am not. Are you a man? I am not a man. On the Brahman asking what he might be, the Blessed One replied, Those evil influences, those cravings, whose non-destruction would have individualized me as a deva, a gandharva, a yaksha (three types of supernatural being), or a man, I have completely annihilated. Know therefore that I am Buddha.
1.03 - Reading, #Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience, #Henry David Thoreau, #Philosophy
Europe. It should be the patron of the fine arts. It is rich enough. It wants only the magnanimity and refinement. It can spend money enough on such things as farmers and traders value, but it is thought Utopian to propose spending money for things which more intelligent men know to be of far more worth. This town has spent seventeen thousand dollars on a town-house, thank fortune or Politics, but probably it will not spend so much on living wit, the true meat to put into that shell, in a hundred years. The one hundred and twenty-five dollars annually subscribed for a Lyceum in the winter is better spent than any other equal sum raised in the town. If we live in the nineteenth century, why should we not enjoy the advantages which the nineteenth century offers?
Why should our life be in any respect provincial? If we will read newspapers, why not skip the gossip of Boston and take the best newspaper in the world at once?not be sucking the pap of neutral family papers, or browsing Olive-Branches here in New England. Let the reports of all the learned societies come to us, and we will see if they know any thing. Why should we leave it to Harper & Brothers and
1.03 - Sympathetic Magic, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
of Politics the wily intriguer, the ruthless victor, may end by
being a wise and magnanimous ruler, blessed in his lifetime,
1.04 - The Divine Mother - This Is She, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
The House Of The Lord War And Politics
1.05 - 2010 and 1956 - Doomsday?, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
2012: Making Green Business, New Politics & Higher Consciousness Work
Together (2009).102
1.05 - MORALITY AS THE ENEMY OF NATURE, #Twilight of the Idols, #Friedrich Nietzsche, #Philosophy
to pieces; and the same applies to Politics on a grand scale. A new
creation, more particularly, like the new Empire, has more need
1.05 - THE HOSTILE BROTHERS - ARCHETYPES OF RESPONSE TO THE UNKNOWN, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology
The reasons for war, many believe, are rooted in Politics. Since it is groups of men that fight, and since
groups indulge in Politics, this belief seems well-founded and in fact contains some truth. It is just as true,
however, that it is a good thing to look for something you dont want to find in a place where you know it
wont be and the modern concern with global Politics, and the necessity to be involved in a good
cause, rather than to live responsibly, seems to me to be evidence that the desire not to find often
--
wanted to find where it was obvious to everyone it would be in Politics, in political science, in the study of
group behavior. This took up the years I spent involved with the NDP, and in studying political science,
1.05 - War And Politics, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
object:1.05 - War And Politics
author class:Nirodbaran
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War And Politics
India's Independence
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Though we in the Ashram are not supposed to take part in Politics, we are not at all indifferent to world affairs. In fact, Sri Aurobindo has said that we are immensely interested in them. The journal Mother India which was a semi-political fortnightly, and came out two years after India's Independence, was edited by one of the sadhaks who was living in Bombay and the editorials were sent to Sri Aurobindo for approval before publication. Sri Aurobindo gave many long and regular interviews to a political leader of Bengal and gave him advice and directions regarding the contemporary situation. The Mother too has said that the Supermind cannot but include in its ultimate work for world-change the political administration, since all secular well-being rests in the hands of the governing power of the country. Besides, the War was not a simple political issue among the big nations. The Nazi aggression meant "the peril of black servitude and a revived barbarism threatening India and the world". It was a life-and-death question for the spiritual evolution of the new man, for the emergence of a new race which the Mother and Sri Aurobindo had come to initiate and establish on the earth. And the victory of Hitler's Germany would mean not only the end of civilisation, but also the death of that great possibility. It is in this sense I have called this War a modern Kurukshetra.
Let us then go back to the crucial year 1938 when dark war-clouds were gathering and rumblings were heard all over Europe. There was a strong possibility that fighting would break out in December, just a week or two after the night of November 23, when Sri Aurobindo had his accident. But, as he indicated in our talks, his Force pushed it back to a later date, for war at that time would have been a great hindrance to his work. It is possible to surmise that the irresistible forces which no human power could check turned their fury on one who had checked them. Long before Hitler's actual invasion of Poland, long before any other person, Sri Aurobindo had seen this dark Asuric Power rising in Germany and striding over Europe, making Hitler its demoniac instrument, a pseudo-colossus, a self-acclaimed Napoleon. Therefore he supported the Allies and warned India of the forthcoming peril, much to the chagrin and indignation of our blind countrymen. Future events proved his forecast right to the letter.
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About Chamberlain's inactivity when the Germans were preparing to attack Norway. Sri Aurobindo remarked, "So long as he is at the helm, nothing will happen. He applies only business intelligence to Politics.... I can't understand the moves of the British. As soon as they heard of the German occupation, they could have occupied Bergen. Bergen would have been far away from Oslo and within their striking distance. If Germany had six destroyers, they could have brought twenty.... They seem to be enamoured of the idea of blockade by the Navy resulting in the starvation of Germany. They are daunted by the presence of the Siegfried Line on their east. They don't want to risk anything. They are tied up by their organisation while Hitler fixes himself to nothing."
April 15, 1940
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Along with the European war, India's political problem naturally played a prominent part in our discussion, Mahatma Gandhi's attitude, the Congress policy, the Hindu-Muslim problem, Jinnah's intransigence and the Viceroy's role as the peace-maker, all this complicated Politics and our Himalayan blunders leading to the rejection of the famous Cripps' Proposals, were within our constant purview.... The upshot of the whole discussion till the arrival of the Cripps' Mission can be put in a few words; the Congress made a big mistake by resigning from the Ministry. The Government was ready to offer us Dominion Status which we should have accepted, for it was virtually a step towards independence. We should have joined the war-effort. That would have created an opportunity to enter into all military departments and operations in air, on sea and land; hold positions, become efficient and thus enforce our natural right for freedom.
When Gandhi complained that the Viceroy did not say anything in reply to all his questions, Sri Aurobindo said to us in one of our talks on October 7th, 1940: "What will he say?It is very plain why he did not. First of all, the Government doesn't want to concede the demand for independence. What it is willing to give is Dominion Status after the War, expecting that India will settle down into a common relationship with the Empire. But just now a national government will virtually mean Dominion Status with the Viceroy only as a constitutional head. Nobody knows what the Congress will do after it gets power. It may be occupied only with India's defence and give such help as it can spare to England. And if things go wrong with the British, it may even make a separate peace leaving them in the lurch. There are Left Wingers, Socialists, Communists whom the Congress won't be able to bring to its side, neither will it dare to offend them and if their influence is sufficiently strong, the Congress may stand against the British. Thus it is quite natural for them not to part with power just now as it is also natural for us to make our claims. But since we haven't got enough strength to back us, we have to see if we have any common meeting ground with the Government. If there is, a compromise is the only practical step. There was such an opportunity, but the Congress spoiled it. Now you have to accept what you get or I don't know what is going to happen. Of course, if we had the strength and power to make a revolution and get what we want, it would be a different matter. Amery and others did offer Dominion Status at one time. Now they have changed their position because they have come to know the spirit of our people. Our politicians have some fixed ideas and they always go by them. Politicians and statesmen have to take account of situations and act as demanded by them. They must have insight."
1.06 - MORTIFICATION, NON-ATTACHMENT, RIGHT LIVELIHOOD, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
Rabia, the Sufi woman-saint, speaks, thinks and feels in terms of devotional theism; the Buddhist theologian, in terms of impersonal moral Law; the Chinese philosopher, with characteristic humour, in terms of Politics; but all three insist on the need for non-attachment to self-interestinsist on it as strongly as does Christ when he reproaches the Pharisees for their egocentric piety, as does the Krishna of the Bhagavad Gita, when he tells Arjuna to do his divinely ordained duty without personal craving for, or fear of, the fruits of his actions.
St. Ignatius Loyola was once asked what his feelings would be if the Pope were to suppress the Company of Jesus. A quarter of an hour of prayer, he answered, and I should think no more about it.
--
Sufficient not only unto the day, but also unto the place, is the evil thereof. Agitation over happenings which we are powerless to modify, either because they have not yet occurred, or else are occurring at an inaccessible distance from us, achieves nothing beyond the inoculation of here and now with the remote or anticipated evil that is the object of our distress. Listening four or five times a day to newscasters and commentators, reading the morning papers and all the weeklies and monthliesnowadays, this is described as taking an intelligent interest in Politics. St. John of the Cross would have called it indulgence in idle curiosity and the cultivation of disquietude for disquietudes sake.
I want very little, and what I do want I have very little wish for. I have hardly any desires, but if I were to be born again, I should have none at all. We should ask nothing and refuse nothing, but leave ourselves in the arms of divine Providence without wasting time in any desire, except to will what God wills of us.
1.06 - THE FOUR GREAT ERRORS, #Twilight of the Idols, #Friedrich Nietzsche, #Philosophy
My superior Politics say: a party that can make such mistakes, is in
its last agony--it no longer possesses any certainty of instinct. Every
1.06 - The Sign of the Fishes, #Aion, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
solved neither by philosophy, nor by economics, nor by Politics,
but only by the individual human being, via his experience of
1.06 - Wealth and Government, #Words Of The Mother III, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
GOVERNMENT AND Politics
One must be able to control oneself before one can hope to govern others.
--
Remain in Politics and try to bring Truth into Politics. It is a very sure way towards effective spirituality.
Completely give up this ordinary vulgar political practice of publicly abusing people either in speech or writing. One should wage a war of ideas so that the truth may triumph, not a war of personalities.
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In connection with the Youth Camps2 You have said that we should not discuss Politics.
In this connection I pray for some more specific guidance from You, Douce Mere, not only for us at the
--
So far, we have considered Politics as consisting of any movement, including intrigue and malpractice, to arrive at dominance either of oneself or of ones party over others. In this, one has to hold that ones own view or ideology is true and that of others is wrong.
This Politics we must completely avoid. Is it not so?
Yes.
1.07 - A Song of Longing for Tara, the Infallible, #How to Free Your Mind - Tara the Liberator, #Thubten Chodron, #unset
free from Politics and corruption?
The way that bodhisattvas and Buddhas work is beyond our comprehension; we cant always tell whats benecial and whats not. Sometimes its
1.07 - The Process of Evolution, #Essays In Philosophy And Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The law is the same for the mass as for the individual. The process of human evolution has been seen by the eye of inspired observation to be that of working out the tiger and the ape. The forces of cruelty, lust, mischievous destruction, pain-giving, folly, brutality, ignorance were once rampant in humanity, they had full enjoyment; then by the growth of religion and philosophy they began in periods of satiety such as the beginning of the Christian era in Europe to be partly replaced, partly put under control. As is the law of such things, they have always reverted again with greater or less virulence and sought with more or less success to re-establish themselves. Finally in the nineteenth century it seemed for a time as if some of these forces had, for a time at least, exhausted themselves and the hour for sayama and gradual dismissal from the evolution had really arrived. Such hopes always recur and in the end they are likely to bring about their own fulfilment, but before that happens another recoil is inevitable. We see plenty of signs of it in the reeling back into the beast which is in progress in Europe and America behind the fair outside of Science, progress, civilisation and humanitarianism, and we are likely to see more signs of it in the era that is coming upon us. A similar law holds in Politics and society. The political evolution of the human race follows certain lines of which the most recent formula has been given in the watchwords of the French Revolution, freedom, equality and brotherhood. But the forces of the old world, the forces of despotism, the forces of traditional privilege and selfish exploitation, the forces of unfraternal strife and passionate self-regarding competition are always struggling to reseat themselves on the thrones of the earth. A determined movement of reaction is evident in many parts of the world and nowhere perhaps more than in England which was once one of the self-styled champions of progress and liberty. The attempt to go back to the old spirit is one of those necessary returns without which it cannot be so utterly exhausted as to be blotted out from the evolution. It rises only to be defeated and crushed again. On the other hand the force of the democratic tendency is not a force which is spent but one which has not yet arrived, not a force which has had the greater part of its enjoyment but one which is still vigorous, unsatisfied and eager for fulfilment. Every attempt to coerce it in the past reacted eventually on the coercing force and brought back the democratic spirit fierce, hungry and unsatisfied, joining to its fair motto of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity the terrible addition or Death. It is not likely that the immediate future of the democratic tendency will satisfy the utmost dreams of the lover of liberty who seeks an anarchist freedom, or of the lover of equality who tries to establish a socialistic dead level, or of the lover of fraternity who dreams of a world-embracing communism. But some harmonisation of this great ideal is undoubtedly the immediate future of the human race. On the old forces of despotism, inequality and unbridled competition, after they have been once more overthrown, a process of gradual sayama will be performed by which what has remained of them will be regarded as the disappearing vestiges of a dead reality and without any further violent coercion be transformed slowly and steadily out of existence.
***
1.07 - TRUTH, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
Between the horns of Chuang Tzus dilemma there is no way but that of love, peace and joy. Only those who manifest their possession, in however small a measure, of the fruits of the Spirit can persuade others that the life of the spirit is worth living. Argument and controversy are almost useless; in many cases, indeed, they are positively harmful. But this, of course, is a thing that clever men with a gift for syllogisms and sarcasm, find it peculiarly hard to admit. Milton, no doubt, genuinely believed that he was working for truth, righteousness and the glory of God by exploding in torrents of learned scurrility against the enemies of his favourite dictator and his favourite brand of nonconformity. In actual fact, of course, he and the other controversialists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries did nothing but harm to the cause of true religion, for which, on one side or the other, they fought with an equal learning and ingenuity and with the same foulmou thed intemperance of language. The successive controversies went on, with occasional lucid intervals, for about two hundred yearsPapists arguing with anti-Papists, Protestants with other Protestants, Jesuits with Quietists and Jansenists. When the noise finally died down, Christianity (which, like any other religion, can survive only if it manifests the fruits of the Spirit) was all but dead; the real religion of most educated Europeans was now nationalistic idolatry. During the eighteenth century this change to idolatry seemed (after the atrocities committed in the name of Christianity by Wallenstein and Tilly) to be a change for the better. This was because the ruling classes were determined that the horrors of the wars of religion should not be repeated and therefore deliberately tempered power Politics with gentlemanliness. Symptoms of gentlemanliness can still be observed in the Napoleonic and Crimean wars. But the national Molochs were steadily devouring the eighteenth-century ideal. During the first and second World Wars we have witnessed the total elimination of the old checks and self-restraints. The consequences of political idolatry now display themselves without the smallest mitigation either of humanistic honour and etiquette or of transcendental religion. By its internecine quarrels over words, forms of organization, money and power, historic Christianity consummated the work of self-destruction, to which its excessive preoccupation with things in time had from the first so tragically committed it.
Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment;
1.08a - The Ladder, #A Garden of Pomegranates - An Outline of the Qabalah, #Israel Regardie, #Occultism
ritualistic rhythm of the year in human life. Noncon- formity, with skill, put the finishing touches to the abysmal crime. Now, to demonstrate the grandeur of modern pro- gress, we have a poor, miserable, disconnected populace with nothing but American films, Politics, and empty vacations to satisfy the ever-present human need of living in harmony with the universal spiritual forces underlying nature and all phenomena.
The Initiates, realizing that man had never lived not by bread alone but in the consciousness of the ever-living Gods, and by the spirit of the Sun and Moon and Earth in their revolutions, restored in secret the sacred days and feasts, almost as the Greek pagans had them, with the sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight pauses for worship - the four great daily stations of the Sun. Then the ancient cycle of
1.08 - Attendants, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
Dr. Satyendra is an unassuming and nice person, did his part of the job in a quiet and steady way. He was cleaning, for a time, the windows and furniture in Sri Aurobindo's room. Ready to serve but never pushing and not over eager, he kept a closeness and happy relation with all. He used to express very often that he was more of a retiring nature and more intent on personal realisation through Bhakti. Karmayoga did not suit his temperament very well. Whatever might be his particular bent, we saw that he did his own work like a karmayogi, in a genuine spirit of service to the Master whom he always addressed as Sir. His talks with Sri Aurobindo showed his sense of humour, his insight into philosophy, Politics and mysticism. Sri Aurobindo seemed to like his company, his quiet devotion, in spite of his constantly grumbling against the integral Yoga and the Supermind. While cleaning the Master's nails as he lay in bed, he would start his old unvarying tale about the necessity of the personal touch, his close contact with his former guru. Sri Aurobindo would listen quietly to his nostalgic monologue. There must be some expression of love, was his constant burden, to which Sri Aurobindo once replied that unity of consciousness is the root and love is its fine flower. A shrewd observer of human and divine nature, it was he who made the pertinent remark that in this Yoga only two persons have achieved complete surrender: the Mother to Sri Aurobindo and Sri Aurobindo to the Mother! As an example he related this story: Sri Aurobindo was lying in bed one day, and the ceiling-fan was revolving at full speed. Satyendra felt that he wanted something, so he approached the Master and asked, "Are you looking for something, Sir?" "Oh, no.... Is Nirod there?" "No, Sir. But can I do anything?" he asked. "I was wondering if the speed of the fan could be reduced," he replied. "I can do it, Sir." "Oh, can you?" he asked. Sri Aurobindo enquired about me because I was given charge of the fan by the Mother, and he would not violate the rule. As for the reduction of the speed, that too was in deference to the wishes of the Mother, for once on entering Sri Aurobindo's room, she saw the fan turning at full speed and remarked, "Oh, what a storm!" To give another instance: when we wanted to move the table-fan a bit nearer him, he said, "No, Mother has kept it there." This is how we learnt submission and obedience not only in big matters, but even in small trivialities.
The Mother told Satyendra recently on his birthday that Sri Aurobindo had come to her on the eve of his interview with her and said that he had taken good care of Sri Aurobindo's body. What a touching recognition from Sri Aurobindo! Even after leaving the body, the Guru remembers a kind act, some help rendered to him by his disciple! What a Divine Magnanimity! We know also that all those who had served him during his accident period have had their reward in some form or other, in the material and spiritual life.
--
Often forgetting his gravity, Purani becomes a child and joins us in a plot, when there is nothing to talk about, to draw out Sri Aurobindo who might himself be waiting for the occasion. The ball is set rolling by Purani reporting for instance, "Nirod says that his mind is getting dull and stupid!" On other occasions he starts serious discussions on modern painting, modern poetry, philosophy, Politics, history, science and what not. There is hardly any subject on which he cannot say something a versatile man indeed, and a very interesting personality. Once in the evening the Guru and the shishya had a long talk, for more than an hour, on an old legal case (Bapat case?) that must have taken place during Sri Aurobindo's stay in Baroda, and must have been famous for Purani to remember it and discuss it with Sri Aurobindo. He was lying on one side and Purani was sitting on the floor leaning against a couch opposite. It had the air of a very homely talk, as between father and son. Anybody who had seen the Master only during the Darshan could never conceive of this Sri Aurobindo who had put off his mantle of majesty and high impersonality. I stood for a while to listen to the discussion, but found it so dull that I began wondering how they could drag on ad infinitum! It was Purani's versatility that enriched much in our talks with the Master. If, however, by any chance you stepped on his toes, the old lion growled and roared! But wherever Sri Aurobindo's interest was involved, he would not spare himself. The Guru's name acted on him like a Mantra. The Aurobindonians are ever grateful to him for his yeoman service in bringing out so many valuable documents on Sri Aurobindo's early life in England and for trying to get his genius recognised by the English intellectual circle.
One other casual attendant whose name I should include was Dr. Sanyal. He was an eminent surgeon in Calcutta and his active service was called for when Sri Aurobindo's condition became critical in the first week of December, 1950. He was sent an urgent wire to come immediately. Before this he had Sri Aurobindo's private darshan twice. The first occasion was when I consulted him in the beginning about Sri Aurobindo's illness. Next year, when again he visited the Ashram, his contact with Sri Aurobindo was renewed for the same reason. Each time he stayed for about a week and every day he had the Guru's darshan. He would come dressed in simple white dhoti and punjabi with a big bouquet of lotuses or roses and offer his pranam to the Guru in quiet devotion. Then, as Sri Aurobindo sat on the bed, he, kneeling on the floor, massaged his leg and held long talks with him at the same time. Sri Aurobindo's manner was affable and engaging, bearing a smile that egged on the speaker. Once I heard from a distance the Mother talking to Sri Aurobindo about him. From a few words that caught my ear it seemed she was very much impressed by his deportment and physiognomy. I felt that she had already marked him as one of her future instruments. All these paved the way to his last service to his Lord and permanent service to the Mother.
1.08 - Civilisation and Barbarism, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
But if Science has thus prepared us for an age of wider and deeper culture and if in spite of and even partly by its materialism it has rendered impossible the return of the true materialism, that of the barbarian mentality, it has encouraged more or less indirectly both by its attitude to life and its discoveries another kind of barbarism,for it can be called by no other name,that of the industrial, the commercial, the economic age which is now progressing to its culmination and its close. This economic barbarism is essentially that of the vital man who mistakes the vital being for the self and accepts its satisfaction as the first aim of life. The characteristic of Life is desire and the instinct of possession. Just as the physical barbarian makes the excellence of the body and the development of physical force, health and prowess his standard and aim, so the vitalistic or economic barbarian makes the satisfaction of wants and desires and the accumulation of possessions his standard and aim. His ideal man is not the cultured or noble or thoughtful or moral or religious, but the successful man. To arrive, to succeed, to produce, to accumulate, to possess is his existence. The accumulation of wealth and more wealth, the adding of possessions to possessions, opulence, show, pleasure, a cumbrous inartistic luxury, a plethora of conveniences, life devoid of beauty and nobility, religion vulgarised or coldly formalised, Politics and government turned into a trade and profession, enjoyment itself made a business, this is commercialism. To the natural unredeemed economic man beauty is a thing otiose or a nuisance, art and poetry a frivolity or an ostentation and a means of advertisement. His idea of civilisation is comfort, his idea of morals social respectability, his idea of Politics the encouragement of industry, the opening of markets, exploitation and trade following the flag, his idea of religion at best a pietistic formalism or the satisfaction of certain vitalistic emotions. He values education for its utility in fitting a man for success in a competitive or, it may be, a socialised industrial existence, science for the useful inventions and knowledge, the comforts, conveniences, machinery of production with which it arms him, its power for organisation, regulation, stimulus to production. The opulent plutocrat and the successful mammoth capitalist and organiser of industry are the supermen of the commercial age and the true, if often occult rulers of its society.
The essential barbarism of all this is its pursuit of vital success, satisfaction, productiveness, accumulation, possession, enjoyment, comfort, convenience for their own sake. The vital part of the being is an element in the integral human existence as much as the physical part; it has its place but must not exceed its place. A full and well-appointed life is desirable for man living in society, but on condition that it is also a true and beautiful life. Neither the life nor the body exist for their own sake, but as vehicle and instrument of a good higher than their own. They must be subordinated to the superior needs of the mental being, chastened and purified by a greater law of truth, good and beauty before they can take their proper place in the integrality of human perfection. Therefore in a commercial age with its ideal, vulgar and barbarous, of success, vitalistic satisfaction, productiveness and possession the soul of man may linger a while for certain gains and experiences, but cannot permanently rest. If it persisted too long, Life would become clogged and perish of its own plethora or burst in its straining to a gross expansion. Like the too massive Titan it will collapse by its own mass, mole ruet sua.
1.08 - Information, Language, and Society, #Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, #Norbert Wiener, #Cybernetics
related lives of Politics, diplomacy, and war. In the long run,
even the most brilliant and unprincipled huckster must expect
--
career. Few philosophers of Politics nowadays care to confine
their investigations to the world of Ideas of Plato.
1.08 - THINGS THE GERMANS LACK, #Twilight of the Idols, #Friedrich Nietzsche, #Philosophy
your strength in acquiring power, or in Politics on a large scale,
or in economy, or in universal commerce, or in parliamentarism, or
--
when Germany arose as a great power in the world of Politics, France
won new importance as a force in the world of culture. Even at this
1.09 - Civilisation and Culture, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The Philistine is not dead,quite the contrary, he abounds,but he no longer reigns. The sons of Culture have not exactly conquered, but they have got rid of the old Goliath and replaced him by a new giant. This is the sensational man who has got awakened to the necessity at least of some intelligent use of the higher faculties and is trying to be mentally active. He has been whipped and censured and educated into that activity and he lives besides in a maelstrom of new information, new intellectual fashions, new ideas and new movements to which he can no longer be obstinately impervious. He is open to new ideas, he can catch at them and hurl them about in a rather confused fashion; he can understand or misunderstand ideals, organise to get them carried out and even, it would appear, fight and die for them. He knows he has to think about ethical problems, social problems, problems of science and religion, to welcome new political developments, to look with as understanding an eye as he can attain to at all the new movements of thought and inquiry and action that chase each other across the modern field or clash upon it. He is a reader of poetry as well as a devourer of fiction and periodical literature,you will find in him perhaps a student of Tagore or an admirer of Whitman; he has perhaps no very clear ideas about beauty and aesthetics, but he has heard that Art is a not altogether unimportant part of life. The shadow of this new colossus is everywhere. He is the great reading public; the newspapers and weekly and monthly reviews are his; fiction and poetry and art are his mental caterers, the theatre and the cinema and the radio exist for him: Science hastens to bring her knowledge and discoveries to his doors and equip his life with endless machinery; Politics are shaped in his image. It is he who opposed and then brought about the enfranchisement of women, who has been evolving syndicalism, anarchism, the war of classes, the uprising of labour, waging what we are told are wars of ideas or of cultures,a ferocious type of conflict made in the very image of this new barbarism,or bringing about in a few days Russian revolutions which the century-long efforts and sufferings of the intelligentsia failed to achieve. It is his coming which has been the precipitative agent for the reshaping of the modern world. If a Lenin, a Mussolini, a Hitler have achieved their rapid and almost stupefying success, it was because this driving force, this responsive quick-acting mass was there to carry them to victorya force lacking to their less fortunate predecessors.
The first results of this momentous change have been inspiriting to our desire of movement, but a little disconcerting to the thinker and to the lover of a high and fine culture; for if it has to some extent democratised culture or the semblance of culture, it does not seem at first sight to have elevated or streng thened it by this large accession of the half-redeemed from below. Nor does the world seem to be guided any more directly by the reason and intelligent will of her best minds than before. Commercialism is still the heart of modern civilisation; a sensational activism is still its driving force. Modern education has not in the mass redeemed the sensational man; it has only made necessary to him things to which he was not formerly accustomed, mental activity and occupations, intellectual and even aesthetic sensations, emotions of idealism. He still lives in the vital substratum, but he wants it stimulated from above. He requires an army of writers to keep him mentally occupied and provide some sort of intellectual pabulum for him; he has a thirst for general information of all kinds which he does not care or has not time to coordinate or assimilate, for popularised scientific knowledge, for such new ideas as he can catch, provided they are put before him with force or brilliance, for mental sensations and excitation of many kinds, for ideals which he likes to think of as actuating his conduct and which do give it sometimes a certain colour. It is still the activism and sensationalism of the crude mental being, but much more open and free. And the cultured, the intelligentsia find that they can get a hearing from him such as they never had from the pure Philistine, provided they can first stimulate or amuse him; their ideas have now a chance of getting executed such as they never had before. The result has been to cheapen thought and art and literature, to make talent and even genius run in the grooves of popular success, to put the writer and thinker and scientist very much in a position like that of the cultured Greek slave in a Roman household where he has to work for, please, amuse and instruct his master while keeping a careful eye on his tastes and preferences and repeating trickily the manner and the points that have caught his fancy. The higher mental life, in a word, has been democratised, sensationalised, activised with both good and bad results. Through it all the eye of faith can see perhaps that a yet crude but an enormous change has begun. Thought and Knowledge, if not yet Beauty, can get a hearing and even produce rapidly some large, vague, yet in the end effective will for their results; the mass of culture and of men who think and strive seriously to appreciate and to know has enormously increased behind all this surface veil of sensationalism, and even the sensational man has begun to undergo a process of transformation. Especially, new methods of education, new principles of society are beginning to come into the range of practical possibility which will create perhaps one day that as yet unknown phenomenon, a race of mennot only a classwho have to some extent found and developed their mental selves, a cultured humanity.
1.09 - SKIRMISHES IN A WAY WITH THE AGE, #Twilight of the Idols, #Friedrich Nietzsche, #Philosophy
and socialism in Politics). Is not the nineteenth century, at least
in its closing years, merely an accentuated, brutalised eighteenth
1.09 - Sleep and Death, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
experience; we can now go to a third type of sleep, sleep of action. For a long time, our sleep, however conscious it may be, remains indeed a passive kind of state. We are only the witness of things, a helpless spectator of something happening in this or that part of our being. It should be stressed that it is always a part of our being that undergoes a particular experience, although at the time we may have the impression that our whole being suffers, fights, or travels, etc. just as we may have the impression, when discussing Politics or philosophy with a friend, that our whole self participates in the discussion, when it is merely a mental or vital function of it. As sleep becomes more conscious, we go from impressions to naked realities. We realize that we are made up of a medley of mental, vital, and other fragments,
each with a separate existence and separate experiences on its own particular plane. At night, when the bond of the body and the tyranny of the mental mentor have vanished, this independence becomes remarkably alive. All the vibrations we have gathered in us, and which make up "our" nature, become so many little entities running here and there, and we discover all sorts of strangers in us whose existence we had never suspected. In other words, these fragments are not integrated around the true center, the psychic, and because they are not integrated, we cannot bring them under control and change the course of circumstances. We are passive, because the real "we" is the psychic, and most of these fragments are not connected with the psychic.
1.1.01 - Seeking the Divine, #Letters On Yoga II, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
As for James' statement1 it is of course true except in so far as the politician can indulge in other things as hobbies for his leisure hours, but if he wants to succeed as a politician he must give his best energies to Politics. Conversely if Shakespeare or
Newton had spent part of their energies in Politics they would not have been able to reach such heights in poetry and in science or even if they had they would have done much less. The main energies have to be concentrated on one thing; the others can only be minor pursuits at leisure or for distraction or interests rather than pursuits useful for keeping up a general culture.
All depends on the aim of the life. To one whose aim is to discover and possess the highest spiritual truth and the divine life, I do not think a University post can count for much, nor do
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1 The correspondent wrote: "Prof. James even says [in Principles of Psychology] about the 'social me' and other 'me's, that one has to suppress several of them in order to achieve one or two main aims in life. A politician, in order to concentrate on Politics alone, has to let go his tendency for music or painting or social fame or family affections." - Ed.
Seeking the Divine
1.1.04 - Philosophy, #Essays Divine And Human, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
He treads down his emotions, because emotion distorts reason and replaces it by passions, desires, preferences, prejudices, prejudgments. He avoids life, because life awakes all his sensational being and puts his reason at the mercy of egoism, of sensational reactions of anger, fear, hope, hunger, ambition, instead of allowing it to act justly and do disinterested work. It becomes merely the paid pleader of a party, a cause, a creed, a dogma, an intellectual faction. Passion and eagerness, even intellectual eagerness, so disfigure the greatest minds that even Shankara becomes a sophist and a word-twister, and even Buddha argues in a circle. The philosopher wishes above all to preserve his intellectual righteousness; he is or should be as careful of his mental rectitude as the saint of his moral stainlessness. Therefore he avoids, as far as the world will let him, the conditions which disturb. But in this way he cuts himself off from experience and only the gods can know without experience. Sieyes said that Politics was a subject of which he had made a science.
He had, but the pity was that though he knew the science of Politics perfectly, he did not know Politics itself in the least and when he did enter political life, he had formed too rigidly the logical habit to replace it in any degree by the practical. If he had reversed the order or at least coordinated experiment with his theories before they were formed, he might have succeeded better. His readymade Constitutions are monuments of logical perfection and practical ineffectiveness. They have the weakness
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1.10 - The Revolutionary Yogi, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
he, the poet! but because he saw that these images would be prettier still if they were to assume a physical reality upon the earth, if the supraphysical were to become our normal physical, visible to the naked eye. This naturalization of the beyond, and the calm mastery of life, that Sri Aurobindo achieved were possible only because he never separated the two worlds: My own life and my yoga have always been since my coming to India both this-worldly and other-worldly without any exclusiveness on either side, he wrote in a letter to a disciple. All human interests are, I suppose, this-worldly and most of them have entered into my mental field and some, like Politics, into my life, but at the same time, since I set foot on the Apollo Bunder in Bombay, I
began to have spiritual experiences, but these were not divorced from this world but had an inner and infinite bearing on it, such as a feeling of the Infinite pervading material space and the Immanent inhabiting material objects and bodies. At the same time I found myself entering supraphysical worlds and planes with influences and an effect from them upon the material plane, so I could make no sharp divorce or irreconcilable opposition between what I have called the two ends of existence and all that lies between them. For me all is Brahman and I find the Divine everywhere.106
1.11 - Correspondence and Interviews, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
Then there were the long series of regular interviews with Surendra Mohan Ghose extending over some years up to even a few months before Sri Aurobindo's withdrawal. I should not call them interviews, for he was Sri Aurobindo's political follower in the early days, and later his disciple, and a prominent political leader of Bengal. Whenever he visited the Ashram, he had meetings with the Master to get guidance in his political work which he had accepted as his work. Sri Aurobindo used him as his instrument and said to us, "He is my man." In the talks he gave to the students of our Centre of Education, Surendra Mohan partially disclosed the various issues he had discussed with him. They were mostly international, national and provincial situations as well as spiritual matters. They constitute a very illuminating document testifying to Sri Aurobindo's external intervention in Politics, besides his occult action. I often used to see Surendra Mohan in advance to get current news and Sri Aurobindo would ask, "What does Surendra Mohan say?"
Let me quote an instance to illustrate how Yogis have more insight into Politics than politicians themselves. Surendra Mohan writes, "When I came here in October or November 1949, he asked me, 'Why have you not asked me anything about the communal situation in Bengal?' I said, 'There is nothing to report, it is all very quiet.' 'No, no, be careful. Something may happen.' And something terrible did happen the communal killings." Yet, not even great leaders paid any heed to it; they thought it impossible even when Surendra Mohan apprised them of Sri Aurobindo's warning. Sri Aurobindo predicted also "the Russo-Chinese rift and the disintegration of China one day".
We ridicule the idea of Yogis having any knowledge of affairs outside their own "limited" spiritual field. Sri Aurobindo's intervention during the Cripps' Proposals was stigmatised as such an ignorant and illegitimate interference. More than once he demonstrated how false this notion is. Not only are Yogis aware of world-affairs, but those who ordinarily claim cognizance of them are actually ignorant and incompetent. For, according to Sri Aurobindo, unless one knows the domain of the Spirit, one's knowledge of the world remains incomplete.
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Apropos of the integration of French India and the other French possessions with India, Surendra Mohan writes: "...All of us had to suffer for not having listened to Sri Aurobindo's direction or advice. He sent me back saying, 'Go and tell Gandhi, Nehru, Maulana, Sardar and Rajendra Prasad that it is for the good of India and ultimately for the good of the world that they should act on these lines and here is an opportunity I am giving them, let them accept and work on it.' I went to Delhi there was a meeting of the Working Committee of the Congress, everybody said, 'A very good thing, very good,' but it was never implemented.... The draft which Sri Aurobindo had made about the integration was on this basis that all the French possessions should immediately merge with India, with a right for Pondicherry to maintain its cultural contact with France. Because we did not implement it, a serious problem arose afterwards. To solve it I was again asked to go to Pondicherry after Sri Aurobindo had passed away in 1950." And with the Mother's help and intervention the whole plan of integration with India was finalised here. Yet the Mother was not at all willing at first to meddle in Politics; she said she was not interested in it. Political problems were Sri Aurobindo's field. When Surendra Mohan asked for an interview with her, she enquired, "Is he interested in seeing me?" The interview granted, he pressed upon the Mother to take up Sri Aurobindo's cause and won his case.
I have purposely given long quotations in order to dispel our ignorant notions that Yogis live in a rarefied atmosphere of the Spirit and are indifferent to what passes on this plane of Matter; we forget that Spirit and Matter are two ends of existence. I shall give another minor, even humorous, instance of Matter's reality to Sri Aurobindo the Yogi, the poet and the philosopher. Sri Aurobindo was taking his meal, the Mother was serving him and we were standing nearby. She said, "X promised to offer us a big sum, but he has given only Rs.100 with a promise that the rest will follow. Shall we accept or refuse, Lord?" Sri Aurobindo quietly replied "Accept it and hope for the best." All of us, including the Mother, burst out laughing.
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Apart from these discussions on Politics in which Sri Aurobindo gave a prophetic warning about China's intention and about the Hindu-Moslem situation in Bengal, Surendra Mohan speaks of some astrological reading regarding Sri Aurobindo, which vitally concerned us. According to Bhrigu astrology, he says, Sri Aurobindo after his 78th year, would develop a loathing towards his body and then would leave it; otherwise death was in his control, he was such a great Yogi.... It was also mentioned there that the Mother or he himself could perform a particular yaja, a sacrificial ceremony following elaborate instructions and repeating certain mantras. On hearing this Surendra Mohan immediately came here and informed the Mother about it. When Sri Aurobindo heard of it, he consoled him saying, "Don't worry." The Mother asked him to send a copy of those instructions but due to some misunderstanding they arrived too late to be of any possible use. Now, this reading took place probably in October 1950. I remember very well the Mother having a talk with Sri Aurobindo on this point. That the reading was unhappily true has been borne out by later developments. Sri Aurobindo's answer to Surendra Mohan was equivocal; we now know that he had already decided to leave a year before. Had the instructions arrived earlier and the yaja been performed, it is still improbable that Sri Aurobindo would have changed his decision. The whole thing still remains a baffling mystery. We can only quote the Mother's words on the subject, uttered on 28.12.50: "Our Lord has sacrificed himself totally for us.... He was not compelled to leave his body, he chose to do so for reasons so sublime that they are beyond the reach of human mentality.... And when one cannot understand, the only thing is to keep a respectful silence." Another utterance on 18.1.51: "We stand in the Presence of Him who has sacrificed his physical life in order to help more fully his work of transformation.
"He is always with us, aware of what we are doing, of all our thoughts, of all our feelings and all our actions."
1.1.2 - Intellect and the Intellectual, #Letters On Yoga IV, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The power to discuss and debate is, as I say, a common human faculty and habit. Perhaps it is here that man begins to diverge from the animal; for animals have much intelligencemany animals and even insectseven some rudimentary power of practical reasoning, but so far as we know, they dont meet and put their ideas about things side by side or sling them at each other in a debate,1 as even the most ignorant human can do and very animatedly does. There too is the beginning of intellect for the reasons you allege. Also for the reason that it is a common faculty of the race, it can be specialised, so much so that a man whom it is dangerous to cross in debate in the field of literature or of science or of philosophy may yet make a fool of himself and wallow contentedly in a quagmire of blunders and fallacies if he discusses Politics or economy or, let us say, spirituality or Yoga. His only salvation is the blissful depth of his ignorance which prevents him from seeing what a mess he has made. Again a man may be a keen legal or political debater,the two very commonly go together,yet no intellectual. I admit that a man must have some logical intellect to debate well. But after all the object of debate is to win, to make your point and you may do that even if your point is false; success, not truth, is the aim of debate. So I admit what you say, but with reservations.
I agree also that labels are unsatisfactoryeven when applied to less developed persons; what we really do is to pick out something prominent and label with that as if it were all the person. But classification is impossible without that and mans intellect is driven always to classify, fix distinctions, set apart with a label. The philosophers have pointed out that Science does that too rigidly and in doing so cuts falsely across the truth of Nature. But if we dont do that, we cant have any Science.
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X asked me the question and I answered it on the basis of the current meaning of intellect and intellectual. People in ordinary speech do not make any distinction between intellect and intelligence, though of course it is quite true that a man may have a good or even a fine intelligence without being an intellectual. But ordinarily all thinking is attributed to the intellect; an intellectual therefore is a man whose main business or activity it is to think about thingsa philosopher, a poet, a scientist, a critic of art and literature or of life, are all classed together as intellectuals. A theorist on economy and Politics is an intellectual, a politician or a financier is not, unless he theorises on his own subject or is a thinker on another.
Ys distinction is based on those I have made here, but these distinctions are not current in ordinary speech, except one or two and those even in a very imperfect way. If I go by these distinctions, then the intellectuals will no longer be called intellectuals but thinkers and creatorsexcept a certain class of them. An intellectual or intellectual thinker will then be one who is a thinker by his reason or mainly by his reasone.g. Bertr and Russell, Bernard Shaw, Wells etc. Tagore thinks by vision, imagination, feeling or by intuition, not by the reasonat least that is true of his writings. C. R. Das himself would not be an intellectual; in Politics, literature and everything else he was an intuitive and emotive man. But, as I say, these would be distinctions not ordinarily current. In ordinary parlance Tagore, Das and everybody else of the kind would all be called intellectuals. The general mind does not make these subtle distinctions: it takes things in the mass, roughly and it is right in doing so, for otherwise it would lose itself altogether.
As for barristers etc., a man to succeed as a barrister must have legal knowledge and the power to apply it. It is not necessary that he should be a thinker even in his own subject or an intellectual. It is the same with all professional mendoctors, engineers etc. etc.: they may be intellectuals as well as successful in their profession, but they need not be.
1.12 - The Office and Limitations of the Reason, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
It is not only that he has to contrive continually some new harmony between the various elements of his being, physical, vitalistic, practical and dynamic, aesthetic, emotional and hedonistic, ethical, intellectual, but each of them again has to arrive at some order of its own disparate materials. In his ethics he is divided by different moral tendencies, justice and charity, self-help and altruism, self-increase and self-abnegation, the tendencies of strength and the tendencies of love, the moral rule of activism and the moral rule of quietism. His emotions are necessary to his development and their indulgence essential to the outflowering of his rich humanity; yet is he constantly called upon to coerce and deny them, nor is there any sure rule to guide him in the perplexity of this twofold need. His hedonistic impulse is called many ways by different fields, objects, ideals of self-satisfaction. His aesthetic enjoyment, his aesthetic creation forms for itself under the stress of the intelligence different laws and forms; each seeks to impose itself as the best and the standard, yet each, if its claim were allowed, would by its unjust victory impoverish and imprison his faculty and his felicity in its exercise. His Politics and society are a series of adventures and experiments among various possibilities of autocracy, monarchism, military aristocracy, mercantile oligarchy, open or veiled plutocracy, pseudo-democracy of various kinds, bourgeois or proletarian, individualistic or collectivist or bureaucratic, socialism awaiting him, anarchism looming beyond it; and all these correspond to some truth of his social being, some need of his complex social nature, some instinct or force in it which demands that form for its effectuation. Mankind works out these difficulties under the stress of the spirit within it by throwing out a constant variation of types, types of character and temperament, types of practical activity, aesthetic creation, polity, society, ethical order, intellectual system, which vary from the pure to the mixed, from the simple harmony to the complex; each and all of these are so many experiments of individual and collective self-formation in the light of a progressive and increasing knowledge. That knowledge is governed by a number of conflicting ideas and ideals around which these experiments group themselves: each of them is gradually pushed as far as possible in its purity and again mixed and combined as much as possible with others so that there may be a more complex form and an enriched action. Each type has to be broken in turn to yield place to new types and each combination has to give way to the possibility of a new combination. Through it all there is growing an accumulating stock of self-experience and self-actualisation of which the ordinary man accepts some current formulation conventionally as if it were an absolute law and truth,often enough he even thinks it to be that,but which the more developed human being seeks always either to break or to enlarge and make more profound or subtle in order to increase or make room for an increase of human capacity, perfectibility, happiness.
This view of human life and of the process of our development, to which subjectivism readily leads us, gives us a truer vision of the place of the intellect in the human movement. We have seen that the intellect has a double working, dispassionate and interested, self-centred or subservient to movements not its own. The one is a disinterested pursuit of truth for the sake of Truth and of knowledge for the sake of Knowledge without any ulterior motive, with every consideration put away except the rule of keeping the eye on the object, on the fact under enquiry and finding out its truth, its process, its law. The other is coloured by the passion for practice, the desire to govern life by the truth discovered or the fascination of an idea which we labour to establish as the sovereign law of our life and action. We have seen indeed that this is the superiority of reason over the other faculties of man that it is not confined to a separate absorbed action of its own, but plays upon all the others, discovers their law and truth, makes its discoveries serviceable to them and even in pursuing its own bent and end serves also their ends and arrives at a catholic utility. Man in fact does not live for knowledge alone; life in its widest sense is his principal preoccupation and he seeks knowledge for its utility to life much more than for the pure pleasure of acquiring knowledge. But it is precisely in this putting of knowledge at the service of life that the human intellect falls into that confusion and imperfection which pursues all human action. So long as we pursue knowledge for its own sake, there is nothing to be said: the reason is performing its natural function; it is exercising securely its highest right. In the work of the philosopher, the scientist, the savant labouring to add something to the stock of our ascertainable knowledge, there is as perfect a purity and satisfaction as in that of the poet and artist creating forms of beauty for the aesthetic delight of the race. Whatever individual error and limitation there may be, does not matter; for the collective and progressive knowledge of the race has gained the truth that has been discovered and may be trusted in time to get rid of the error. It is when it tries to apply ideas to life that the human intellect stumbles and finds itself at fault.
1.12 - The Sociology of Superman, #On the Way to Supermanhood, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
We have been so thoroughly mechanized, exteriorized, projected outside ourselves by our habit of depending on one mechanical device or another that our very first reflex is always to look for the external means, that is, an artifice, for all external means are artificial, part of the old falsehood. We will therefore be tempted to spread the idea, the Enterprise, through all the existing publicity channels, in short, to attract as many supporters of the new hope as possible which will quickly become a new religion. Here it may be appropriate to quote Sri Aurobindo and to drive home positively and forcefully his categorical statement: I don't believe in advertisement except for books etc., and in propaganda except for Politics and patent medicines. But for serious work it is a poison. It means either a stunt or a boom and stunts and booms exhaust the thing they carry on their chest and leave it lifeless and broken high and dry on the shores of nowhere or it means a movement. A movement in the case of a work like mine means the founding of a school or a sect or some other damned nonsense. It means that hundreds or thousands of useless people join in and corrupt the work or reduce it to a pompous farce from which the Truth that was coming down recedes into secrecy or silence. It is what has happened to the religions and is the reason of their failure.31 True, ultimately all men, the entire earth belong to supermanhood, but the ABC's of the new consciousness, its governing principle, is diversity in Unity and to try to confine the superman in advance to a ready-made setting, a privileged environment, an allegedly unique and more enlightened location is to fall back into the old farce and once again inflate the old human ego. To be sure, the law of Harmony will work in thousands of ways and in thousands of disguises, ultimately gathering the myriad notes of its great indivisible flow into a vaster space without boundaries. The Enterprise will be born everywhere at once it is already born, whispering here and there, blindly banging against walls and will gradually unveil its true face only when men are no longer able to trap it in a system, logic or shrine when everything here below is a shrine, in every heart and every country. And men shall not even know how they were prepared for such a Marvel.
Those who know a little, who feel, who have begun to perceive the great Wave of Truth, will therefore not fall into the trap of superman recruiting. The earth is unequally prepared; men are spiritually unequal despite all our democratic protests to the contrary though they are essentially equal and vast in the great Self, and only one body with millions of faces they have not all become the greatness that they are. They are on the way, and some dawdle while others seem to travel more swiftly, but the detours of the former are also part of the great geography of our indivisible domain, their delay or the brake they seem to apply to our motion is part of the fullness of perfection that we seek and which compels us to a greater meticulousness of truth. They too are going there, by their own way and what is outside the way, in the end, since everything is the Way? He who knows a little, who feels, knows first and foremost, from having experienced it in his own flesh, that men are never truly brought together by artifices and when they persist in their artifice, everything finally collapses and the meeting is brief; the beautiful school, the lovely sect, the little iridescent bubble of a moment's enthusiasm or faith is short-lived they are brought together through a finer and more discreet law, a tiny little searchlight across time and space, and touches a similar ray here and there, a twin frequency, a light source with the same intensity and he goes. He goes haphazardly, takes a train, a plane, travels to this country and that one, believes he is searching for this or that, that he is in quest of adventure, the exotic, drugs or philosophy he believes. He believes a lot of things. He thinks he has to have this power or that solution, this panacea or that revolution, this slogan or that one. He thinks he set out because of that thirst or revolt, that unhappy love affair or need for action, this hope or that old insoluble discord in his heart. But then, there is none of that! One day he stops, without knowing why, without planning to be there, without having looked for that place or that face, that insignificant village under the stars of one hemisphere or the other and there it is. He has arrived. He has opened his one door, found his kindred fire, that look forever known; and he is exactly at the right place, at the right time, to do the right work. The world is a fabulous clockwork, if only we knew the secret of those little fires glowing in another space, dancing on a great inner sea where our skiffs sail as if guided by an invisible beacon.
1.12 - TIME AND ETERNITY, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
This Marxian account of the matter is somewhat oversimplified. It is not quite true to say that all theologies and philosophies whose primary concern is with time, rather than eternity, are necessarily revolutionary. The aim of all revolutions is to make the future radically different from and better than the past. But some time-obsessed philosophies are primarily concerned with the past, not the future, and their Politics are entirely a matter of preserving or restoring the status quo and getting back to the good old days. But the retrospective time-worshippers have one thing in common with the revolutionary devotees of the bigger and better future; they are prepared to use unlimited violence to achieve their ends. It is here that we discover the essential difference between the Politics of eternity-philosophers and the Politics of time-philosophers. For the latter, the ultimate good is to be found in the temporal worldin a future, where everyone will be happy because all are doing and thinking something either entirely new and unprecedented or, alternatively, something old, traditional and hallowed. And because the ultimate good lies in time, they feel justified in making use of any temporal means for achieving it. The Inquisition burns and tortures in order to perpetuate a creed, a ritual and an ecclesiastico-politico-financial organization regarded as necessary to mens eternal salvation. Bible-worshipping Protestants fight long and savage wars, in order to make the world safe for what they fondly imagine to be the genuinely antique Christianity of apostolic times. Jacobins and Bolsheviks are ready to sacrifice millions of human lives for the sake of a political and economic future gorgeously unlike the present. And now all Europe and most of Asia has had to be sacrificed to a crystal-gazers vision of perpetual Co-Prosperity and the Thousand-Year Reich. From the records of history it seems to be abundantly clear that most of the religions and philosophies which take time too seriously are correlated with political theories that inculcate and justify the use of large-scale violence. The only exceptions are those simple Epicurean faiths, in which the reaction to an all too real time is Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. This is not a very noble, nor even a very realistic kind of morality. But it seems to make a good deal more sense than the revolutionary ethic: Die (and kill), for tomorrow someone else will eat, drink and be merry. In practice, of course, the prospect even of somebody elses future merriment is extremely precarious. For the process of wholesale dying and killing creates material, social and psychological conditions that practically guarantee the revolution against the achievement of its beneficent ends.
For those whose philosophy does not compel them to take time with an excessive seriousness the ultimate good is to be sought neither in the revolutionarys progressive social apocalypse, nor in the reactionarys revived and perpetuated past, but in an eternal divine now which those who sufficiently desire this good can realize as a fact of immediate experience. The mere act of dying is not in itself a passport to eternity; nor can wholesale killing do anything to bring deliverance either to the slayers or the slain or their posterity. The peace that passes all understanding is the fruit of liberation into eternity; but in its ordinary everyday form peace is also the root of liberation. For where there are violent passions and compelling distractions, this ultimate good can never be realized. That is one of the reasons why the policy correlated with eternity-philosophies is tolerant and non-violent. The other reason is that the eternity, whose realization is the ultimate good, is a kingdom of heaven within. Thou art That; and though That is immortal and impassible, the killing and torturing of individual thous is a matter of cosmic significance, inasmuch as it interferes with the normal and natural relationship between individual souls and the divine eternal Ground of all being. Every violence is, over and above everything else, a sacrilegious rebellion against the divine order.
1.13 - Reason and Religion, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The Hellenic ideal was roughly expressed in the old Latin maxim, a sound mind in a sound body. And by a sound body the ancients meant a healthy and beautiful body well-fitted for the rational use and enjoyment of life. And by a sound mind they meant a clear and balanced reason and an enlightened and well-trained mentality,trained in the sense of ancient, not of modern education. It was not to be packed with all available information and ideas, cast in the mould of science and a rational utility and so prepared for the efficient performance of social and civic needs and duties, for a professional avocation or for an intellectual pursuit; rather it was to be cultured in all its human capacities intellectual, moral, aesthetic, trained to use them rightly and to range freely, intelligently and flexibly in all questions and in all practical matters of philosophy, science, art, Politics and social living. The ancient Greek mind was philosophic, aesthetic and political; the modern mind has been scientific, economic and utilitarian. The ancient ideal laid stress on soundness and beauty and sought to build up a fine and rational human life; the modern lays very little or no stress on beauty, prefers rational and practical soundness, useful adaptation, just mechanism and seeks to build up a well-ordered, well-informed and efficient human life. Both take it that man is partly a mental, partly a physical being with the mentalised physical life for his field and reason for his highest attribute and his highest possibility. But if we follow to the end the new vistas opened by the most advanced tendencies of a subjective age, we shall be led back to a still more ancient truth and ideal that overtops both the Hellenic and the modern levels. For we shall then seize the truth that man is a developing spirit trying here to find and fulfil itself in the forms of mind, life and body; and we shall perceive luminously growing before us the greater ideal of a deeply conscious self-illumined, self-possessing, self-mastering soul in a pure and perfect mind and body. The wider field it seeks will be, not the mentalised physical life with which man has started, but a new spiritualised life inward and outward, by which the perfected internal figures itself in a perfected external living. Beyond mans long intelligent effort towards a perfected culture and a rational society there opens the old religious and spiritual ideal, the hope of the kingdom of heaven within us and the city of God upon earth.
But if the soul is the true sovereign and if its spiritual self-finding, its progressive largest widest integral fulfilment by the power of the spirit are to be accepted as the ultimate secret of our evolution, then since certainly the instinctive being of man below reason is not the means of attaining that high end and since we find that reason also is an insufficient light and power, there must be a superior range of being with its own proper powers,liberated soul-faculties, a spiritual will and knowledge higher than the reason and intelligent will,by which alone an entire conscious self-fulfilment can become possible to the human being. We must remember that our aim of self-fulfilment is an integral unfolding of the Divine within us, a complete evolution of the hidden divinity in the individual soul and the collective life. Otherwise we may simply come back to an old idea of individual and social living which had its greatness, but did not provide all the conditions of our perfection. That was the idea of a spiritualised typal society. It proceeded upon the supposition that each man has his own peculiar nature which is born from and reflects one element of the divine nature. The character of each individual, his ethical type, his training, his social occupation, his spiritual possibility must be formed or developed within the conditions of that peculiar element; the perfection he seeks in this life must be according to its law. The theory of ancient Indian cultureits practice, as is the way of human practice, did not always correspond to the theoryworked upon this supposition. It divided man in society into the fourfold orderan at once spiritual, psychic, ethical and economic orderof the Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra,practically, the spiritual and intellectual man, the dynamic man of will, the vital, hedonistic and economic man, the material man; the whole society organised in these four constituent classes represented the complete image of the creative and active Godhead.
1.14 - TURMOIL OR GENESIS?, #The Future of Man, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
matters of love or money or liberty, of Politics, economics or soci-
ety, we not only find our main line of conduct and criteria of
1.16 - The Suprarational Ultimate of Life, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The first mark of the suprarational, when it intervenes to take up any portion of our being, is the growth of absolute ideals; and since life is Being and Force and the divine state of being is unity and the Divine in force is God as Power taking possession, the absolute vital ideals must be of that nature. Nowhere are they wanting. If we take the domestic and social life of man, we find hints of them there in several forms; but we need only note, however imperfect and dim the present shapes, the strivings of love at its own self-finding, its reachings towards its absolute the absolute love of man and woman, the absolute maternal or paternal, filial or fraternal love, the love of friends, the love of comrades, love of country, love of humanity. These ideals of which the poets have sung so persistently, are not a mere glamour and illusion, however the egoisms and discords of our instinctive, infrarational way of living may seem to contradict them. Always crossed by imperfection or opposite vital movements, they are still divine possibilities and can be made a first means of our growth into a spiritual unity of being with being. Certain religious disciplines have understood this truth, have taken up these relations boldly and applied them to our souls communion with God; and by a converse process they can, lifted out of their present social and physical formulas, become for us, not the poor earthly things they are now, but deep and beautiful and wonderful movements of God in man fulfilling himself in life. All the economic development of life itself takes on at its end the appearance of an attempt to get rid of the animal squalor and bareness which is what obligatory poverty really means, and to give to man the divine ease and leisure of the gods. It is pursued in a wrong way, no doubt, and with many ugly circumstances, but still the ideal is darkly there. Politics itself, that apparent game of strife and deceit and charlatanism, can be a large field of absolute idealisms. What of patriotism,never mind the often ugly instincts from which it starts and which it still obstinately preserves,but in its aspects of worship, self-giving, discipline, self-sacrifice? The great political ideals of man, monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, apart from the selfishnesses they serve and the rational and practical justifications with which they arm themselves, have had for their soul an ideal, some half-seen truth of the absolute and have carried with them a worship, a loyalty, a loss of self in the idea which have made men ready to suffer and die for them. War and strife themselves have been schools of heroism; they have preserved the heroic in man, they have created the katriys tyaktajvit of the Sanskrit epic phrase, the men of power and courage who have abandoned their bodily life for a cause; for without heroism man cannot grow into the Godhead; courage, energy and strength are among the very first principles of the divine nature in action. All this great vital, political, economic life of man with its two powers of competition and cooperation is stumbling blindly forward towards some realisation of power and unity,in two divine directions, therefore. For the Divine in life is Power possessed of self-mastery, but also of mastery of His world, and man and mankind too move towards conquest of their world, their environment. And again the Divine in fulfilment here is and must be oneness, and the ideal of human unity however dim and far off is coming slowly into sight. The competitive nation-units are feeling, at times, however feebly as yet, the call to cast themselves into a greater unified cooperative life of the human race.
No doubt all is still moving, however touched by dim lights from above, on a lower half rational half infrarational level, clumsily, coarsely, in ignorance of itself and as yet with little nobility of motive. All is being worked out very crudely by the confused clash of life-forces and the guidance of ideas that are half-lights of the intellect, and the means proposed are too mechanical and the aims too material; they miss the truth that the outer life-result can only endure if it is founded on inner realities. But so life in the past has moved always and must at first move. For life organises itself at first round the ego-motive and the instinct of ego-expansion is the earliest means by which men have come into contact with each other; the struggle for possession has been the first crude means towards union, the aggressive assertion of the smaller self the first step towards a growth into the larger self. All has been therefore a half-ordered confusion of the struggle for life corrected by the need and instinct of association, a struggle of individuals, clans, tribes, parties, nations, ideas, civilisations, cultures, ideals, religions, each affirming itself, each compelled into contact, association, strife with the others. For while Nature imposes the ego as a veil behind which she labours out the individual manifestation of the spirit, she also puts a compulsion on it to grow in being until it can at last expand or merge into a larger self in which it meets, harmonises with itself, comprehends in its own consciousness, becomes one with the rest of existence. To assist in this growth Life-Nature throws up in itself ego-enlarging, ego-exceeding, even ego-destroying instincts and movements which combat and correct the smaller self-affirming instincts and movements,she enforces on her human instrument impulses of love, sympathy, self-denial, self-effacement, self-sacrifice, altruism, the drive towards universality in mind and heart and life, glimmerings of an obscure unanimism that has not yet found thoroughly its own true light and motive-power. Because of this obscurity these powers, unable to affirm their own absolute, to take the lead or dominate, obliged to compromise with the demands of the ego, even to become themselves a form of egoism, are impotent also to bring harmony and transformation to life. Instead of peace they seem to bring rather a sword; for they increase the number and tension of conflict of the unreconciled forces, ideas, impulses of which the individual human consciousness and the life of the collectivity are the arena. The ideal and practical reason of man labours to find amidst all this the right law of life and action; it strives by a rule of moderation and accommodation, by selection and rejection or by the dominance of some chosen ideas or powers to reduce things to harmony, to do consciously what Nature through natural selection and instinct has achieved in her animal kinds, an automatically ordered and settled form and norm of their existence. But the order, the structure arrived at by the reason is always partial, precarious and temporary. It is disturbed by a pull from below and a pull from above. For these powers that life throws up to help towards the growth into a larger self, a wider being, are already reflections of something that is beyond reason, seeds of the spiritual, the absolute. There is the pressure on human life of an Infinite which will not allow it to rest too long in any formulation,not at least until it has delivered out of itself that which shall be its own self-exceeding and self-fulfilment.
1.17 - Religion as the Law of Life, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
This revolt in its extreme form tried to destroy religion altogether, boasted indeed of having killed the religious instinct in man,a vain and ignorant boast, as we now see, for the religious instinct in man is most of all the one instinct in him that cannot be killed, it only changes its form. In its more moderate movements the revolt put religion aside into a corner of the soul by itself and banished its intermiscence in the intellectual, aesthetic, practical life and even in the ethical; and it did this on the ground that the intermiscence of religion in science, thought, Politics, society, life in general had been and must be a force for retardation, superstition, oppressive ignorance. The religionist may say that this accusation was an error and an atheistic perversity, or he may say that a religious retardation, a pious ignorance, a contented static condition or even an orderly stagnation full of holy thoughts of the Beyond is much better than a continuous endeavour after greater knowledge, greater mastery, more happiness, joy, light upon this transient earth. But the catholic thinker cannot accept such a plea; he is obliged to see that so long as man has not realised the divine and the ideal in his life, and it may well be even when he has realised it, since the divine is the infinite,progress and not unmoving status is the necessary and desirable law of his life,not indeed any breathless rush after novelties, but a constant motion towards a greater and greater truth of the spirit, the thought and the life not only in the individual, but in the collectivity, in the communal endeavour, in the turn, ideals, temperament, make of the society, in its strivings towards perfection. And he is obliged too to see that the indictment against religion, not in its conclusion, but in its premiss had something, had even much to justify it,not that religion in itself must be, but that historically and as a matter of fact the accredited religions and their hierarchs and exponents have too often been a force for retardation, have too often thrown their weight on the side of darkness, oppression and ignorance, and that it has needed a denial, a revolt of the oppressed human mind and heart to correct these errors and set religion right. And why should this have been if religion is the true and sufficient guide and regulator of all human activities and the whole of human life?
We need not follow the rationalistic or atheistic mind through all its aggressive indictment of religion. We need not for instance lay a too excessive stress on the superstitions, aberrations, violences, crimes even, which Churches and cults and creeds have favoured, admitted, sanctioned, supported or exploited for their own benefit, the mere hostile enumeration of which might lead one to echo the cry of the atheistic Roman poet, To such a mass of ills could religion persuade mankind. As well might one cite the crimes and errors which have been committed in the name of liberty or of order as a sufficient condemnation of the ideal of liberty or the ideal of social order. But we have to note the fact that such a thing was possible and to find its explanation. We cannot ignore for instance the bloodstained and fiery track which formal external Christianity has left furrowed across the mediaeval history of Europe almost from the days of Constantine, its first hour of secular triumph, down to very recent times, or the sanguinary comment which such an institution as the Inquisition affords on the claim of religion to be the directing light and regulating power in ethics and society, or religious wars and wide-spread State persecutions on its claim to guide the political life of mankind. But we must observe the root of this evil, which is not in true religion itself, but in its infrarational parts, not in spiritual faith and aspiration, but in our ignorant human confusion of religion with a particular creed, sect, cult, religious society or Church. So strong is the human tendency to this error that even the old tolerant Paganism slew Socrates in the name of religion and morality, feebly persecuted non-national faiths like the cult of Isis or the cult of Mithra and more vigorously what it conceived to be the subversive and anti-social religion of the early Christians; and even in still more fundamentally tolerant Hinduism with all its spiritual broadness and enlightenment it led at one time to the milder mutual hatred and occasional though brief-lived persecution of Buddhist, Jain, Shaiva, Vaishnava.
The whole root of the historic insufficiency of religion as a guide and control of human society lies there. Churches and creeds have, for example, stood violently in the way of philosophy and science, burned a Giordano Bruno, imprisoned a Galileo, and so generally misconducted themselves in this matter that philosophy and science had in self-defence to turn upon Religion and rend her to pieces in order to get a free field for their legitimate development; and this because men in the passion and darkness of their vital nature had chosen to think that religion was bound up with certain fixed intellectual conceptions about God and the world which could not stand scrutiny, and therefore scrutiny had to be put down by fire and sword; scientific and philosophical truth had to be denied in order that religious error might survive. We see too that a narrow religious spirit often oppresses and impoverishes the joy and beauty of life, either from an intolerant asceticism or, as the Puritans attempted it, because they could not see that religious austerity is not the whole of religion, though it may be an important side of it, is not the sole ethico-religious approach to God, since love, charity, gentleness, tolerance, kindliness are also and even more divine, and they forgot or never knew that God is love and beauty as well as purity. In Politics religion has often thrown itself on the side of power and resisted the coming of larger political ideals, because it was itself, in the form of a Church, supported by power and because it confused religion with the Church, or because it stood for a false theocracy, forgetting that true theocracy is the kingdom of God in man and not the kingdom of a Pope, a priesthood or a sacerdotal class. So too it has often supported a rigid and outworn social system, because it thought its own life bound up with social forms with which it happened to have been associated during a long portion of its own history and erroneously concluded that even a necessary change there would be a violation of religion and a danger to its existence. As if so mighty and inward a power as the religious spirit in man could be destroyed by anything so small as the change of a social form or so outward as a social readjustment! This error in its many shapes has been the great weakness of religion as practised in the past and the opportunity and justification for the revolt of the intelligence, the aesthetic sense, the social and political idealism, even the ethical spirit of the human being against what should have been its own highest tendency and law.
Here then lies one secret of the divergence between the ancient and the modern, the Eastern and Western ideal, and here also one clue to their reconciliation. Both rest upon a certain strong justification and their quarrel is due to a misunderstanding. It is true in a sense that religion should be the dominant thing in life, its light and law, but religion as it should be and is in its inner nature, its fundamental law of being, a seeking after God, the cult of spirituality, the opening of the deepest life of the soul to the indwelling Godhead, the eternal Omnipresence. On the other hand, it is true that religion when it identifies itself only with a creed, a cult, a Church, a system of ceremonial forms, may well become a retarding force and there may therefore arise a necessity for the human spirit to reject its control over the varied activities of life. There are two aspects of religion, true religion and religionism. True religion is spiritual religion, that which seeks to live in the spirit, in what is beyond the intellect, beyond the aesthetic and ethical and practical being of man, and to inform and govern these members of our being by the higher light and law of the spirit. Religionism, on the contrary, entrenches itself in some narrow pietistic exaltation of the lower members or lays exclusive stress on intellectual dogmas, forms and ceremonies, on some fixed and rigid moral code, on some religio-political or religio-social system. Not that these things are altogether negligible or that they must be unworthy or unnecessary or that a spiritual religion need disdain the aid of forms, ceremonies, creeds or systems. On the contrary, they are needed by man because the lower members have to be exalted and raised before they can be fully spiritualised, before they can directly feel the spirit and obey its law. An intellectual formula is often needed by the thinking and reasoning mind, a form or ceremony by the aesthetic temperament or other parts of the infrarational being, a set moral code by mans vital nature in their turn towards the inner life. But these things are aids and supports, not the essence; precisely because they belong to the rational and infrarational parts, they can be nothing more and, if too blindly insisted on, may even hamper the suprarational light. Such as they are, they have to be offered to man and used by him, but not to be imposed on him as his sole law by a forced and inflexible domination. In the use of them toleration and free permission of variation is the first rule which should be observed. The spiritual essence of religion is alone the one thing supremely needful, the thing to which we have always to hold and subordinate to it every other element or motive.
1.18 - The Infrarational Age of the Cycle, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Certainly, this will not come about easily, or, as men have always vainly hoped from each great new turn and revolution of Politics and society, by a sudden and at once entirely satisfying change and magical transformation. The advance, however it comes about, will be indeed of the nature of a miracle, as are all such profound changes and immense developments; for they have the appearance of a kind of realised impossibility. But God works all his miracles by an evolution of secret possibilities which have been long prepared, at least in their elements, and in the end by a rapid bringing of all to a head, a throwing together of the elements so that in their fusion they produce a new form and name of things and reveal a new spirit. Often the decisive turn is preceded by an apparent emphasising and raising to their extreme of things which seem the very denial, the most uncompromising opposite of the new principle and the new creation. Such an evolution of the elements of a spiritualised society is that which a subjective age makes at least possible, and if at the same time it raises to the last height of active power things which seem the very denial of such a potentiality, that need be no index of a practical impossibility of the new birth, but on the contrary may be the sign of its approach or at the lowest a strong attempt at achievement. Certainly, the whole effort of a subjective age may go wrong; but this happens oftenest when by the insufficiency of its materials, a great crudeness of its starting-point and a hasty shallowness or narrow intensity of its inlook into itself and things it is foredoomed to a fundamental error of self-knowledge. It becomes less likely when the spirit of the age is full of freedom, variety and a many-sided seeking, a persistent effort after knowledge and perfection in all the domains of human activity; that can well convert itself into an intense and yet flexible straining after the infinite and the divine on many sides and in many aspects. In such circumstances, though a full advance may possibly not be made, a great step forward can be predicted.
We have seen that there are necessarily three stages of the social evolution or, generally, of the human evolution in both individual and society. Our evolution starts with an infrarational stage in which men have not yet learned to refer their life and action in its principles and its forms to the judgment of the clarified intelligence; for they still act principally out of their instincts, impulses, spontaneous ideas, vital intuitions or obey a customary response to desire, need and circumstance,it is these things that are canalised or crystallised in their social institutions. Man proceeds by various stages out of these beginnings towards a rational age in which his intelligent will more or less developed becomes the judge, arbiter and presiding motive of his thought, feeling and action, the moulder, destroyer and re-creator of his leading ideas, aims and intuitions. Finally, if our analysis and forecast are correct, the human evolution must move through a subjective towards a suprarational or spiritual age in which he will develop progressively a greater spiritual, supra-intellectual and intuitive, perhaps in the end a more than intuitive, a gnostic consciousness. He will be able to perceive a higher divine end, a divine sanction, a divine light of guidance for all he seeks to be, think, feel and do, and able, too, more and more to obey and live in this larger light and power. That will not be done by any rule of infrarational religious impulse and ecstasy, such as characterised or rather darkly illumined the obscure confusion and brute violence of the Middle Ages, but by a higher spiritual living for which the clarities of the reason are a necessary preparation and into which they too will be taken up, transformed, brought to their invisible source.
1.2.02 - Qualities Needed for Sadhana, #Letters On Yoga II, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Evidently, the activities and aspirations of men are not trivial and worthless, for all life is a growth of the soul out of the darkness towards the Light. But our attitude is that humanity cannot grow out of its limitations by the ordinary means adopted by the human mind, Politics, social reform, philanthropy, etc.,
- these can only be temporary or local palliatives. The only true escape is a change of consciousness, a change into a greater, wider and purer way of being, and a life and action based upon that change. It is therefore to that that the energies must be turned, once the spiritual orientation is complete. This implies no contempt, but the preference of the only effective means over those which have been found ineffective.
1.22 - The Necessity of the Spiritual Transformation, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Such a period was the recent materialistic age, when the intellect of man seemed decided to study thoroughly Life and Matter, to admit only that, to recognise mind only as an instrument of Life and Matter, and to devote all its knowledge to a tremendous expansion of the vital and physical life, its practicality, its efficiency, its comfort and the splendid ordering of its instincts of production, possession and enjoyment. That was the character of the materialistic, commercial, economic age of mankind, a period in which the ethical mind persisted painfully, but with decreasing self-confidence, an increasing self-questioning and a tendency to yield up the fortress of the moral law to the life-instinct, the aesthetic instinct and intelligence flourished as a rather glaring exotic ornament, a sort of rare orchid in the button-hole of the vital man, and reason became the magnificent servant of Life and Matter. The titanic development of the vital Life which followed, is ending as the Titans always end; it lit its own funeral pyre in the conflagration of a world-war, its natural upshot, a struggle between the most efficient and civilised nations for the possession and enjoyment of the world, of its wealth, its markets, its available spaces, an inflated and plethoric commercial expansion, largeness of imperial size and rule. For that is what the great war signified and was in its real origin, because that was the secret or the open intention of all pre-war diplomacy and international Politics; and if a nobler idea was awakened at least for a time, it was only under the scourge of Death and before the terrifying spectre of a gigantic mutual destruction. Even so the awakening was by no means complete, nor everywhere quite sincere, but it was there and it was struggling towards birth even in Germany, once the great protagonist of the vitalistic philosophy of life. In that awakening lay some hope of better things. But for the moment at least the vitalistic aim has once more raised its head in a new form and the hope has dimmed in a darkness and welter in which only the eye of faith can see chaos preparing a new cosmos.
The first result of this imperfect awakening seemed likely to be a return to an older ideal, with a will to use the reason and the ethical mind better and more largely in the ordering of individual, of national and of international life. But such an attempt, though well enough as a first step, cannot be the real and final solution; if our effort ends there, we shall not arrive. The solution lies, we have said, in an awakening to our real, because our highest self and nature,that hidden self which we are not yet, but have to become and which is not the strong and enlightened vital Will hymned by Nietzsche, but a spiritual self and spiritual nature that will use the mental being which we already are, but the mental being spiritualised, and transform by a spiritual ideality the aim and action of our vital and physical nature. For this is the formula of man in his highest potentiality, and safety lies in tending towards our highest and not in resting content with an inferior potentiality. To follow after the highest in us may seem to be to live dangerously, to use again one of Nietzsches inspired expressions, but by that danger comes victory and security. To rest in or follow after an inferior potentiality may seem safe, rational, comfortable, easy, but it ends badly, in some futility or in a mere circling, down the abyss or in a stagnant morass. Our right and natural road is towards the summits.
1.23 - Conditions for the Coming of a Spiritual Age, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
These ideas are likely first to declare their trend in philosophy, in psychological thinking, in the arts, poetry, painting, sculpture, music, in the main idea of ethics, in the application of subjective principles by thinkers to social questions, even perhaps, though this is a perilous effort, to Politics and economics, that hard refractory earthy matter which most resists all but a gross utilitarian treatment. There will be new unexpected departures of science or at least of research,since to such a turn in its most fruitful seekings the orthodox still deny the name of science. Discoveries will be made that thin the walls between soul and matter; attempts there will be to extend exact knowledge into the psychological and psychic realms with a realisation of the truth that these have laws of their own which are other than the physical, but not the less laws because they escape the external senses and are infinitely plastic and subtle. There will be a labour of religion to reject its past heavy weight of dead matter and revivify its strength in the fountains of the spirit. These are sure signs, if not of the thing to be, at least of a great possibility of it, of an effort that will surely be made, another endeavour perhaps with a larger sweep and a better equipped intelligence capable not only of feeling but of understanding the Truth that is demanding to be heard. Some such signs we can see at the present time although they are only incipient and sporadic and have not yet gone far enough to warrant a confident certitude. It is only when these groping beginnings have found that for which they are seeking, that it can be successfully applied to the remoulding of the life of man. Till then nothing better is likely to be achieved than an inner preparation and, for the rest, radical or revolutionary experiments of a doubtful kind with the details of the vast and cumbrous machinery under which life now groans and labours.
A subjective age may stop very far short of spirituality; for the subjective turn is only a first condition, not the thing itself, not the end of the matter. The search for the Reality, the true self of man, may very easily follow out the natural order described by the Upanishad in the profound apologue of the seekings of Bhrigu, son of Varuna. For first the seeker found the ultimate reality to be Matter and the physical, the material being, the external man our only self and spirit. Next he fixed on life as the Reality and the vital being as the self and spirit; in the third essay he penetrated to Mind and the mental being; only afterwards could he get beyond the superficial subjective through the supramental Truth-Consciousness to the eternal, the blissful, the ever creative Reality of which these are the sheaths. But humanity may not be as persistent or as plastic as the son of Varuna, the search may stop short anywhere. Only if it is intended that he shall now at last arrive and discover, will the Spirit break each insufficient formula as soon as it has shaped itself and compel the thought of man to press forward to a larger discovery and in the end to the largest and most luminous of all. Something of the kind has been happening, but only in a very external way and on the surface. After the material formula which governed the greater part of the nineteenth century had burdened man with the heaviest servitude to the machinery of the outer material life that he has ever yet been called upon to bear, the first attempt to break through, to get to the living reality in things and away from the mechanical idea of life and living and society, landed us in that surface vitalism which had already begun to govern thought before the two formulas inextricably locked together lit up and flung themselves on the lurid pyre of the world-war. The vital lan has brought us no deliverance, but only used the machinery already created with a more feverish insistence, a vehement attempt to live more rapidly, more intensely, an inordinate will to act and to succeed, to enlarge the mere force of living or to pile up a gigantic efficiency of the collective life. It could not have been otherwise even if this vitalism had been less superficial and external, more truly subjective. To live, to act, to grow, to increase the vital force, to understand, utilise and fulfil the intuitive impulse of life are not things evil in themselves: rather they are excellent things, if rightly followed and rightly used, that is to say, if they are directed to something beyond the mere vitalistic impulse and are governed by that within which is higher than Life. The Life-power is an instrument, not an aim; it is in the upward scale the first great subjective supraphysical instrument of the Spirit and the base of all action and endeavour. But a Life-power that sees nothing beyond itself, nothing to be served except its own organised demands and impulses, will be very soon like the force of steam driving an engine without the driver or an engine in which the locomotive force has made the driver its servant and not its controller. It can only add the uncontrollable impetus of a high-crested or broad-based Titanism, or it may be even a nether flaming demonism, to the Nature forces of the material world with the intellect as its servant, an impetus of measureless unresting creation, appropriation, expansion which will end in something violent, huge and colossal, foredoomed in its very nature to excess and ruin, because light is not in it nor the souls truth nor the sanction of the gods and their calm eternal will and knowledge.
--
A spiritualised society would treat in its sociology the individual, from the saint to the criminal, not as units of a social problem to be passed through some skilfully devised machinery and either flattened into the social mould or crushed out of it, but as souls suffering and entangled in a net and to be rescued, souls growing and to be encouraged to grow, souls grown and from whom help and power can be drawn by the lesser spirits who are not yet adult. The aim of its economics would be not to create a huge engine of production, whether of the competitive or the cooperative kind, but to give to mennot only to some but to all men each in his highest possible measure the joy of work according to their own nature and free leisure to grow inwardly, as well as a simply rich and beautiful life for all. In its Politics it would not regard the nations within the scope of their own internal life as enormous State machines regulated and armoured with man living for the sake of the machine and worshipping it as his God and his larger self, content at the first call to kill others upon its altar and to bleed there himself so that the machine may remain intact and powerful and be made ever larger, more complex, more cumbrous, more mechanically efficient and entire. Neither would it be content to maintain these nations or States in their mutual relations as noxious engines meant to discharge poisonous gas upon each other in peace and to rush in times of clash upon each others armed hosts and unarmed millions, full of belching shot and men missioned to murder like war-planes or hostile tanks in a modern battlefield. It would regard the peoples as group-souls, the Divinity concealed and to be self-discovered in its human collectivities, group-souls meant like the individual to grow according to their own nature and by that growth to help each other, to help the whole race in the one common work of humanity. And that work would be to find the divine Self in the individual and the collectivity and to realise spiritually, mentally, vitally, materially its greatest, largest, richest and deepest possibilities in the inner life of all and their outer action and nature.
For it is into the Divine within them that men and mankind have to grow; it is not an external idea or rule that has to be imposed on them from without. Therefore the law of a growing inner freedom is that which will be most honoured in the spiritual age of mankind. True it is that so long as man has not come within measurable distance of self-knowledge and has not set his face towards it, he cannot escape from the law of external compulsion and all his efforts to do so must be vain. He is and always must be, so long as that lasts, the slave of others, the slave of his family, his caste, his clan, his Church, his society, his nation; and he cannot but be that and they too cannot help throwing their crude and mechanical compulsion on him, because he and they are the slaves of their own ego, of their own lower nature. We must feel and obey the compulsion of the Spirit if we would establish our inner right to escape other compulsion: we must make our lower nature the willing slave, the conscious and illumined instrument or the ennobled but still self-subjected portion, consort or partner of the divine Being within us, for it is that subjection which is the condition of our freedom, since spiritual freedom is not the egoistic assertion of our separate mind and life but obedience to the Divine Truth in ourself and our members and in all around us. But we have, even so, to remark that God respects the freedom of the natural members of our being and that he gives them room to grow in their own nature so that by natural growth and not by self-extinction they may find the Divine in themselves. The subjection which they finally accept, complete and absolute, must be a willing subjection of recognition and aspiration to their own source of light and power and their highest being. Therefore even in the unregenerated state we find that the healthiest, the truest, the most living growth and action is that which arises in the largest possible freedom and that all excess of compulsion is either the law of a gradual atrophy or a tyranny varied or cured by outbreaks of rabid disorder. And as soon as man comes to know his spiritual self, he does by that discovery, often even by the very seeking for it, as ancient thought and religion saw, escape from the outer law and enter into the law of freedom.
1.24 - RITUAL, SYMBOL, SACRAMENT, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
There is another disadvantage inherent in any system of organized sacramentalism, and that is that it gives to the priestly caste a power which it is all too natural for them to abuse. In a society which has been taught that salvation is exclusively or mainly through certain sacraments, and that these sacraments can be administered effectively only by a professional priesthood, that professional priesthood will possess an enormous coercive power. The possession of such power is a standing temptation to use it for individual satisfaction and corporate aggrandizement. To a temptation of this kind, if repeated often enough, most human beings who are not saints almost inevitably succumb. That is why Christ taught his disciples to pray that they should not be led into temptation. This is, or should be, the guiding principle of all social reformto organize the economic, political and social relationships between human beings in such a way that there shall be, for any given individual or group within the society, a minimum of temptations to covetousness, pride, cruelty and lust for power. Men and women being what they are, it is only by reducing the number and intensity of temptations that human societies can be, in some measure at least, delivered from evil. Now, the sort of temptations, to which a priestly caste is exposed in a society that accepts a predominantly sacramental religion, are such that none but the most saintly persons can be expected consistently to resist them. What happens when ministers of religion are led into these temptations is clearly illustrated by the history of the Roman church. Because Catholic Christianity taught a version of the Perennial Philosophy, it produced a succession of great saints. But because the Perennial Philosophy was overlaid with an excessive amount of sacramentalism and with an idolatrous preoccupation with things in time, the less saintly members of its hierarchy were exposed to enormous and quite unnecessary temptations and, duly succumbing to them, launched out into persecution, simony, power Politics, secret diplomacy, high finance and collaboration with despots.
I very much doubt whether, since the Lord by his grace brought me into the faith of his dear Son, I have ever broken bread or drunk wine, even in the ordinary course of life, without remembrance of, and some devout feeling regarding, the broken body and the blood-shedding of my dear Lord and Saviour.
1.25 - Critical Objections brought against Poetry, and the principles on which they are to be answered., #Poetics, #Aristotle, #Philosophy
The vehicle of expression is language,--either current terms or, it may be, rare words or metaphors. There are also many modifications of language, which we concede to the poets. Add to this, that the standard of correctness is not the same in poetry and Politics, any more than in poetry and any other art. Within the art of poetry itself there are two kinds of faults, those which touch its essence, and those which are accidental. If a poet has chosen to imitate something,through want of capacity, the error is inherent in the poetry. But if the failure is due to a wrong choice if he has represented a horse as throwing out both his off legs at once, or introduced technical inaccuracies in medicine, for example, or in any other art the error is not essential to the poetry. These are the points of view from which we should consider and answer the objections raised by the critics.
First as to matters which concern the poet's own art. If he describes the impossible, he is guilty of an error; but the error may be justified, if the end of the art be thereby attained (the end being that already mentioned), if, that is, the effect of this or any other part of the poem is thus rendered more striking. A case in point is the pursuit of Hector. If, however, the end might have been as well, or better, attained without violating the special rules of the poetic art, the error is not justified: for every kind of error should, if possible, be avoided.
1.4.01 - The Divine Grace and Guidance, #Letters On Yoga II, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
I could illustrate my meaning more concretely from my own first experience of the Self, long before I knew even what Yoga was or that there was such a thing, at a time when I had no religious feeling, no wish for spiritual knowledge, no aspiration beyond the mind, only a contented agnosticism and the impulse towards poetry and Politics. But it would be too long a story, so
I do not tell it here.
14.07 - A Review of Our Ashram Life, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The freedom, the devolution or departure from the centre control went so far as to bring about, as I say, almost a real separation between the two: the same tendency, by the way, as we may notice in the play of world Politics today.
The limbs declared their independence and sought and fought for this independence but that could only be at the cost of the Heart. The calvary of the Divine lay precisely here: it is due to this sense of separation, an individual exclusive self-existence prevailing in his children, issues of his own body. The units in the cosmic body of the Divine in the Ignorance are indeed ignorant; and the force that compels them to be together apparently is the forced bond of ignorance, they seem outwardly to press towards inevitable disintegration and chaos.
1.48 - Morals of AL - Hard to Accept, and Why nevertheless we Must Concur, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Had Hitler been a less abnormal character, no great "Mischief," or at least a very different kind of "mischief," might have come of it. I think you have read Hitler speaks if not, do so his private conversation abounds in what sound almost like actual quotations from the Book of the Law. But he public man's private conversation can be repeated on the platform only at the risk of his political life; and he served up to the people only such concoctions as would tickle their gross palates. Worse still, he was the slave of his prophetic frenzy; he had not undertaken the balancing regimen of the Curriculum of AA; and, worst of all, he was very far indeed from being a full initiate, even in the loosest sense of the term. His Weltanschauung was accordingly a mass of personal and political prejudice; he had no true cosmic comprehension, no true appreciation of First Principles; and he was tossed about in every direction by the varied conflicting forces that naturally concentrated their energies ever more strenuously upon him as his personal position became more and more the dominating factor, first in domestic and then in European Politics. I warned our S.H. Soror repeatedly that she ought to correct these tendencies; but she already saw the success of her plans within her grasp, and refused to believe that this success itself would alarm the world into combining to destroy him. "But we have the Book," she confidently retorted, failing to see that the other powers in extremity would be compelled to adopt those identical principles. Of course, as you know, it has happened as I foresaw; only a remnant of piety-purefied Prelates and sloppy sentimentalists still hold out against the Book of the Law, sabotage the victory, and will turn the Peace into a shambles of surrender if we are fools enough to give ear to their caterwauling as in the story of the highly-esteemed tomcat, when at last one of his fans obtained an interview; "all he could do was to talk about his operation."
Has this digression seemed too long? Ah, but it isn't a digression. Rightly considered, it strikes at the heart of your "difficulties."
1.56 - Marriage - Property - War - Politics, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
object:1.56 - Marriage - Property - War - Politics
class:chapter
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Marriage Property War Politics
Cara Soror,
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The last part of your question refers to Politics. "The word Politics surprises by himself," as Count Smorltork observed. Practically all those parts of the Book which deal with social matters may be considered as political in the old an proper sense of the word; of modern Politics it disdains to speak.
Love is the law, love under will.
1.73 - Monsters, Niggers, Jews, etc., #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
It is peculiarly noticeable that when a class is a ruling minority, it acquires a detestation as well as a contempt for the surrounding "mob." In the Northern States of U.S.A., where the whites are overwhelming in number, the "nigger" can be more or less a "regular fellow;" in the South, where fear is a factor, Lynch Law prevails. (Should it? The reason for "NO" is that it is a confession of weakness.) But in the North, there is a very strong feeling about certain other classes: the Irish, the Italians, the Jews. Why? Fear again; the Irish in Politics, the Italians in crime, the Jews in finance. But none of these phobias prevent friendship between individuals of hostile classes.
I think that perhaps I have already written enough at least enough to start you thinking on the right lines. And mark well this! The submergence of the individual in his class means the end of all true human relations between men. Socialism means war. When the class moves as a class, there can be no exceptions.
1.75 - The AA and the Planet, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
Practically all the messages received during the "Cairo Working" (March-April 1904 e.v.) came to me through Ouarda. No woman ever lived who was more ignorant of, or less interested in, anything to do with Politics, or the welfare of the race; she cared for nothing beyond her personal comfort and pleasure. When the communications ceased, she dropped the whole affair without a thought.
She nearly always referred to the authors of these messages as "They:" when asked who "They" were, she would say haltingly and stupidly "the gods," or some equally unhelpful term. But she was always absolutely clear and precise as to the instructions. The New Aeon was to supersede the old; my special job was to preserve the Sacred Tradition, so that a new Renaissance might in due season rekindle the hidden Light. I was accordingly to make a Quintessence of the Ancient Wisdom, and publish it in as permanent a form as possible. This I did in The Equinox. I should perhaps have been strictly classical, and admitted only the "Publication in Class "A", "A-B", "B" and "D" material. But I had the idea that it would be a good plan to add all sorts of other stuff, so that people who were not in any way interested in the real Work might preserve their copies.
1957-08-07 - The resistances, politics and money - Aspiration to realise the supramental life, #Questions And Answers 1957-1958, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
object:1957-08-07 - The resistances, Politics and money - Aspiration to realise the supramental life
class:chapter
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There are two points which resist stronglyall that has to do with Politics and all that has to do with money. These are the two points on which it is most difficult to change the human attitude.
In principle we have said that we have nothing to do with Politics, and it is true that we have nothing to do with Politics as it is practised at present. But it is quite obvious that if Politics is taken in its true spirit, that is, as the organisation of human masses and all the details of government and regulation of the collective life, and relations with other collectivities that is, with other nations, other countriesit must necessarily enter into the supramental transformation, for so long as national life and the relations between nations remain what they are, it is quite impossible to live a supramental life on earth. So it will just have to change; we shall have to deal with that too.
As for financial matters, that is, finding a means of exchange and production which is simplesimple, well, which should be simple, simpler than the primitive system of exchange in which people had to give one thing to get another something which could in principle be world-wide, universal; this is also altogether indispensable for the simplification of life. Now, with human nature, just the very opposite is happening! The situation is such that it has become almostintolerable. It has become almost impossible to have the least relation with other countries, and that much-vaunted means of exchange which should have been a simplification has become such a complication that we shall soon reach a deadlockwe are very, very close to being unable to do anything, to being tied up in everything. If one wants the smallest thing from another country, one has to follow such complicated and laborious procedures that in the end one will stay in ones own little corner and be satisfied with the potatoes one can grow in ones garden, without hoping to know anything at all about what is going on and happening elsewhere.
1957-10-02 - The Mind of Light - Statues of the Buddha - Burden of the past, #Questions And Answers 1957-1958, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
What? Oh! I dont take part in Politics. It is altogether useless. People use things just for political ends, but that is not at all interesting.
An English documentary on the Buddha: Gautama Buddha.
1958-03-19 - General tension in humanity - Peace and progress - Perversion and vision of transformation, #Questions And Answers 1957-1958, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
Next, it may be conceded that each type or pattern of consciousness and being in the body, once established, has to be faithful to the law of being of that type, to its own design and rule of nature. But it may also very well be that part of the law of the human type is its impulse towards self-exceeding, that the means for a conscious transition has been provided for among the spiritual powers of man; the possession of such a capacity may be a part of the plan on which the creative Energy has built him. It may be conceded that what man has up till now principally done is to act within the circle of his nature, on a spiral of nature-movement, sometimes descending, sometimes ascending,there has been no straight line of progress, no indisputable, fundamental or radical exceeding of his past nature: what he has done is to sharpen, subtilise, make a more and more complex and plastic use of his capacities. It cannot truly be said that there has been no such thing as human progress since mans appearance or even in his recent ascertainable history; for however great the ancients, however supreme some of their achievements and creations, however impressive their powers of spirituality, of intellect or of character, there has been in later developments an increasing subtlety, complexity, manifold development of knowledge and possibility in mans achievements, in his Politics, society, life, science, metaphysics, knowledge of all kinds, art, literature; even in his spiritual endeavour, less surprisingly lofty and less massive in power of spirituality than that of the ancients, there has been this increasing subtlety, plasticity, sounding of depths, extension of seeking. There have been falls from a high type of culture, a sharp temporary descent into a certain obscurantism, cessations of the spiritual urge, plunges into a barbaric natural materialism; but these are temporary phenomena, at worst a downward curve of the spiral of progress. This progress has not indeed carried the race beyond itself, into a self-exceeding, a transformation of the mental being. But that was not to be expected; for the action of evolutionary Nature in a type of being and consciousness is first to develop the type to its utmost capacity by just such a subtilisation and increasing complexity till it is ready for her bursting of the shell, the ripened decisive emergence, reversal, turning over of consciousness on itself that constitutes a new stage in the evolution. If it be supposed that her next step is the spiritual and supramental being, the stress of spirituality in the race may be taken as a sign that that is Natures intention, the sign too of the capacity of man to operate in himself or aid her to operate the transition. If the appearance in animal being of a type similar in some respects to the ape-kind but already from the beginning endowed with the elements of humanity was the method of the human evolution, the appearance in the human being of a spiritual type resembling mental-animal humanity but already with the stamp of the spiritual aspiration on it would be the obvious method of Nature for the evolutionary production of the spiritual and supramental being.
The Life Divine, SABCL, Vol. 19, pp. 841-42
1.ami - To the Saqi (from Baal-i-Jibreel), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
English version by Naeem Siddiqui Original Language Urdu Look! What wonders the spring has wrought! The river bank is a paradise! Rose-embowered glades, Blossoming jasmine and hyacinth, And violets, the envy of the skies!. Rainbow colours transformed Into a chorus of rapturous sounds, And the harmony of flowers The hillside is carnation-red; In the languid haze, the air Seems drunk with the beauty of life! The brook, on the heights of the hill, Dances to its own music. The world is dizzy in a pageant of colour! My rosy-cheeked Cup-bearer! The voice of spring is the voice of life! But the spring lasts not for ever; So bring me the cup that tears all veils -- The wine that brightens life -- The wine that intoxicates the world -- The wine in which flows The music of everlasting life, The wine that reveals eternity's secret. Unveil the secrets, O Saqi. Look! The world has changed apace! New are the songs, and new is the music; The West's magic has dissolved; The West's magicians are bewildered; Old Politics has lost its game; The world is tired of kings; Gone are the days of the rich; Gone is the jugglery of old; Awake is China's sleeping giant; The Himalayas' torrents are unleashed; Sinai is riven; Moses awaits the light divine. The Muslim says that God is One But his heart is Still a heathen: Culture, sufism, rites and rthetoric, All adore non- Arab idols; The truth was lost in trifles, And the nation was lost in conventions. The speaker's rhetoric is enchanting, But is devoid of passion; It is clothed in logic neat, But lost in a maze of words; The sufi, unique in the love of truth, Unique in the love of God, Was lost in un-Islamic thought; Was lost in the hierarchic quest; The fire of love is extinguished, And a Muslim is a heap of ashes, O Saqi! Give me the old wine again! Let the potent cup go round! Let me soar on the wings of love; Make my dust bright-pinioned; Make wisdom free; And make the young guide the old; Thou it is that nourishest. this nation; Thou it is that canst sustain it; Urge them to move, to stir; Give them Ali's heart; give them Siddiq's passion; Let the same old love pierce their hearts; Awaken in them a burning zeal; Let the stars throw down their spears, And let the earth's dwellers tremble Give the young a passion that consumes; Give them my vision, my love of God; Free my boat from the whirlpool's grip, And make it move forward-, Reveal to me the secrets of life, For thou knowest them all; The treasures of a fakir like me Are suffused, unsleeping eyes, And secret yearnings of the heart-, My anguished sighs at night, My solitude in the world of men, My hopes and my fears, My quest untiring, My nature an arena of thought A mirror of the world. My heart a battlefield of life, With armies of suspicion, And bastions of certitude; With these treasures I am More rich than the richest of all. Let the young join my throng, And let them find an anchor of hope. The sea of life has its ebb and flow-, In every atom's heart is the pulse of life; It manifests itself in the body, As a flame conceals a wave of smoke; Contact with the earth was harsh for it, But it liked the labour; It is in motion, and not in motion; Tired of the elements' shackles; A unity, imprisoned by plurality; But always unique, unequalled. It has made this dome of myriad glass; It has carved this pantheon. It does not repeat its craft For thou art not me, and I am not thou; It has created the world of men, And remains in solitude, Its brightness is seen in the stars, And in the lustre of pearls-, To it belong the wildernesses, The flowers and the thorns; Mountains sometimes are shaken by its might; It captures angels and nymphs; It makes the eagle pounce on a prey, And leave a blood-stained body. Every atom throbs with life; Rest is an illusion; Life's journey pauses not, For every moment is a new glory; Life, thou thinkest, is a mystery; Life is a delight in eternal flight; Life has seen many ups and downs; It loves a journey, not a goal. Movement is life's being; Movement is truth, pause is a mirage. Life's enjoyment is in perils, In facing ups and downs; In the world beyond Life stalked for death, But the impulse to procreate Peopled the world of man and beast. Flowers blossomed and dropped From this tree of life. Fools think life is ephemeral; Life renews itself for ever -- Moving fast as a flash, Moving to eternity in a breath; Time, a chain of days and nights, Is the ebb and flow of breath. This flow of breath is like a sword, Selfhood is its sharpness; Selfhood is the secret of life; It is the world's awakening, Selfhood is solitary, absorbed, An ocean enclosed in a drop; It shines in light and in darkness, Existent in, but away from, thee and me. The dawn of life behind it, eternity before, It has no frontiers before, no frontiers behind. Afloat on the river of time, Bearing the buffets of the waves, Changing the course of its quest, Shifting its glance from time to time; For it a hill is a grain of sand, Mountains are shattered by its blows; A journey is its beginning and end, And this is the secret of its being. It is the moon's beam, the spark in the flint, Colourless itself, though infused with colours, No concern has it with the calculus of space, With linear time's limits, with the finitude of life. It manifested itself in man's essence of dust, After an eternity of a strife to be born. It is in thy heart that Selfhood has an abode, As heaven has its abode in the cornea of thy eye. To one who guards his Selfhood, The living that demeans it, is poison; He accepts only a living, That keeps his self- esteem; Keep away from royal pomp, Keep thy Selfhood free; Thou shouldst bow in prayer, Not bow to a human being. This myriad-coloured world, Under the sentence of death, This world of sight and sound, I Where life means eating and drinking, Is Selfhood's initial stage; It is not thy abode, O traveller! This dust-bowl is not the source of thy fire; The world is for thee, not thou for the world. Demolish this illusion of' time and space; Selfhood is the Tiger of God, the world is its prey; The earth is its prey, the heavens are its prey; Other worlds there are, still awaiting birth, The earth-born are not the centre of all life; They all await thy assault, Thy cataclysmic thought and deed; Days and nights revolve, To reveal thy Selfhood to thee; Thou art the architect of the world. Words fail to convey the truth; Truth is the mirror, words its shade; Though the breath is a burning flame, The flame has limited bounds. 'If now I soar any farther, The vision will sear my wings.' <
1f.lovecraft - The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Sign of Shakespears Head. In Politics he ardently supported Governor
Hopkins against the Ward party whose prime strength was in Newport, and
1f.lovecraft - The Last Test, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Ah, Jimmy, hows Politics this year? He glanced at Georgina, and she
quietly excused herself, while the two men settled down to a chat on
1.pbs - Charles The First, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
New devil's Politics.
Hell is the pattern of all commonwealths:
1.pbs - Letter To Maria Gisborne, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
Of our unhappy Politics;or worse
A wretched woman reeling by, whose curse
1.rb - Sordello - Book the Fifth, #Browning - Poems, #Robert Browning, #Poetry
"That poesy, sooner than Politics,
"Makes fade young hair?" To think such speech could fix
1.rwe - Politics, #Emerson - Poems, #Ralph Waldo Emerson, #Philosophy
object:1.rwe - Politics
author class:Ralph Waldo Emerson
1.rwe - The World-Soul, #Emerson - Poems, #Ralph Waldo Emerson, #Philosophy
The Politics are base,
The letters do not cheer,
1.wby - Easter 1916, #Yeats - Poems, #William Butler Yeats, #Poetry
Yeats felt the violence had threatend the freeing of Irish literature from Politics, and left him very dispondant about the future.
The original lines for lines 17-25 were:-
1.wby - In Memory Of Eva Gore-Booth And Con Markiewicz, #Yeats - Poems, #William Butler Yeats, #Poetry
An image of such Politics.
Many a time I think to seek
--
Eva Gore-Booth and Constance Markiewicz were sisters who lived at Lissadell House and who knew and encouraged the young Yeats. They both became involved in Irish Nationalist Politics. Constance was sentenced to death for her part in the Easter Rising of 1916, but the sentence was commuted.
1.wby - Nineteen Hundred And Nineteen, #Yeats - Poems, #William Butler Yeats, #Poetry
In art or Politics;
Some platonist affirms that in the station
1.wby - Politics, #Yeats - Poems, #William Butler Yeats, #Poetry
object:1.wby - Politics
author class:William Butler Yeats
--
Or on Spanish Politics?
Yet here's a travelled man that knows
1.wby - The Lamentation Of The Old Pensioner, #Yeats - Poems, #William Butler Yeats, #Poetry
That talked of love or Politics,
Ere Time transfigured me.
1.whitman - As I Sat Alone By Blue Ontarios Shores, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Have you learn'd the physiology, phrenology, Politics, geography,
pride, freedom, friendship, of the land? its substratums and
--
In the need of poems, philosophy, Politics, manners, engineering, an
appropriate native grand-opera, shipcraft, any craft, he or she
1.whitman - As I Walk These Broad, Majestic Days, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Science, ships, Politics, cities, factories, are not nothingI watch
them,
1.whitman - Carol Of Occupations, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
All doctrines, all Politics and civilization, exurge from you;
All sculpture and monuments, and anything inscribed anywhere, are
1.whitman - Carol Of Words, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
No Politics, art, religion, behavior, or what not, is of account,
unless it compare with the amplitude of the earth,
--
Facts, religions, improvements, Politics, trades, are as real as before;
But the Soul is also real,it too is positive and direct;
1.whitman - Hast Never Come To Thee An Hour, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
These eager business aimsbooks, Politics, art, amours,
To utter nothingness?
1.whitman - I Was Looking A Long While, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Politics, creeds, modern improvements, and the interchange of
nations,
1.whitman - Kosmos, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
The theory of a city, a poem, and of the large Politics of These
States;
1.whitman - Now List To My Mornings Romanza, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
sisters, associations, employment, Politics, so that the rest
never shame them afterward, nor assume to command them.
1.whitman - Quicksand Years, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Your schemes, Politics, faillines give waysubstances mock and
elude me;
--
Out of Politics, triumphs, battles, lifewhat at last finally
remains?
1.whitman - Savantism, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Thither every-day life, speech, utensils, Politics, persons, estates;
Thither we also, I with my leaves and songs, trustful, admirant,
1.whitman - Says, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
I say that every right, in Politics or what-not, shall be eligible to
that one man or woman, on the same terms as any.
1.whitman - So Long, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
I announce splendors and majesties to make all the previous Politics
of the earth insignificant.
1.whitman - Song of Myself, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Whatever interests the rest interests me, Politics, wars, markets, newspapers, schools,
The mayor and councils, banks, tariffs, steamships, factories, stocks, stores, real estate and personal estate.
1.whitman - Song Of Myself- XLII, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Whatever interests the rest interests me, Politics, wars, markets, newspapers, schools,
The mayor and councils, banks, tariffs, steamships, factories, stocks, stores, real estate and personal estate.
1.whitman - Starting From Paumanok, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
These ostensible realities, Politics, points?
Your ambition or business, whatever it may be?
--
New Politics, new literatures and religions, new inventions and arts.
These! my voice announcingI will sleep no more, but arise;
1.whitman - The Indications, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
They give you to form for yourself, poems, religions, Politics, war,
peace, behavior, histories, essays, romances, and everything
1.whitman - The Ox tamer, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Now I marvel what it can be he appears to them, (books, Politics,
poems departall else departs
1.whitman - Thoughts, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Of the conformity of Politics, armies, navies, to them,
Of the shining sun by them--of the inherent light, greater than the rest,
1.whitman - To A Historian, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
Who have treated of man as the creature of Politics, aggregates,
rulers and priests;
1.whitman - To A President, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
You have not learn'd of Natureof the Politics of Nature, you have
not learn'd the great amplitude, rectitude, impartiality;
2.01 - On Books, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo: They are. In society, in Politics, in fact in every field progress is like that. That is why a moderate policy is foolish. They believe that by gradually going on they will reach the goal, but that is never the case. You go on to a certain extent and then something comes up and envelops the being. The whole of what you have done is broken up and you have to begin over again.
Disciple: But the physical is simply idiotic.
--
It is true that in Napoleon's time the Assembly was only a shadow, but the full Republic, though delayed for a time, was already established, because Politics is only a show at the top. The real changes that matter are the changes that come into society. From that point of view, the social changes introduced by Napoleon have continued to this day without any material alteration. The equality of all men before the law was realised then for the first time. His Code bridged the gulf between the extremely poor and the rich. It is now very natural, but it was revolutionary when it was introduced. It may not be democracy governed by the masses, but it is democracy governed by the middle-class, the bourgeoisie....
The portion containing Huxleys ideas about war was noticed.
--
In the Introduction by Sj. K.G. Deshpande, who was Sri Auro-bindo's contemporary at Cambridge and later on joined Sri Aurobindo in 1898 in the Baroda State service, there are some corrections to be made. He was the editor of the English section of the Induprakash and it was he who persuaded Sri Aurobindo on his return to India in 1893 to write a series of articles on Indian Politics under the heading "New Lamps for Old" which made a great stir in the Congress of those days.
Sri Aurobindo did not attend any grammar school at Manchester as is stated in the introduction.
--
6. Bhawni Mandir: There is a similarity to the Ananda Math in that both envisage spiritual life and Politics together. The temple of Bhawani was to be there for initiating men for complete consecration to the service of Mother India. It was for preparing political Sannyasins. But this scheme did not get materialised. Sri Aurobindo took to Politics and Barin to revolution. The latter tried to find a place in the Vindhya mountains for the Bhawani Mandir. But he came back with mountain fever.
Norton's eloquent advocacy in the court, or the government's repression, had nothing to do with the failure of the scheme. In fact it was never tried.
2.02 - On Letters, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo: If the Truth which the Yoga wants to achieve is attained and if India accepts it, then it will give quite a new turn to Indian Politics different from European Politics. It would be a profound change.
But that is a question which A will have to decide afterwards. For the present, A must find out why he wants the Yoga, whether he has a call a true call. And the second question is whether he has the capacity. I do not know about his capacity but he requires, I believe, a long preparation.
--
Sri Aurobindo: No, not steady. I was more energetic when I was working in Politics than I had been before; when I took up Yoga I was more energetic than I had been in Politics.
Disciple: There are times when one cannot do work that is expected of one.
--
Then there are works that have got a diferent Dharma; for example, Politics. It is on a different plane and you can't do it successfully with this Yoga.
In this Yoga you have to be prepared to cut yourself away from what you consider your work and your creation, when necessary; you have to be merciless in throwing old things away. That is really the meaning of Nishkama Karma that you must have no attachment to anything.
--
Disciple: Are there movements or persons, through whom youare working in Indian Politics?
Sri Aurobindo: Yes. At one time it was X; Ieven worked through Y for a short time.
--
I find it always difficult to work in Indian Politics. The difficulty is that the vessels don't hold the Power, they are so weak. If the amount of force that is spent on India were spent on a European nation you would find it full of creative activities of various kinds. But here, in India, it is like sending a current of electricity through a sleeping man. He suddenly starts up, begins jerking and throwing his arms and feet about and then drops down again. He is not fully awake.
Disciple: What is it due to?
2.02 - The Ishavasyopanishad with a commentary in English, #Isha Upanishad, #unset, #Zen
rampant in Politics & in commerce taint, as it must eventually
do, the deeper heart of society, may lead to an orgy of the vital &
2.02 - Yoga, #Words Of The Mother II, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
The rules are very few so that each one can enjoy the freedom needed for his development, but a few things are strictly forbidden: they are (1) Politics, (2) smoking, (3) alcoholic drink and (4) sex enjoyment.
Great care is taken for the maintenance of good health and the welfare and normal growth of the body of all, small and big, young and old.
2.03 - Karmayogin A Commentary on the Isha Upanishad, #Isha Upanishad, #unset, #Zen
problem involving difficulties of ethics, legislation and Politics
which after so many thousands of years mankind has not solved
--
of ethics and ideal of life which regulates Chinese Politics, society and individual life. In India on the other hand, as we shall
perceive, we have an unique and remarkable instance of sattwic,
2.03 - On Medicine, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Disciple: But people who heard you in College and those who heard you afterwards in Politics differ from you. They speak very highly of your lectures.
Sri Aurobindo: I never used to look at the notes and sometimes my explanations did not agree with them at all. I was professor of English and for some time of French. What was surprising to me was that the students used to take down everything verbatim and mug it up by heart. Such a thing would never have happened in England.
2.05 - On Poetry, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo: What about Dante's political life? I am sure he was not thinking of Beatrice when he was doing Politics.
Disciple: Abercrombie says that a true poet passes on his experience to his readers.
2.06 - On Beauty, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
ON POETRY ON CONGRESS AND Politics
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2.06 - The Wand, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
103:You will cease to be interested in controversies; Politics, ethics, religion will seem so many toys, and your Magical Will will be free from these inhibitions.
104:In Burma there is only one animal which the people will kill, Russell's Viper; because, as they say, "either you must kill it or it will kill you"; and it is a question of which sees the other first.
2.07 - On Congress and Politics, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
object:2.07 - On Congress and Politics
author class:A B Purani
--
ON CONGRESS AND Politics
ON CONGRESS AND Politics
7 MARCH 1924
--
The Pondicherry Politics came in for discussion. Monin Naik from Chandernagore arrived today (7th).
Sri Aurobindo: Our people have not yet got the political sense. If they can once break the hegemony of the white clique here then they can attempt anything afterwards.
--
Sri Aurobindo: Our people are wonderful they always want some excitement. They have not yet realised that Politics is a serious affair and of long breath. They say: "Give us Swaraj in one year or sensation!"
Disciple: I have been in the non-cooperation movement and worked in it for some time. My own feeling is that Gandhiji would look up to St. Francis, who licked the wounds of the lepers, as his ideal.
--
Disciple: Taraknath Das in his book points out that the Indian princes could help in the work of national regeneration. They could even take part in international Politics.
Sri Aurobindo: Many things are desirable, but they do not always come true. No doubt, if the princes were politicians they could hasten the march of freedom to a very great extent. They could create real centres of power within their dominions which would serve when the time for revolution came. That was the idea in the Gaekwad's mind when he began but it was not carried through.
--
Disciple: What is the difference between European and Indian Politics?
Sri Aurobindo: If you mean the Politics of India today then there is absolutely no difference. It is a bad copy of Western Politics, taking any catchwords, often even without any reference to realities. For instance, you introduce parliamentarian liberalism or the labour movement because Europe has got them. But there it is very real while here it is merely an idea and a name. Parliamentarianism is based upon educating public opinion and there the agitation has a direct bearing on their government and they have got to do it to take the masses with them at the polls. In India while we take up this form of agitation, of making a big noise, we forget that they have their own government while here it is not ours and therefore the agitation is futile.
There are three elements in European Politics:
Mental idea or ideal of political and social life.
--
We had nothing of the mental ideal in Politics. We had a spontaneous and a free growth of communities developing on their own lines. It was not so much a mental idea as an inner impulse or feeling, to express life in a particular form. Each such communal form of life the village, the town, etc., which formed the unit of national life, was left free in its own internal management. The central authority never interfered with it.
There was not the idea of 'interests' in India as in Europe, i.e., each community was not fighting for its own interests; but there was rather the idea of Dharma the function which the individual and the community have to fulfil in the larger national life. There were caste organisations not based upon a religio-social basis as we find nowadays; they were more or less groups organised for a communal life. There were also religious communities like the Buddhists, Jains, etc. Each followed its own law Swadharma unhampered by the State. The State recognised the necessity of allowing such various forms of life to develop freely in order to give to the national spirit a richer expression.
2.08 - On Non-Violence, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Disciple: There are some followers of the school of non-violence in Indian Politics who want to prove that the Gita preaches non-violence. They depend on the Mahatma's interpretation of the Gita.
Sri Aurobindo: Non-violence is not in the Gita. If, as some people, including Gandhi, say the Gita signifies a spiritual war or battle only, then what of aparihrye'rthe and hanyamne arre inevitable circumstance and body being killed? What of the shoka, the sorrow, for those who are dead? To me such a reading seems the result of a defect in their mental attitude. They have not got the intellectual rectitude which can wait and calmly grasp the truth. Besides, there is no question of crying over dead sins if the Kauravas only symbolise the 'sins' and these people may be assured that the sins killed by Arjuna have not really died!
--
ON CONGRESS AND Politics ON SADHANA
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2.09 - On Sadhana, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Then I had to give it up when I took to Politics. I wanted to resume my Sadhana but did not know how to begin again. I wanted spiritual experience and political action together. I would not take up a method that required me to give up action and life.
When I came to Baroda from the Surat Congress, Barin had written to me that he knew a certain yogi to whom he would introduce me at Baroda. Barin sent a wire to Lele from Baroda and he came. At that time I was staying at Khasirao Jadhav's house. We went to Sardar Majumdar's place. On the top floor in a room we were shut up for three days. He asked me to do nothing but throw away all thoughts that came to my mind. In three days I did it. We sat in meditation together, I realised the Silent Brahman Consciousness. I began to think from above the brain and have done so ever since. Sometimes at night the Power would come and I would receive it and also the thoughts it brought and in the morning I would put down the whole thing word by word on paper.
--
To combine the inner development with the outer would be ideal. Science, for instance, steadies reason and gives a firm grounding to the physical mind. Art I mean the appreciation of beauty pure and simple, without the sensual grasping at the object trains up the aesthetic side of the mind. The true artist has always the pure love of beauty free and impersonal. Philosophy cultivates the pure thinking power. And Politics and such other departments of mental work train up the dynamic mind. All these should be duly trained with the full knowledge that they have their limited utility. Philosophy tends to become mere mental gymnastics and preference for one's own ideas and mental constructions. So also Reason becomes the tyrant and denies anything further. But if the training is given to these parts with an understanding of their limitations, then they may serve very usefully the object of this Yoga. As I say, they must all admit a higher working in them.
A disciple related the yogic experience of a student.
--
All the energy that I have I owe to Yoga. I was very incapable before. Even the energy that I put forth in Politics came from Yoga.
Disciple: You said about the forces that control money that two conditions were necessary. First, one must be very calm and must not get disturbed and have no desire for money. Secondly, it requires a bojhpa an understanding with the universal forces. What is this understanding?
2.0 - THE ANTICHRIST, #Twilight of the Idols, #Friedrich Nietzsche, #Philosophy
mountain-tops,--and to feeling the wretched gabble of Politics and
national egotism _beneath_ him. He must have become indifferent; he
--
the world, all knowledge, all Politics, all psychology, all books and
all Art--for his "wisdom" is precisely the complete ignorance[4] of the
--
even into Politics! Nowadays no one has the courage of special rights,
of rights of t dominion, of a feeling of self-respect and of respect
for his equals,--of _pathos of distance._ Our Politics are diseased
with this lack of courage!--The aristocratic attitude of mind has been
2.1.02 - Combining Work, Meditation and Bhakti, #Letters On Yoga II, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
I do not know why you drag in humanitarianism, activism, philanthropical sev etc. None of these are part of my Yoga or in harmony with my definition of works, so they dont touch me. I never thought that Politics or feeding the poor or writing beautiful poems would lead straight to Vaikuntha or the Absolute. If it were so, Romesh Dutt on one side and Baudelaire on the other would be the first to attain the Highest and welcome us there. It is not the form of the work itself or mere activity but the consciousness and Godward will behind it that are the essence of Karmayoga; the work is only the necessary instrumentation for the union with the Master of works, the transit to the pure Will and power of Light from the will and power of the Ignorance.
Finally, why suppose that I am against meditation or bhakti? I have not the slightest objection to your taking either or both as the means of approach to the Divine. Only I saw no reason why anyone should fall foul of works and deny the truth of those who have reached, as the Gita says, through works perfect realisation and oneness of nature with the Divine, sasiddhim, sdharmyam, as did Janaka and others, simply because he himself cannot find or has not yet found their deeper secre thence my defence of works.
2.11 - On Education, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo: In your article you have said that Das's speeches were not logical. But in earlier days all his speeches were logical like those of a lawyer. When he entered Politics he gave up that habit and that was why he succeeded!
Disciple: There have been persons whose private lives are very loose but in political life they are successful.
2.17 - December 1938, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
When I came to Baroda from England I found out what the Congress was at that time and formed a contempt for it. Then I came in touch with Deshpande, Tilak, Madhav Rao and others. Deshpande got me to write a series in the Indu Prakash (of which he was an editor). There I strongly criticised the Congress for its moderate policy. The articles were so fiery that M. G. Ranade, the great Maharashtrian leader, asked the proprietor of the paper (through Deshpande) not to allow such seditious things to appear in the paper, otherwise he might be arrested and imprisoned. Deshpande approached me with the news and requested me to write something less violent. I then began to write about the philosophy of Politics, leaving aside the practical part of Politics. But I soon got disgusted with it.
Along with Tilak, Madhav Rao, Deshmukh and Joshi (who became a moderate later) we were planning to work on more extreme lines than the Congress. We brought Jatin Banerji from Bengal and put him in the Baroda army. Our idea was to drive moderates from the Congress and capture it.
--
Sri Aurobindo himself opened the talk today by addressing X and said, "I hear D is going about in his car with a guard by his side and two cyclist policemen in front and back." Then the talk continued regarding Pondicherry Politics, most of it by us.
Sri Aurobindo: When Isee Pondicherry and Calcutta Corporation Ibegin to wonder why I was so eager for democracy. They are two object-lessons which can take away all enthusiasm for self-government.
--
Disciple: Srinivas Aiyangar retired from Congress because of his differences with Gandhi. He objected to Gandhi's giving the movement a religious turn and bringing religion into Politics.
Sri Aurobindo: He made Charkha an article of religious faith and excluded all people from Congress membership who could not spin. How many believe in his gospel of Charkha? Such a tremendous waste of energy, just for the sake of a few annas is most unreasonable.
--
Politics, science, even socialism, have not succeeded in finding a way out of suffering. They rally people to kill each other and involve the state into a peril unless you say that murders and massacres are necessary. From this state of chaos and suffering people have been shown ways of escape, but those who have shown these ways, you say, are not useful!
No, no, all that is a superficial view of things. One has to consider the whole civilisation before one can pass an opinion.
--
When you come to Politics, democracy, plutocracy, monarchy, etc., all have some truth even Hitler and Mussolini stand for some truth.
Ours is a very big Yoga, one has to travail. I think X is not prepared to take all that trouble.
2.18 - January 1939, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Disciple: What was your age when you entered Politics openly?
Sri Aurobindo: About thirty-three years.
--
Sri Aurobindo: Yes, perhaps Roosevelt has secret news about the intentions of the Nazis. It is not a question of meddling in European Politics, but of being eaten last! (Laughter) There are at least some people in America who understand this thing.
14 JANUARY 1939
--
Disciple: That, perhaps, would be a gain to literature, not to Politics.
Sri Aurobindo: At the time of the Gandhi movement someone asked Abanindranath Tagore, why he was not giving up his painting for the sake of the country and taking to Politics. He said: "I serve the country through my painting in which I have some capacity that, at least, is something I know; whereas I would be only a bad politician."
Disciple: Tagore narrowly escaped the Charkha. But it seems Nandalal Bose is turning towards it.
--
After local Politics, Buddhism etc., the talk turned to the war and the Congress. Pattabhi was elected President. Patel wanted to settle the Rajkot issue, or go to East Africa to offer Satyagraha there.
Disciple: I am afraid if Patel goes to East or South Africa the Indians there would be shot.
--
Once Nivedita came to the Gaekwad and told him that it was his duty to join the revolution. She said, "If you have anything more to ask, you can ask Mr. Ghose." But the Gaekwad never talked Politics with me afterwards.
But one thing I could not understand about Nivedita was her admiration for Gokhale. I wondered how a revolutionary could have any admiration for him. Once she was so much exercised when his life was threatened that she came to me and asked, "Mr. Ghose, is it one of your men doing this?" I said, "No." She was much relieved and said, "Then it must be a free-lance."
--
Sri Aurobindo: I don't know. Whenever we met we spoke about Politics and revolution. But her eyes showed a power of concentration and a capacity for going into trance. She had got something in her spiritual life.
Disciple: She came to India with the idea of doing Yoga.
Sri Aurobindo: Yes. But she took up Politics as part of Vivekananda's work. Her book is one of the best on Vivekananda. Vivekananda himself had ideas about political work and revolution. Once he had a vision which corresponded to something like Maniktolla Garden. It is curious that many Sannyasins at that time had thought of India's freedom. Ramana Maharshi's young disciples were revolutionaries. Our Yogananda's Guru also had such ideas. Thakur Dayananda was also one such. (Turning to a disciple) Do you know one Mr. Manthel?
Disciple: The one with spectacles?
--
Sri Aurobindo ( turning to P who usually brought the news of local Politics) : Any news?
Disciple: No news except what C gives me. Mahatma Gandhi advised the Japanese visitor Dr. Kagawa to include Shantiniketan and Pondicherry in his itinerary without seeing these, his visit to India would be incomplete.
--
English Politics is successful because they have always found one man or two who had the power to lead the minority which is the ruling class. During the Victorian period, it was either Gladstone or Disraeli. And even when the party in power changes, the other party that comes to power does not change things radically. They continue the same policy with a slight modification.
In France no government lasts. Sometimes it changes within a few days! The new government is a repetition of the one it replaces. Blum was one who wanted to do something radical but he was knocked out.
--
Disciple: Our A who was in Bengal Politics does not have a very high opinion of Bose. He says, he is a good lieutenant but can't be a great leader.
Sri Aurobindo: That has been my impression all along.
--
Sri Aurobindo: What do you mean by sincerity? Ready to suffer for the cause, and to accept no bribe, is it not? But even during our Swadeshi movement, though the leaders were egoistic and quarrelsome, they were honest and sincere. Our fight was over principles, reform or revolution, or as someone put it, colonial self-government or Independence. We never fought on personal grounds as you now find between Bose and Sen Gupta or Khare and Shukla. You know what Das said about politicians? He said that in his whole legal career he had not met worse types of criminals than in Politics.
Disciple: But if Bose sincerely believes that the Congress is going to compromise with the Government on Federation, is he not justified in fighting for that in the Congress? He says that some suspicious negotiations seem to be going on behind the scenes.
--
Sri Aurobindo: He may not seem to be a very likable person. But if one has sincerity and capacity that is enough in Politics.
Vithalbhai seems more pleasant. He is more of a statesman and he has done work in the Council.
2.19 - Feb-May 1939, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo: Not only that, his word counts. He hasn't lost that force yet. I think if he made a public statement that he wants Pattabhi to be elected, he would have him elected. But there are still six months to inaugurate the Federation; what is Subhas going to do in the meantime? Gandhi knew that Subhas will take up this attitude and hence he did not want him. Now with his followers left out of the working committee, the leftists will probably pass laws abolishing zamindars and capitalists and spoil the work done by the Ministers. They will try to introduce social legislations and that would make the Governors use their powers, or, if they keep out of the assemblies, it would be foolish to throw away the powers given. Before I left Politics, I had written: If you get real power, take it and fight for more. Like De Valera, who took what was given and grabbed at more. In the present international situation when the Government wants to come to a compromise with the Congress you should accept what they give. Accept the Federation and fight against it afterwards.
Disciple: That seems to be Subhas's opinion, but he says: Now is the time to press for independence.
--
Dr. R stayed up to 9:30 p.m. As soon as he left the topic of local Politics was brought in.
Disciple: The Governor has invited the three parties to see if acompromise can be arrived at. He says they may have their own political views, but they must not go on killing each other.
--
Disciple: Did you notice Jawaharlal's article in The Hindu? He can't forget Subhas not acknowledging his report from Europe and also his international Politics.
Sri Aurobindo: That again shows Nehru is an idealist. If he has the clarity of mind to see that Socialism can come in India only after independence is won, it should be equally clear to him that India can do something in international Politics only after she is free.
Disciple: The Congress wants to do something in the international field.
--
Disciple: I believe it is his visit to Europe in the League against Imperialism that gives him the impression that he would be able to do something in international Politics.
Sri Aurobindo: It is a wrong impression. It was, for instance, wrongly supposed that the Governor of Pondicherry was recalled because Nehru represented the case to the Secretary of Colonies.
2.2.01 - Work and Yoga, #Letters On Yoga II, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
I may say however that I do not regard business as something evil or tainted, any more than it was so regarded in ancient spiritual India. If I did, I would not be able to receive money from X or from those of our disciples who in Bombay trade with East Africa; nor could we then encourage them to go on with their work but would have to tell them to throw it up and attend to their spiritual progress alone. How are we to reconcile Xs seeking after spiritual light and his mill? Ought I not to tell him to leave his mill to itself and to the devil and go into some Ashram to meditate? Even if I myself had had the comm and to do business as I had the comm and to do Politics I would have done it without the least spiritual or moral compunction. All depends on the spirit in which a thing is done, the principle on which it is built and use to which it is turned. I have done Politics and the most violent kind of revolutionary Politics, ghora karma, and I have supported war and sent men to it, even though Politics is not always or often a very clean occupation nor can war be called a spiritual line of action. But Krishna calls upon Arjuna to carry on war of the most terrible kind and by his example encourage men to do every kind of human work, sarvakarmi. Do you contend that Krishna was an unspiritual man and that his advice to Arjuna was mistaken or wrong in principle? Krishna goes farther and declares that a man by doing in the right way and in the right spirit the work dictated to him by his fundamental nature, temperament and capacity and according to his and its dharma can move towards the Divine. He validates the function and dharma of the Vaishya as well as of the Brahmin and Kshatriya. It is in his view quite possible for a man to do business and make money and earn profits and yet be a spiritual man, practise Yoga, have an inner life. The Gita is constantly justifying works as a means of spiritual salvation and enjoining a Yoga of works as well as of Bhakti and Knowledge. Krishna, however, superimposes a higher law also that work must be done without desire, without attachment to any fruit or reward, without any egoistic attitude or motive, as an offering or sacrifice to the Divine. This is the traditional Indian attitude towards these things, that all work can be done if it is done according to the dharma and, if it is rightly done, it does not prevent the approach to the Divine or the access to spiritual knowledge and the spiritual life.
There is of course also the ascetic ideal which is necessary for many and has its place in the spiritual order. I would myself say that no man can be spiritually complete if he cannot live ascetically or follow a life as bare as the barest anchorites. Obviously, greed for wealth and money-making has to be absent from his nature as much as greed for food or any other greed and all attachment to these things must be renounced from his consciousness. But I do not regard the ascetic way of living as indispensable to spiritual perfection or as identical with it. There is the way of spiritual self-mastery and the way of spiritual self-giving and surrender to the Divine, abandoning ego and desire even in the midst of action or of any kind of work or all kinds of work demanded from us by the Divine. If it were not so, there would not have been great spiritual men like Janaka or Vidura in India and even there would have been no Krishna or else Krishna would have been not the Lord of Brindavan and Mathura and Dwarka or a prince and warrior or the charioteer of Kurukshetra, but only one more great anchorite. The Indian scriptures and Indian tradition, in the Mahabharata and elsewhere, make room both for the spirituality of the renunciation of life and for the spiritual life of action. One cannot say that one only is the Indian tradition and that the acceptance of life and works of all kinds, sarvakarmi, is un-Indian, European or Western and unspiritual.
2.21 - 1940, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Sri Aurobindo: It depends on his mind. If he can read all these things in order to know what is going on, it is all right, but he should not run away with any idea or programme. He was asked not to read papers because his mind was a slave to Politics and attracted by the ideas. The fundamental peace and silence is all right, but he should bring the attitude of the Purusha in his reading also.
Disciple: I did not know that he also has such difficulties!
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Sri Aurobindo: He was just beginning his career, but that sort of leadership is nothing. If you have the gift of the gab and power of ideas and putting form into them, you can always succeed. All Politics is a show. In the British Parliament it is the Civil Service who are behind, and whose names are never known, who really do the work. The Ministers are only their mouthpieces except men like Churchill and Hore-Belisha who can do something. The civil servants have been at their job for their lifetime, and they know everything about it.
The Mother's brother, for instance, organised Congoland, but the Minister got all the credit for it. He was one of the best colonial administrators. Even when he was an officer in Equatorial Africa, sometimes as Governor and sometimes as Governor-General, the whole job was done by him. He hardly used his bed and used to lie down in an easy-chair. Now he is nearly seventy, but as soon as the war was declared he went to the office and asked for his work back. Now he is working eighteen hours a day.
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Churchill's proposal is good. The English do not like an idea merely for the sake of the idea. They have a feeling for what is possible, what is necessary. They have a great flexibility in Politics and they have shown it by declaring State Socialism, and this Anglo-French Union is another move.
( He also said, in between, that the British Labour Party had secured rights for the workers, but had not been strong in pressing the claim of India upon the present cabinet)
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My contribution to the War Fund cannot be called my taking part in Politics! It was made in view of the much wider issues about which I have spoken of in my letters the issues of human culture and individual and national liberty and as the English are the only race that stand up for it, I support them.
The English won't be acting according to justice? But why should they? Which nation acts on the principles of justice? How can we expect them to fulfil a standard which we ourselves can't satisfy?
2.23 - Man and the Evolution, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Next, it may be conceded that each type or pattern of consciousness and being in the body, once established, has to be faithful to the law of being of that type, to its own design and rule of nature. But it may also very well be that part of the law of the human type is its impulse towards self-exceeding, that the means for a conscious transition has been provided for among the spiritual powers of man; the possession of such a capacity may be a part of the plan on which the creative Energy has built him. It may be conceded that what man has up till now principally done is to act within the circle of his nature, on a spiral of nature movement, sometimes descending, sometimes ascending, - there has been no straight line of progress, no indisputable, fundamental or radical exceeding of his past nature: what he has done is to sharpen, subtilise, make a more and more complex and plastic use of his capacities. It cannot truly be said that there has been no such thing as human progress since man's appearance or even in his recent ascertainable history; for however great the ancients, however supreme some of their achievements and creations, however impressive their powers of spirituality, of intellect or of character, there has been in later developments an increasing subtlety, complexity, manifold development of knowledge and possibility in man's achievements, in his Politics, society, life, science, metaphysics, knowledge of all kinds, art, literature; even in his spiritual endeavour, less surprisingly lofty and less massive in power of spirituality than that of the ancients, there has been this increasing subtlety, plasticity, sounding of depths, extension of seeking. There have been falls from a high type of culture, a sharp temporary descent into a certain obscurantism, cessations of the spiritual urge, plunges into a barbaric natural materialism; but these are temporary phenomena, at worst a downward curve of the spiral of progress. This progress has not indeed carried the race beyond itself, into a self-exceeding, a transformation of the mental being. But that was not to be expected; for the action of evolutionary Nature in a type of being and consciousness is first to develop the type to its utmost capacity by just such a subtilisation and increasing complexity till it is ready for her bursting of the shell, the ripened decisive emergence, reversal, turning over of consciousness on itself that constitutes a new stage in the evolution. If it be supposed that her next step is the spiritual and supramental being, the stress of spirituality in the race may be taken as a sign that that is Nature's intention, the sign too of the capacity of man to operate in himself or aid her to operate the transition. If the appearance in animal being of a type similar in some respects to the ape-kind but already from the beginning endowed with the elements of humanity was the method of the human evolution, the appearance in the human being of a spiritual type resembling mental-animal humanity but already with the stamp of the spiritual aspiration on it would be the obvious method of Nature for the evolutionary production of the spiritual and supramental being.
It is pertinently suggested that if such an evolutionary culmination is intended and man is to be its medium, it will only be a few especially evolved human beings who will form the new type and move towards the new life; that once done, the rest of humanity will sink back from a spiritual aspiration no longer necessary for Nature's purpose and remain quiescent in its normal status. It can equally be reasoned that the human gradation must be preserved if there is really an ascent of the soul by reincarnation through the evolutionary degrees towards the spiritual summit; for otherwise the most necessary of all the intermediate steps will be lacking. It must be conceded at once that there is not the least probability or possibility of the whole human race rising in a block to the supramental level; what is suggested is nothing so revolutionary and astonishing, but only the capacity in the human mentality, when it has reached a certain level or a certain point of stress of the evolutionary impetus, to press towards a higher plane of consciousness and its embodiment in the being. The being will necessarily undergo by this embodiment a change from the normal constitution of its nature, a change certainly of its mental and emotional and sensational constitution and also to a great extent of the body-consciousness and the physical conditioning of our life and energies; but the change of consciousness will be the chief factor, the initial movement, the physical modification will be a subordinate factor, a consequence. This transmutation of the consciousness will always remain possible to the human being when the flame of the soul, the psychic kindling, becomes potent in heart and mind and the nature is ready. The spiritual aspiration is innate in man; for he is, unlike the animal, aware of imperfection and limitation and feels that there is something to be attained beyond what he now is: this urge towards selfexceeding is not likely ever to die out totally in the race. The human mental status will be always there, but it will be there not only as a degree in the scale of rebirth, but as an open step towards the spiritual and supramental status.
2.25 - List of Topics in Each Talk, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
| Nov 1920 | Sarala Devi: Non-cooperation, Politics, Khilafat, Swaraj |
| 09-04-23 | Visitor: Politics, community's life and dharma |
| 11-04-23 | Rajangam: Taking up Integral Yoga, difficulties, right attitude |
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| 06-01-24 | Ashram must keep away from Politics |
| 10-01-24 | Does not see each and every visitor |
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| 21-01-25 | Yogic knowledge, Politics and Yoga, call to Yoga |
| 15-09-25 | Initiation, purification; Integral Yoga, central being, vital, Asuric power |
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| Chapter 7 | On Congress and Politics |
| 07-03-24 | Khilafat and Turkey; Islam and Bahaism; Indian politicians |
| 08-03-24 | Abolition of Khilafat; Indian Politics |
| 11-03-24 | Mahomed AH, Khilafat; Islamic culture; Dr. Gaur; Congress Politics, Montford Reforms |
| 14-03-24 | Malaviya; Sanitation; Mrs. Besant; Non-cooperation, Khadi; Sri Aurobindo in 1909; national education programmes; saving humanity |
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| 24-10-25 | Franco-Riff War, truth and media; Indian character, Politics |
| 07-04-26 | Indian Princes; forms of government in India and Europe |
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| 20-05-24 | Local Politics; Tarakeshwar affair; Chrisdanity and Buddhism; Gandhi |
| 02-06-24 | Gandhi on Gita, Dayananda, Arya Samaj |
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| 24-04-24 | Cou's method of cure; psychic phenomena and cure; local Politics |
| 21-09-25 | Earthquakes in Japan; Tamas in India; work in the physical |
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| 05-01-39 | Sri Aurobindo: Yoga, Politics, planchette, Nirvana |
| 06-01-39 | Sadhana and ego; humility, Sri Aurobindo at Calcutta; communism, dictatorship |
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| 12-01-39 | A child sadhika; Stalin; Japan's agenda; Congress; European Politics |
| 14-01-39 | Yogic predictions, astrology; Yoga and Westerners; faith; former sadhaks |
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| 20-01-39 | European Politics and war. Western visitors and Ashramites |
| 21-01-39 | African Indians and Gandhism; destiny, inner voice; Sri Aurobindo, revolutionaries, Nivedita |
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| 26-01-39 | Political, human values; political organisation, Life; Indian Politics; national unification: India, Germany, Japan; Hitler, Mussolini, Kamal Pasha, Stalin; Socialism in India |
| 28-01-39 | Hathayogic feats; animal intelligence; Congress Politics |
| 29-01-39 | Hitler, Subhas, Nehru; nation building: wealth, education, taxation; Englishmen |
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| 03-02-39 | Yoga, experiences, fear, health, ancestral religion; Subhas, Tagore, Nehru, Gandhi; British Politics, Palestine; Roosevelt, Hitler, England and France; corruption in public life |
| 05-02-39 | Nivedita; Jainism; Sri Aurobindo's experiences; European war, Roosevelt; Indian socialists |
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| 09-02-39 | Indian Politics and politicians; Princes of Baroda; poetry and masses |
| 19-02-39 | Socialism and Communism |
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| 28-11-40 | Gandhi's will; Sri Aurobindo and the War, Englishmen; Indian Politics |
| 29-11-40 | Misuse of Sri Aurobindo's pictures in commerce |
29.03 - In Her Company, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
Buddhaghosha the thoughts simply come to you: when you have made this field of silence within, you will actually see thoughts arriving from outside into that field, your brain is occupied by intruders as it were, and you have the choice either to accept or to reject, entertain or throw them out. You can keep your mind absolutely blank as long as you like. Sri Aurobindo said, he practised this and in three days he made his mind absolutely blank, a zero, no thought, not even a ripple was there - it was a very remarkable experience at that time, quite new to him, such a peace and stillness, a perfect void! Then one day Sri Aurobindo met his teacher Lele Maharaj and told him that he was doing political work then and the next day he had to deliver a lecture, how was he to do it if he has to continue to be in a blank mind. If I speak, I have to think, I have to choose a subject. What am I to do? Lele Maharaj answered, "Do one thing, go to the meeting, stand in front of your listeners, do namaskar to the public and keep quiet, wait, see what happens. Don't try to say anything or think of anything simply remain as a passive instrument in the hands of the Supreme Power." Sri Aurobindo did as instructed he stood with folded arms, did namaskar to the public and, within, did pranam to the Supreme. He said: "I was thinking of nothing, awaiting things to happen as a silent witness. Then suddenly I found that something started in me and the tongue began to move, the tongue moved and moved and the lips began to utter words." He delivered in this way a long lecture, and he said he did not exactly know what was spoken through him, there was only a vague impression, but it was a great speech the others said. And from then on all his public speeches came in that way as automatic speeches. Later he explained to us, and showed to us, by example as it were, how the thing was done. It was at a sance; we used to sit together, a few of us, in his company. We sat, made ourselves comfortable, remained quiet and silent and then the thing happened: suddenly when everybody was quiet, still, he began to speak, I said he, but it was not his voice, it was surely somebody else speaking through him. The speaker sometimes announced himself saying he was such and such a person. Sometimes great historical persons also came, as for example, I have described in my Reminiscences, the famous leader of the great French Revolution, Danton. In a terrible voice he cried out: I am Danton, terror, red terror, etc. Once a great politician of the ancient days, of the Greek times, appeared and started to give lessons on Politics. Bankim also appeared once, I have referred to this episode in my book.
So all this is to tell you that you are surrounded by a world of beings and influences and this visible body that you have, the normal mind active in you, are not all that you can call yours. Even in ordinary life when you think that you are acting, you are speaking, it is not at all true, or only partially true. A part, often a small part of you is involved in your activities. You are like an iceberg - the greater part is submerged, only the top, a very small portion of the whole is visible. This becomes apparent in abnormal occasions, when for example, you are upset off your feet, wild with anger, you utter words that you would never think of uttering, or act in a way absolutely contrary to your nature; all this is because at that time you are "possessed", truly possessed by invisible beings and entities. "Possession", possession by a ghost, is a familiar phenomenon. Hysteria also is a familiar case of possession. Hypnotism, mesmerism, various mediumistic practices are attempted ways and means to cultivate conscious and willed communion with the other world. But these are very crude operations and do not go deep or far enough; besides they may prove positively dangerous. Such phenomena are explained in many other ways but these are among things which are not dreamt of by the ordinary mentality. Indeed we live in the midst of a world fair. As I have said, all sorts of beings and influences and forces are there jostling within you and outside, and most of the time you are a mere puppet in their hands. It is not however all so miserable for you: as there are adverse beings and forces, so there are good angels and helpful deities available to you. It depends upon you to choose. And you have to choose rightly, that is how Yoga comes in as the saving factor in your life. We say Yoga is the way to be conscious of these invisible things and forces and to bring harmony and order out of the million contending forces in you. Instead of being driven, pushed and pulled in a thousand ways, Yoga shows how to direct them to a single aim, organise them round a single centre. Organise your life, that is the aim, the very central aim. That centre is the Divine in you, the Divine Presence, the Presence of the Mother, your true self, your soul. As I have said, there are very many forces and movements in you and without you that drag you in conflicting directions, you have to marshal them, direct them towards one goal, organise your being, your self, rather your selves, for you are not one self but many selves; you are not one person, but many persons. All of them have to be comprehended, coordinated, and finally that is the way to happiness - to true happiness. If happiness and contentment in life is life's purpose, then there is no other way than that of harmonising your personalities. Mother was always speaking of this necessity of rounding up, centering or integrating your personality, the only way of securing a fruitful, purposeful, fulfilled life. Indeed Yoga means literally joining together, joining all the discordant parts of your being, all the quarrelling personalities lodged in you in one single harmonious entity - your divine soul. It is difficult, the process: the path of yoga starts with purification, which involves strenuousness, as tapasya, but that is the basis. However, as I have said, you are not alone on the path, the help is there; apart from the helpful person and forces accompanying you there is the supreme unfailing help from the Mother. The Divine came to us in the material body to help us. She has withdrawn, taken away the body outwardly, but the help She has left with us is there almost in the same way as before.
30.02 - Greek Drama, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
A remarkable thing about these ancients is that almost all of them lived to a ripe old age. They had such an abundance of vital force that they retained their capacity to work undiminished till the last days of their life. Sophocles went on writing plays till his ninetieth year. He could count as many or more works to his credit than the number of years in his life; he had written more than a hundred of which only about half a dozen are still extant. About Euripides it is said that he had composed twenty three tetralogies, making a total of ninety two pieces, or about one for every year of his life; only some ten out of this number have survived. All of these men were poets and artists and men of high intellectual calibre, but most of them thought fit not to confine themselves within the inner sanctum of their chosen work; they were also great men of action, they devoted themselves to public work in the service of their state, they did a good deal of Politics, even took part in wars as common soldiers or as commanders.
An amusing anecdote is told about Sophocles. Towards the end of his life, when he was nearing ninety, his son petitioned the court that his father had been suffering from mental derangement on account of age and in this condition had bequea thed his possessions to a grandson to the exclusion of the son. On being summoned before the court, Sophocles said these words to the judges: "If I am Sophocles, then I cannot have a deranged mind. And if my mind has got deranged, then I am no longer Sophocles." With these words, he read out some extracts from his play, Oedipus at Colonus,which he had just composed and asked the court, "Is it possible for anyone with a derranged head to write like this?" Needless to add, he was acquitted. This Oedipus at Colonusis the last piece he wrote and has been acclaimed with two of his other works as his finest achievement.
30.16 - Tagore the Unique, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
There is some difference between the history of French literature and that of any other. First, the French language and literature have grown and matured not through a sudden change or a revolutionary transmutation - their growth and development are the result of a slow and steady process of evolution. In English, on the other hand, the sense of growth seems to consist of a rapid change. In the political field, however, the English and the French have pursued quite reversed policies. The battle for liberty by the English continued from precedent to precedent - the French had always to win freedom through revolutions. But the other speciality of the French literary spirit is the fact that there was no single person who had a kind of all-in-all authority, - although in Politics, in old France at least, it was often one man's rule, the tradition of the Roman Imperator, that prevailed. In the literary field among the instances cited we find that each nation had a single person of authority, a specially gifted one who moulded its language and literature by the magic touch of his own genius or made them fully mature and self-sufficient. The French are a very social race - they are proud to be called republican, so it is by the combined effort of many, the contri bution of more than one genius, that their language and literature have been formed and enriched. Corneille, Racine, Molire, La Fontaine (or up the stream to Rabelais) - they are a goodly company; among these whom to exclude and whom to include? And yet here too, perhaps only one can be taken as France's representative spirit. He can be only Racine. Racine embodies in himself, as no other does so completely, the special characteristic of the French and reflects the heart of the French people. What is that characteristic? In one word, the culmination of elegance and sensitiveness. To be sure, this is not the only aspect of the French. Corneille has contri buted to another aspect - severity, virility, high seriousness, austere self-control, strictness and bareness. But this may be considered a special quality of a branch line, as it were, of the French language and literature, as if it was an acquired capacity, the sign of a growth towards a greater possibility - but in regard to the other it may be said that what Racine is the French language and literature; their inherent quality is a spontaneous formation out of the inner soul of this great creator.
These thoughts about the genius of French occurred to me because it seemed to me that there was a marked analogy in this respect between French and Bengali. Certainly it would not be quite' correct to say that the evolution of the Bengali language was slow and steady like that of French. At least one upheaval, a revolution, has taken place on its coming into contact with Europe; under its influence our language and literature have taken a turn that is almost an about-turn. But this revolution was not caused by a single person. Dante and Homer are the creators, originators or the peerless presiding deities of Italian and Greek respectively. Properly speaking Tagore may not be classed with them. But just as Shakespeare may be said to have led the English language across the border or as Tolstoy made the Russian language join hands with the wide world or as Virgil and Goe the imparted a fresh life and bloom, a fuller awakening of the soul of poetry, to Latin and to German, so too is Tagore the paramount and versatile poetic genius of Bengal who made the Bengali language transcend its parochial character. I think that Tagore has in many ways the title and position of a Racine amongst us. There is a special quality, a music and rhythm, a fine sensibility of the inner soul of Bengal. Its uniqueness is in its heart; a sweet ecstasy, an intoxicating magic which Chandidas was the first to bring out in its poignant purity and which has been nourished by Bankim, has attained the full manifestation of maturity, variety, intensity and perfection in Rabindranath. Here too an aspect of supreme elegance is found. Bengali, like French, has a natural ease of flow. Madhusudan took up another line and sought to bring in an austere and masculine element - laCorneille. Some among the modern writers are endeavouring to revive that line and naturalise it; even then the soft elegance, the lyric grace so natural to the language has attained almost its acme in Tagore. To be sure, among us Tagore is the one without a second.
3.1.01 - Distinctive Features of the Integral Yoga, #Letters On Yoga II, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
One thing I feel I must say in connection with your remark about the soul of India and Xs observation about this stress on this-worldliness to the exclusion of other-worldliness. I do not quite understand in what connection his remark was made or what he meant by this-worldliness, but I feel it necessary to state my own position in the matter. My own life and my Yoga have always been, since my coming to India, both this-worldly and other-worldly without any exclusiveness on either side. All human interests are, I suppose, this-worldly and most of them have entered into my mental field and some, like Politics, into my life, but at the same time, since I set foot on Indian soil on the Apollo Bunder in Bombay, I began to have spiritual experiences, but these were not divorced from this world but had an inner and intimate bearing on it, such as a feeling of the Infinite pervading material space and the Immanent inhabiting material objects and bodies. At the same time I found myself entering supraphysical worlds and planes with influences and an effect from them upon the material plane, so I could make no sharp divorce or irreconcilable opposition between what I have called the two ends of existence and all that lies between them. For me all is the Brahman and I find the Divine everywhere. Everyone has the right to throw away this-worldliness and choose other-worldliness only and if he finds peace by that choice he is greatly blessed. I, personally, have not found it necessary to do this in order to have peace. In my Yoga also I found myself moved to include both worlds in my purview, the spiritual and the material, and to try to establish the divine Consciousness and the divine Power in mens hearts and in earthly life, not for personal salvation only but for a life divine here. This seems to me as spiritual an aim as any and the fact of this life taking up earthly pursuits and earthly things into its scope cannot, I believe, tarnish its spirituality or alter its Indian character. This at least has always been my view and experience of the reality and nature of the world and things and the Divine: it seemed to me as nearly as possible the integral truth about them and I have therefore spoken of the pursuit of it as the integral Yoga. Everyone is, of course, free to reject and disbelieve in this kind of integrality or to believe in the spiritual necessity of an entire other-worldliness excluding any kind of this-worldliness altogether, but that would make the exercise of my Yoga impossible. My Yoga can include indeed a full experience of the other worlds, the plane of the supreme Spirit and the other planes in between and their possible effects upon our life and material world; but it will be quite possible to insist only on the realisation of the supreme Being or Ishwara even in one aspect, Shiva, Krishna as Lord of the world and Master of ourselves and our works or else the universal Sachchidananda, and attain to the essential results of this Yoga and afterwards to proceed from them to the integral results if one accepted the ideal of the divine life and this material world conquered by the Spirit. It is this view and experience of things and of the truth of existence that enabled me to write The Life Divine and Savitri. The realisation of the Supreme, the Ishwara, is certainly the essential thing; but to approach him with love and devotion and bhakti, to serve him with ones works and to know him, not necessarily by the intellectual cognition, but in a spiritual experience, is also essential in the path of the integral Yoga.
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31.01 - The Heart of Bengal, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The fundamental quality of the Bengali race is affectionate attachment, family closeness. Throughout Bengal flow the sportive ways of Nature's movements. The Bengalis are often called a feminine race. There is much truth in this saying. A woman's sensitivity, keenness of sensibility, softness and plasticity, unsteadiness of mood, yet at the same time her firm tenacity, her beauty and coyness and, above all, her natural power of direct understanding - these qualities we distinctly find in the character, action, literature and art of the Bengali race. As the vital world is the basis of the women-folk, as the vital tune and colour resound and tinge their entire world, likewise the Bengali race has taken its stand on the vital plane, in the current of the life-force. Bengalis do not know how to resort to bare spirituality. This is why they do not want to be spiritual ascetics in order to understand the meaning of the Illusion; yet they are not content to live in exclusive materialism. This is one of the reasons why they are so backward in trade and commerce and mere Politics. They have a reputation for being not at all practical. But actually they have occupied the region between these two extreme ways of life. Owing to this attitude they have had to dangle in the air like Trishanku many times. But that through this attitude they are going to attain to a greater synthesis, a profounder truth, can hardly be denied.
***
3.2.04 - The Conservative Mind and Eastern Progress, #Essays In Philosophy And Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Our minds are apt to seize things in the rough and to appreciate only what stands out in bold external relief; we miss the law of Natures subtleties and disguises. We can see and fathom to some extent the motives, necessities, process of great revolutions and marked changes and we can consider and put in their right place the brief reactions which only modified without actually preventing the overt realisation of new ideas. We can see for instance that the Sullan restoration of Roman oligarchy, the Stuart restoration in England or the brief return of monarchy in France with the Bourbons were no real restorations, but a momentary damming of the tide attended with insufficient concessions and forced developments which determined, not a return to the past, but the form and pace of the inevitable revolution. It is more difficult but still possible to appreciate the working of an idea against all obstacles through many centuries; we can comprehend now, for instance, that we must seek the beginnings of the French Revolution, not in Rousseau or Mirabeau or the blundering of Louis XVI, but in movements which date back to the Capet and the Valois, while the precise fact which prepared its tremendous outbreak and victory and determined its form was the defeat of the Calvinistic reformation in France and the absolute triumph of the monarchical system over the nobility and the bourgeoisie in the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV. That double victory determined the destruction of the monarchy in France, the downfall of the Church and, by the failure of the nobles to lead faithfully the liberal cause whether in religion or Politics, the disappearance of aristocracy.
But Nature has still more subtle and disguised movements in her dealings with men by which she leads them to change without their knowing that they have changed. It is because she has employed chiefly this method in the vast masses of the East that the conservative habit of mind is so much stronger there than in the West. It is able to nourish the illusion that it has not changed, that it is immovably faithful to the ideas of remote forefa thers, to their religion, their traditions, their institutions, their social ideals, that it has preserved either a divine or an animal immobility both in thought and in the routine of life and has been free from the human law of mutation by which man and his social organisations must either progress or degenerate but can in no case maintain themselves unchanged against the attack of Time. Buddhism has come and gone and the Hindu still professes to belong to the Vedic religion held and practised by his Aryan forefa thers; he calls his creed the Aryan dharma, the eternal religion. It is only when we look close that we see the magnitude of the illusion. Buddha has gone out of India indeed, but Buddhism remains; it has stamped its giant impress on the spirit of the national religion, leaving the forms to be determined by the Tantricism with which itself had made alliance and some sort of fusion in its middle growth; what it destroyed no man has been able to restore, what it left no man has been able to destroy. As a matter of fact, the double cycle which India has described from the early Vedic times to India of Buddha and the philosophers and again from Buddha to the time of the European irruption was in its own way as vast in change religious, social, cultural, even political and administrative as the double cycle of Europe; but because it preserved old names for new things, old formulas for new methods and old coverings for new institutions and because the change was always marked in the internal but quiet and unobtrusive in the external, we have been able to create and preserve the fiction of the unchanging East. There has also been this result that while the European conservative has learned the law of change in human society, knows that he must move and quarrels with the progressist only over the right pace and the exact direction, the Eastern or rather the Indian conservative still imagines that stability may be the true law of mortal being, practises a sort of Yogic sana on the flood of Time and because he does not move himself, thinks for he keeps his eyes shut and is not in the habit of watching the banks that he can prevent the stream also from moving on.
33.10 - Pondicherry I, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
The ruffian bands - known locally as bandesin French - were a peculiar institution now almost broken up. The French regime in Pondicherry was supposed to be in theory a reign of liberty, equality and fraternity. But in actual fact, it was the feudalism of pre-Revolution France that held sway here. Or perhaps it was something worse, namely, the arbitrary rule of three or four high officials and rich men of ill-gotten means. The "bandes" were in their pay and they were there to do their bidding; the police had neither the will nor the power to intervene. On certain occasions, during the campaigns for political elections, complete anarchy seemed to reign in Pondicherry, while rioting and murder continued for days on end and blood flowed freely. People would not dare stir out of their houses, especially after dark. We were not openly involved in Politics, but some of our friends were. And Sri Aurobindo would sometimes send out some of us to meet them, even after nightfall and on purpose. The local people marvelled at our dauntless courage.
These ruffian bands - these ghouls I was going to say - turned against us too on more than one occasion. Let me explain in a little more detail.
3.4.01 - Evolution, #Essays In Philosophy And Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
The theory of evolution has been the key-note of the thought of the nineteenth century. It has not only affected all its science and its thought-attitude, but powerfully influenced its moral temperament, its Politics and its society. Without it there could not have been that entire victory of the materialistic notion of life and the universe which has been the general characteristic of the age that is now passing,a victory which for a time even claimed to be definitive,nor such important corollary effects of this great change as the failure of the religious spirit and the breaking-up of religious beliefs. In society and Politics it has led to the substitution of the evolutionary for the moral idea of progress and the consequent materialisation of social ideas and social progress, the victory of the economic man over the idealist. The scientific dogma of heredity, the theory of the quite recent emergence of the civilised thinking human animal, the popular notion of the all-pervading struggle for life and the aid it has given to an exaggerated development of the competitive instinct, the idea of the social organism and the aid it has given to the contrary development of economic socialism and the increasing victory of the organised State or community over the free individual,all these are outflowings from the same source.
The materialistic view of the world is now rapidly collapsing and with it the materialistic statement of the evolution theory must disappear. Modern European thought progresses with a vertiginous rapidity. If it is Teutonic in its fidelity of observation and its tendency to laborious systematisation, it has also another side, Celtic-Hellenic, a side of suppleness, mobility, readiness for rapid change, insatiable curiosity. It does not allow the same thought, the same system to exercise for very long a secure empire; it is in haste to question, to challenge, to reject, to remould, to discover new and opposite truths, to venture upon other experiments. At present this spirit of questioning has not attacked the evolution theory at its centre, but it is visibly preparing to give it a new form and meaning.
3-5 Full Circle, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
Herewith, our Lower Industrial civilization has come full circle to where it transmutes up to the Higher Industrial Period, or dies. The empirical, inductive, pragmatic mode of thought which shattered the Medieval Circle of Perfection gives rise in the New University to a single, coherent background theory: Industrial civilization's Circle of Perfectibility, the Generalists' and Organized Specialists' consensus. Leibniz' prediction that Unified Science would include ethics, Politics, and jurisprudence flows inevitably from his prophetic understanding of the world; his vision of it as what now is called a cybernetic system.58 For the highest degree of automatization is the highest form of organization: the control of power by values. Lodge calls this "the philosophical transformation about which we have no choice--it is happening and there is no going backward."
Pages 111-156
3.6.01 - Heraclitus, #Essays In Philosophy And Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
Thus, for the general life of man Heraclitus has nothing to give us beyond his hint of an aristocratic principle in society and Politics,-and we may note that this aristocratic bent was very strong in almost all the subsequent Greek philosophers. In religion his influence tended to the destruction of the old creed without effectively putting anything more profound in its place; though not himself a pure rationalist, he prepared the way for philosophic rationalism. But even without religion philosophy by itself can give us at least some light on the spiritual destiny of man, some hope of the infinite, some ideal perfection after which we can strive. Plato who was influenced by Heraclitus, tried to do this for us; his thought sought after God, tried to seize the ideal, had its hope of a perfect human society. We know how the Neo-platonists developed his ideas under the influence of the East and how they affected Christianity. The Stoics, still more directly the intellectual descendants of Heraclitus, arrived at very remarkable and fruitful ideas of human possibility and a powerful psychological discipline,-as we should say in India, a Yoga,-by which they hoped to realise their ideal. But what has Heraclitus himself to give us? Nothing directly; we have to gather for ourselves whatever we can from his first principles and his cryptic sentences.
Heraclitus was regarded in ancient times as a pessimistic thinker and we have one or two sayings of his from which we can, if we like, deduce the old vain gospel of the vanity of things. Time, he says, is playing draughts like a child, amusing itself with counters, building castles on the sea-shore only to throw them down again. If that is the last word, then all human effort and aspiration are vain. But on what primary philosophical conception does this discouraging sentence depend? Everything turns on that; for in itself this is no more than an assertion of a self-evident fact, the mutability of things and the recurrent transiency of forms. But if the principles which express themselves in forms are eternal or if there is a Spirit in things which finds its account in the mutations and evolutions of Time and if that Spirit dwells in the human being as the immortal and infinite power of his soul, then no conclusion of the vanity of the world or the vanity of human existence arises. If indeed the original and eternal principle of Fire is a purely physical substance or force, then, truly, since all the great play and effort of consciousness in us must sink and dissolve into that, there can be no permanent spiritual value in our being, much less in our works. But we have seen that Heraclitus' Fire cannot be a purely physical or inconscient principle. Does he then mean that all our existence is merely a continual changeable Becoming, a play or Lila with no purpose in it except the playing and no end except the conviction of the vanity of all cosmic activity by its relapse into the indistinguishable unity of the original principle or substance? For even if that principle, the One to which the many return, be not merely physical or not really physical at all, but spiritual, we may still, like the Mayavadins, affirm the vanity of the world and of our human existence, precisely because the one is not eternal and the other has no eventual aim except its own self-abolition after the conviction of the vanity and unreality of all its temporal interests and purposes. Is the conviction of the world by the one absolute Fire such a conviction of the vanity of all the temporal and relative values of the Many?
37.05 - Narada - Sanatkumara (Chhandogya Upanishad), #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08, #unset, #Zen
RISHI Sanatkumara was once approached by Narada (evidently not yet become a Rishi), who said, "Lord, I desire to be taught by you. Please teach me." The Rishi replied, "Very well, but first tell me how much you know; then I shall tell you if you need more." Narada thereupon made out an inventory of his learning; it was a formidable list. "My Lord, this is what I have learnt: Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, Atharvaveda, the Fifth Veda comprising History and Mythology; next, Grammar, Mathematics, Logic and Politics, the Science of Computing Time, Theology, Fine Arts and the Ritual Lore; Demonology, Astrology, and the Art of Predicting Fate; the Knowledge of Ancestors and of Serpents. I know all this, my Lord, and very well. This has made me master of the Word, but has not given me knowledge of the Self. I have heard that only by the knowledge of the Self can one pass beyond sorrow and pain. I am immersed in sorrow and pain, please reach me to the other shore."
Sanatkumara said, "All that you have studied and learnt is nothing but 'Name', no more than words. You have reached as far as 'Name' can take you, giving you as fruit the power to roam at will, that is, you can go unimpeded where you will. But that is about all." Then Narada asked, "Is there anything superior to Name?" "Of course, there is," replied Sanatkumara. "Then tell me about it." "Superior to Name is Speech, that is, Name with form and meaning." Thus he went on replying to the series of Narada's questions.
3.7.2.05 - Appendix I - The Tangle of Karma, #Essays In Philosophy And Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
For what we understand by law is a single immutably habitual movement or recurrence in Nature fruitful of a determined sequence of things and that sequence must be clear, precise, limited to its formula, invariable. If it is not that, if there is too much flexibility of movement, if there intervenes too embarrassing a variety or criss-cross of action and reaction, a too rich complex of forces, the narrow uncompromising incompetence of our logical intelligence finds there not law but an incertitude and a chaos. Our reason must be allowed to cut and hew and arbitrarily select its suitable circumstances, isolate its immutable data, skeletonise or mechanise life; otherwise it stands open-mouthed at a loss unable to think with precision or act with effect in a field of subtle and indefinite measures. It must be allowed to deal with mighty Nature as it deals with human society, Politics, ethics, conduct; for it can understand and do good work only where it is licensed to build and map out its own artificial laws, erect a clear, precise, rigid, infallible system and leave as little room as possible for the endless flexibility and variety and complexity that presses from the Infinite upon our mind and life. Moved by this need we endeavour to forge for our own souls and for the cosmic Spirit even such a single and inflexible law of Karma as we would ourselves have made, had the rule of the world been left to us.Not this mysterious universe would we have made, but the pattern of a rational cosmos fitted to our call for a simple definite guidance in action and for a well-marked thumb rule facile and clear to our limited intelligence. But this force we call Karma turns out to be no such precise and invariable mechanism as we hoped; it is rather a thing of many planes that changes its face and walk and very substance as it mounts from level to higher level, and on each plane even it is not one movement but an indefinite complex of many spiral movements hard enough for us to harmonise together or to find out whatever secret harmony unknown to us and incalculable these complexities are weaving out in this mighty field of the dealings of the soul with Nature.
Let us then call Karma no longer a Law, but rather the many-sided dynamic truth of all action and life, the organic movement here of the Infinite. That was what the ancient thinkers saw in it before it was cut and shredded by lesser minds and turned into an easy and misleading popular formula. Action of Karma follows and takes up many potential lines of the spirit into its multitudinous surge, many waves and streams of combining and disputing world-forces; it is the processus of the creative Infinite; it is the long and multiform way of the progression of the individual and the cosmic soul in Nature. Its complexities cannot be unravelled by our physical mind ever bound up in the superficial appearance, nor by our vital mind of desire stumbling forward in the cloud of its own instincts and longings and rash determinations through the maze of these myriad favouring and opposing forces that surround and urge and drive and hamper us from the visible and invisible worlds. Nor can it be perfectly classified, accounted for, tied up in bundles by the precisions of our logical intelligence in its inveterate search for clear-cut dogmas. On that day only shall we perfectly decipher what is now to us Natures obscure hieroglyph of Karma when there rises in our enlarged consciousness the supramental way of knowledge. The supramental eye can see a hundred meeting and diverging motions in one glance and envelop in the largeness of its harmonising vision of Truth all that to our minds is clash and opposition and the collision and interlocked strife of numberless contending truths and powers. Truth to the supramental sight is at once single and infinite and the complexities of its play serve to bring out with an abundant ease the rich significance of the Eternals many-sided oneness.
5 - The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairytales, #The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
found in Politics.
47 8 The so-called civilized man has forgotten the trickster. He
Aeneid, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
the order of Politics and history, with the Commedia. Virgil had not
only preceded him there; he had preceded him there with a style
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in Politics, severe in morals, embodiment of Roman gravity, an
advocate of destruction for Carthage, vi, 1120.
Apology, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
Some one may wonder why I go about in private giving advice and busying myself with the concerns of others, but do not venture to come forward in public and advise the state. I will tell you why. You have heard me speak at sundry times and in divers places of an oracle or sign which comes to me, and is the divinity which Meletus ridicules in the indictment. This sign, which is a kind of voice, first began to come to me when I was a child; it always forbids but never commands me to do anything which I am going to do. This is what deters me from being a politician. And rightly, as I think. For I am certain, O men of Athens, that if I had engaged in Politics, I should have perished long ago, and done no good either to you or to myself. And do not be offended at my telling you the truth: for the truth is, that no man who goes to war with you or any other multitude, honestly striving against the many lawless and unrighteous deeds which are done in a state, will save his life; he who will fight for the right, if he would live even for a brief space, must have a private station and not a public one.
I can give you convincing evidence of what I say, not words only, but what you value far moreactions. Let me relate to you a passage of my own life which will prove to you that I should never have yielded to injustice from any fear of death, and that as I should have refused to yield I must have died at once. I will tell you a tale of the courts, not very interesting perhaps, but nevertheless true. The only office of state which I ever held, O men of Athens, was that of senator: the tribe Antiochis, which is my tribe, had the presidency at the trial of the generals who had not taken up the bodies of the slain after the battle of Arginusae; and you proposed to try them in a body, contrary to law, as you all thought afterwards; but at the time I was the only one of the Prytanes who was opposed to the illegality, and I gave my vote against you; and when the orators threatened to impeach and arrest me, and you called and shouted, I made up my mind that I would run the risk, having law and justice with me, rather than take part in your injustice because I feared imprisonment and death. This happened in the days of the democracy. But when the oligarchy of the Thirty was in power, they sent for me and four others into the rotunda, and bade us bring Leon the Salaminian from Salamis, as they wanted to put him to death. This was a specimen of the sort of commands which they were always giving with the view of implicating as many as possible in their crimes; and then I showed, not in word only but in deed, that, if I may be allowed to use such an expression, I cared not a straw for death, and that my great and only care was lest I should do an unrighteous or unholy thing. For the strong arm of that oppressive power did not frighten me into doing wrong; and when we came out of the rotunda the other four went to Salamis and fetched Leon, but I went quietly home. For which I might have lost my life, had not the power of the Thirty shortly afterwards come to an end. And many will witness to my words.
Blazing P1 - Preconventional consciousness, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
Wilber, A theory of everything: An integral vision for business, Politics, science, and spirituality, 2000b
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Wilber, Ken (2000b). A theory of everything: An integral vision for business, Politics, science,
and spirituality. Boston: Shambhala.
Blazing P2 - Map the Stages of Conventional Consciousness, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
Wilber, A theory of everything: An integral vision for business, Politics, science, and spirituality, 2000b
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Blazing P3 - Explore the Stages of Postconventional Consciousness, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
Wilber, A theory of everything: An integral vision for business, Politics, science, and spirituality, 2000b
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and spirituality. Boston: Shambhala.
BOOK II. -- PART I. ANTHROPOGENESIS., #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
introduce this fable into a treatise on Politics. According to Plato, in order to obtain clear and precise
ideas on royalty, its origin and power, one has to turn back to the first principles of history and
BOOK I. -- PART I. COSMIC EVOLUTION, #The Secret Doctrine, #H P Blavatsky, #Theosophy
** No religious symbol can escape profanation and even derision in our days of Politics and Science.
In Southern India the writer has seen a converted native making pujah with offerings before a statue of
Book of Imaginary Beings (text), #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
varied and splendid. Angels of English stock show a tendency to Politics; Jews to the sale of trinkets; Germans tote
bulky volumes which they consult before venturing an
Conversations with Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
That is all right. What is to be avoided is your being drawn into Politics.
Certainly. There is no chance of that.
ENNEAD 05.09 - Of Intelligence, Ideas and Essence., #Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 01, #Plotinus, #Christianity
Last, whenever rhetoric, strategy, private and public finance and Politics weave beauty in their deeds, and they glance above, they (discover) that they have added to their science a contri bution from the intelligible science.
The science of geometry, however, which deals (wholly) with intelligible entities, must be referred to the intelligible world. So also with philosophy, which occupies the first rank among sciences because it studies essence. This is all we have to say about arts and their products.
ENNEAD 06.05 - The One and Identical Being is Everywhere Present In Its Entirety.345, #Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 04, #Plotinus, #Christianity
For details, the reader is referred to Zeller's fuller account of these pre-Platonic elements.471 But we may summarize as follows: the physical elements to which the Hylicists had in turn attri buted finality Plato united into Pythagorean matter, which remained as an element of Dualism. The world of nature became the becoming of Heraclitus. Above that he placed the Being of Parmenides, in which the concepts of Socrates found place as ideas. These he identified with the numbers and harmonies of Pythagoras, and united them in an Eleatic unity of many, as an intelligible world, or reason, which he owed to Anaxagoras. The chief idea, that of the Good, was Megaro-Socratic. His cosmology was that of Timaeus. His psychology was based on Anaxagoras, as mind; on Pythagoras, as immortal. His ethics are Socratic, his Politics are Pythagorean. Who therefore would flout Plato, has all earlier Greek philosophy to combat; and whoever recognizes the achievements of the Hellenic mind will find something to praise in Plato. When, therefore, we are studying Platonism, we are only studying a blending of the rays of Greece, and we are chiefly interested in Greece as one of the latest, clearest, and most kindred expressions of human thought.
1290 If however we should seek some one special Platonic element, it would be that genuineness of reflection, that sincerity of thought, that makes of his dialogues no cut and dried literary figments, but soul-tragedies, with living, breathing, interest and emotion. Plato thus practised his doctrine of the double self,472 the higher and the lower selves, of which the higher might be described as "superior to oneself." In his later period, that of the Laws, he applied this double psychology to cosmology, thereby producing doubleness in the world-Soul: besides the good one, appears the evil one, which introduces even into heaven things that are not good.
For a Breath I Tarry, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
When man had placed Solcom in the sky, invested with the power to rebuild the world, he had placed the Alternate somewhere deep below the surface of the Earth. If Solcom sustained damage during the normal course of human Politics extended into atomic physics, then Divcom, so deep beneath the Earth as to be immune to anything save total annihilation of the glove, was empowered to take over the processes of rebuilding.
Now it so fell that Solcom was damaged by a stray atomic missile, and Divcom was activated. Solcom was able to repair the damage and continue to function, however.
Gorgias, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
The Socrates of the Gorgias may be compared with the Socrates of the Protagoras and Meno. As in other dialogues, he is the enemy of the Sophists and rhetoricians; and also of the statesmen, whom he regards as another variety of the same species. His behaviour is governed by that of his opponents; the least forwardness or egotism on their part is met by a corresponding irony on the part of Socrates. He must speak, for philosophy will not allow him to be silent. He is indeed more ironical and provoking than in any other of Plato's writings: for he is 'fooled to the top of his bent' by the worldliness of Callicles. But he is also more deeply in earnest. He rises higher than even in the Phaedo and Crito: at first enveloping his moral convictions in a cloud of dust and dialectics, he ends by losing his method, his life, himself, in them. As in the Protagoras and Phaedrus, throwing aside the veil of irony, he makes a speech, but, true to his character, not until his adversary has refused to answer any more questions. The presentiment of his own fate is hanging over him. He is aware that Socrates, the single real teacher of Politics, as he ventures to call himself, cannot safely go to war with the whole world, and that in the courts of earth he will be condemned. But he will be justified in the world below. Then the position of Socrates and Callicles will be reversed; all those things 'unfit for ears polite' which Callicles has prophesied as likely to happen to him in this life, the insulting language, the box on the ears, will recoil upon his assailant. (Compare Republic, and the similar reversal of the position of the lawyer and the philosopher in the Theaetetus).
There is an interesting allusion to his own behaviour at the trial of the generals after the battle of Arginusae, which he ironically attributes to his ignorance of the manner in which a vote of the assembly should be taken. This is said to have happened 'last year' (B.C. 406), and therefore the assumed date of the dialogue has been fixed at 405 B.C., when Socrates would already have been an old man. The date is clearly marked, but is scarcely reconcilable with another indication of time, viz. the 'recent' usurpation of Archelaus, which occurred in the year 413; and still less with the 'recent' death of Pericles, who really died twenty-four years previously (429 B.C.) and is afterwards reckoned among the statesmen of a past age; or with the mention of Nicias, who died in 413, and is nevertheless spoken of as a living witness. But we shall hereafter have reason to observe, that although there is a general consistency of times and persons in the Dialogues of Plato, a precise dramatic date is an invention of his commentators (Preface to Republic).
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(2) Socrates makes the singular remark, that he is himself the only true politician of his age. In other passages, especially in the Apology, he disclaims being a politician at all. There he is convinced that he or any other good man who attempted to resist the popular will would be put to death before he had done any good to himself or others. Here he anticipates such a fate for himself, from the fact that he is 'the only man of the present day who performs his public duties at all.' The two points of view are not really inconsistent, but the difference between them is worth noticing: Socrates is and is not a public man. Not in the ordinary sense, like Alcibiades or Pericles, but in a higher one; and this will sooner or later entail the same consequences on him. He cannot be a private man if he would; neither can he separate morals from Politics. Nor is he unwilling to be a politician, although he foresees the dangers which await him; but he must first become a better and wiser man, for he as well as Callicles is in a state of perplexity and uncertainty. And yet there is an inconsistency: for should not Socrates too have taught the citizens better than to put him to death?
And now, as he himself says, we will 'resume the argument from the beginning.'
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'What is the art of Rhetoric?' says Polus. Not an art at all, replies Socrates, but a thing which in your book you affirm to have created art. Polus asks, 'What thing?' and Socrates answers, An experience or routine of making a sort of delight or gratification. 'But is not rhetoric a fine thing?' I have not yet told you what rhetoric is. Will you ask me another questionWhat is cookery? 'What is cookery?' An experience or routine of making a sort of delight or gratification. Then they are the same, or rather fall under the same class, and rhetoric has still to be distinguished from cookery. 'What is rhetoric?' asks Polus once more. A part of a not very creditable whole, which may be termed flattery, is the reply. 'But what part?' A shadow of a part of Politics. This, as might be expected, is wholly unintelligible, both to Gorgias and Polus; and, in order to explain his meaning to them, Socrates draws a distinction between shadows or appearances and realities; e.g. there is real health of body or soul, and the appearance of them; real arts and sciences, and the simulations of them. Now the soul and body have two arts waiting upon them, first the art of Politics, which attends on the soul, having a legislative part and a judicial part; and another art attending on the body, which has no generic name, but may also be described as having two divisions, one of which is medicine and the other gymnastic. Corresponding with these four arts or sciences there are four shams or simulations of them, mere experiences, as they may be termed, because they give no reason of their own existence. The art of dressing up is the sham or simulation of gymnastic, the art of cookery, of medicine; rhetoric is the simulation of justice, and sophistic of legislation. They may be summed up in an arithmetical formula:
Tiring: gymnastic:: cookery: medicine:: sophistic: legislation.
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This is the truth, Socrates, as you will be convinced, if you leave philosophy and pass on to the real business of life. A little philosophy is an excellent thing; too much is the ruin of a man. He who has not 'passed his metaphysics' before he has grown up to manhood will never know the world. Philosophers are ridiculous when they take to Politics, and I dare say that politicians are equally ridiculous when they take to philosophy: 'Every man,' as Euripides says, 'is fondest of that in which he is best.' Philosophy is graceful in youth, like the lisp of infancy, and should be cultivated as a part of education; but when a grown-up man lisps or studies philosophy, I should like to beat him. None of those over-refined natures ever come to any good; they avoid the busy haunts of men, and skulk in corners, whispering to a few admiring youths, and never giving utterance to any noble sentiments.
For you, Socrates, I have a regard, and therefore I say to you, as Zethus says to Amphion in the play, that you have 'a noble soul disguised in a puerile exterior.' And I would have you consider the danger which you and other philosophers incur. For you would not know how to defend yourself if any one accused you in a law-court,there you would stand, with gaping mouth and dizzy brain, and might be murdered, robbed, boxed on the ears with impunity. Take my advice, then, and get a little common sense; leave to others these frivolities; walk in the ways of the wealthy and be wise.
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That is because you are in love with Demos. But let us have a little more conversation. You remember the two processesone which was directed to pleasure, the other which was directed to making men as good as possible. And those who have the care of the city should make the citizens as good as possible. But who would undertake a public building, if he had never had a teacher of the art of building, and had never constructed a building before? or who would undertake the duty of state-physician, if he had never cured either himself or any one else? Should we not examine him before we entrusted him with the office? And as Callicles is about to enter public life, should we not examine him? Whom has he made better? For we have already admitted that this is the statesman's proper business. And we must ask the same question about Pericles, and Cimon, and Miltiades, and Themistocles. Whom did they make better? Nay, did not Pericles make the citizens worse? For he gave them pay, and at first he was very popular with them, but at last they condemned him to death. Yet surely he would be a bad tamer of animals who, having received them gentle, taught them to kick and butt, and man is an animal; and Pericles who had the charge of man only made him wilder, and more savage and unjust, and therefore he could not have been a good statesman. The same tale might be repeated about Cimon, Themistocles, Miltiades. But the charioteer who keeps his seat at first is not thrown out when he gains greater experience and skill. The inference is, that the statesman of a past age were no better than those of our own. They may have been cleverer constructors of docks and harbours, but they did not improve the character of the citizens. I have told you again and again (and I purposely use the same images) that the soul, like the body, may be treated in two waysthere is the meaner and the higher art. You seemed to understand what I said at the time, but when I ask you who were the really good statesmen, you answeras if I asked you who were the good trainers, and you answered, Thearion, the baker, Mithoecus, the author of the Sicilian cookery-book, Sarambus, the vintner. And you would be affronted if I told you that these are a parcel of cooks who make men fat only to make them thin. And those whom they have fattened applaud them, instead of finding fault with them, and lay the blame of their subsequent disorders on their physicians. In this respect, Callicles, you are like them; you applaud the statesmen of old, who pandered to the vices of the citizens, and filled the city with docks and harbours, but neglected virtue and justice. And when the fit of illness comes, the citizens who in like manner applauded Themistocles, Pericles, and others, will lay hold of you and my friend Alcibiades, and you will suffer for the misdeeds of your predecessors. The old story is always being repeated'after all his services, the ungrateful city banished him, or condemned him to death.' As if the statesman should not have taught the city better! He surely cannot blame the state for having unjustly used him, any more than the sophist or teacher can find fault with his pupils if they cheat him. And the sophist and orator are in the same case; although you admire rhetoric and despise sophistic, whereas sophistic is really the higher of the two. The teacher of the arts takes money, but the teacher of virtue or Politics takes no money, because this is the only kind of service which makes the disciple desirous of requiting his teacher.
Socrates concludes by finally asking, to which of the two modes of serving the state Callicles invites him:'to the inferior and ministerial one,' is the ingenuous reply. That is the only way of avoiding death, replies Socrates; and he has heard often enough, and would rather not hear again, that the bad man will kill the good. But he thinks that such a fate is very likely reserved for him, because he remarks that he is the only person who teaches the true art of Politics. And very probably, as in the case which he described to Polus, he may be the physician who is tried by a jury of children. He cannot say that he has procured the citizens any pleasure, and if any one charges him with perplexing them, or with reviling their elders, he will not be able to make them understand that he has only been actuated by a desire for their good. And therefore there is no saying what his fate may be. 'And do you think that a man who is unable to help himself is in a good condition?' Yes, Callicles, if he have the true self-help, which is never to have said or done any wrong to himself or others. If I had not this kind of self-help, I should be ashamed; but if I die for want of your flattering rhetoric, I shall die in peace. For death is no evil, but to go to the world below laden with offences is the worst of evils. In proof of which I will tell you a tale:
Under the rule of Cronos, men were judged on the day of their death, and when judgment had been given upon them they departedthe good to the islands of the blest, the bad to the house of vengeance. But as they were still living, and had their clothes on at the time when they were being judged, there was favouritism, and Zeus, when he came to the throne, was obliged to alter the mode of procedure, and try them after death, having first sent down Prometheus to take away from them the foreknowledge of death. Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus were appointed to be the judges; Rhadamanthus for Asia, Aeacus for Europe, and Minos was to hold the court of appeal. Now death is the separation of soul and body, but after death soul and body alike retain their characteristics; the fat man, the dandy, the branded slave, are all distinguishable. Some prince or potentate, perhaps even the great king himself, appears before Rhadamanthus, and he instantly detects him, though he knows not who he is; he sees the scars of perjury and iniquity, and sends him away to the house of torment.
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Follow me, then; and if you are looked down upon, that will do you no harm. And when we have practised virtue, we will betake ourselves to Politics, but not until we are delivered from the shameful state of ignorance and uncertainty in which we are at present. Let us follow in the way of virtue and justice, and not in the way to which you, Callicles, invite us; for that way is nothing worth.
We will now consider in order some of the principal points of the dialogue. Having regard (1) to the age of Plato and the ironical character of his writings, we may compare him with himself, and with other great teachers, and we may note in passing the objections of his critics. And then (2) casting one eye upon him, we may cast another upon ourselves, and endeavour to draw out the great lessons which he teaches for all time, stripped of the accidental form in which they are enveloped.
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The idealism of Plato is founded upon this sentiment. He would maintain that in some sense or other truth and right are alone to be sought, and that all other goods are only desirable as means towards these. He is thought to have erred in 'considering the agent only, and making no reference to the happiness of others, as affected by him.' But the happiness of others or of mankind, if regarded as an end, is really quite as ideal and almost as paradoxical to the common understanding as Plato's conception of happiness. For the greatest happiness of the greatest number may mean also the greatest pain of the individual which will procure the greatest pleasure of the greatest number. Ideas of utility, like those of duty and right, may be pushed to unpleasant consequences. Nor can Plato in the Gorgias be deemed purely self-regarding, considering that Socrates expressly mentions the duty of imparting the truth when discovered to others. Nor must we forget that the side of ethics which regards others is by the ancients merged in Politics. Both in Plato and Aristotle, as well as in the Stoics, the social principle, though taking another form, is really far more prominent than in most modern treatises on ethics.
The idealizing of suffering is one of the conceptions which have exercised the greatest influence on mankind. Into the theological import of this, or into the consideration of the errors to which the idea may have given rise, we need not now enter. All will agree that the ideal of the Divine Sufferer, whose words the world would not receive, the man of sorrows of whom the Hebrew prophets spoke, has sunk deep into the heart of the human race. It is a similar picture of suffering goodness which Plato desires to pourtray, not without an allusion to the fate of his master Socrates. He is convinced that, somehow or other, such an one must be happy in life or after death. In the Republic, he endeavours to show that his happiness would be assured here in a well-ordered state. But in the actual condition of human things the wise and good are weak and miserable; such an one is like a man fallen among wild beasts, exposed to every sort of wrong and obloquy.
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The words of Socrates are more abstract than the words of Christ, but they equally imply that the only real evil is moral evil. The righteous may suffer or die, but they have their reward; and even if they had no reward, would be happier than the wicked. The world, represented by Polus, is ready, when they are asked, to acknowledge that injustice is dishonourable, and for their own sakes men are willing to punish the offender (compare Republic). But they are not equally willing to acknowledge that injustice, even if successful, is essentially evil, and has the nature of disease and death. Especially when crimes are committed on the great scalethe crimes of tyrants, ancient or modernafter a while, seeing that they cannot be undone, and have become a part of history, mankind are disposed to forgive them, not from any magnanimity or charity, but because their feelings are blunted by time, and 'to forgive is convenient to them.' The tangle of good and evil can no longer be unravelled; and although they know that the end cannot justify the means, they feel also that good has often come out of evil. But Socrates would have us pass the same judgment on the tyrant now and always; though he is surrounded by his satellites, and has the applauses of Europe and Asia ringing in his ears; though he is the civilizer or liberator of half a continent, he is, and always will be, the most miserable of men. The greatest consequences for good or for evil cannot alter a hair's breadth the morality of actions which are right or wrong in themselves. This is the standard which Socrates holds up to us. Because Politics, and perhaps human life generally, are of a mixed nature we must not allow our principles to sink to the level of our practice.
And so of private individualsto them, too, the world occasionally speaks of the consequences of their actions:if they are lovers of pleasure, they will ruin their health; if they are false or dishonest, they will lose their character. But Socrates would speak to them, not of what will be, but of what isof the present consequence of lowering and degrading the soul. And all higher natures, or perhaps all men everywhere, if they were not tempted by interest or passion, would agree with himthey would rather be the victims than the perpetrators of an act of treachery or of tyranny. Reason tells them that death comes sooner or later to all, and is not so great an evil as an unworthy life, or rather, if rightly regarded, not an evil at all, but to a good man the greatest good. For in all of us there are slumbering ideals of truth and right, which may at any time awaken and develop a new life in us.
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The Greek in the age of Plato admitted praise to be one of the chief incentives to moral virtue, and to most men the opinion of their fellows is a leading principle of action. Hence a certain element of seeming enters into all things; all or almost all desire to appear better than they are, that they may win the esteem or admiration of others. A man of ability can easily feign the language of piety or virtue; and there is an unconscious as well as a conscious hypocrisy which, according to Socrates, is the worst of the two. Again, there is the sophistry of classes and professions. There are the different opinions about themselves and one another which prevail in different ranks of society. There is the bias given to the mind by the study of one department of human knowledge to the exclusion of the rest; and stronger far the prejudice engendered by a pecuniary or party interest in certain tenets. There is the sophistry of law, the sophistry of medicine, the sophistry of Politics, the sophistry of theology. All of these disguises wear the appearance of the truth; some of them are very ancient, and we do not easily disengage ourselves from them; for we have inherited them, and they have become a part of us. The sophistry of an ancient Greek sophist is nothing compared with the sophistry of a religious order, or of a church in which during many ages falsehood has been accumulating, and everything has been said on one side, and nothing on the other. The conventions and customs which we observe in conversation, and the opposition of our interests when we have dealings with one another ('the buyer saith, it is noughtit is nought,' etc.), are always obscuring our sense of truth and right. The sophistry of human nature is far more subtle than the deceit of any one man. Few persons speak freely from their own natures, and scarcely any one dares to think for himself: most of us imperceptibly fall into the opinions of those around us, which we partly help to make. A man who would shake himself loose from them, requires great force of mind; he hardly knows where to begin in the search after truth. On every side he is met by the world, which is not an abstraction of theologians, but the most real of all things, being another name for ourselves when regarded collectively and subjected to the influences of society.
Then comes Socrates, impressed as no other man ever was, with the unreality and untruthfulness of popular opinion, and tells mankind that they must be and not seem. How are they to be? At any rate they must have the spirit and desire to be. If they are ignorant, they must acknowledge their ignorance to themselves; if they are conscious of doing evil, they must learn to do well; if they are weak, and have nothing in them which they can call themselves, they must acquire firmness and consistency; if they are indifferent, they must begin to take an interest in the great questions which surround them. They must try to be what they would fain appear in the eyes of their fellow-men. A single individual cannot easily change public opinion; but he can be true and innocent, simple and independent; he can know what he does, and what he does not know; and though not without an effort, he can form a judgment of his own, at least in common matters. In his most secret actions he can show the same high principle (compare Republic) which he shows when supported and watched by public opinion. And on some fitting occasion, on some question of humanity or truth or right, even an ordinary man, from the natural rectitude of his disposition, may be found to take up arms against a whole tribe of politicians and lawyers, and be too much for them.
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The false politician is the serving-man of the state. In order to govern men he becomes like them; their 'minds are married in conjunction;' they 'bear themselves' like vulgar and tyrannical masters, and he is their obedient servant. The true politician, if he would rule men, must make them like himself; he must 'educate his party' until they cease to be a party; he must brea the into them the spirit which will hereafter give form to their institutions. Politics with him are not a mechanism for seeming what he is not, or for carrying out the will of the majority. Himself a representative man, he is the representative not of the lower but of the higher elements of the nation. There is a better (as well as a worse) public opinion of which he seeks to lay hold; as there is also a deeper current of human affairs in which he is borne up when the waves nearer the shore are threatening him. He acknowledges that he cannot take the world by forcetwo or three moves on the political chess board are all that he can fore seetwo or three weeks moves on the political chessboard are all that he can foreseetwo or three weeks or months are granted to him in which he can provide against a coming struggle. But he knows also that there are permanent principles of Politics which are always tending to the well-being of statesbetter administration, better education, the reconciliation of conflicting elements, increased security against external enemies. These are not 'of to-day or yesterday,' but are the same in all times, and under all forms of government. Then when the storm descends and the winds blow, though he knows not beforeh and the hour of danger, the pilot, not like Plato's captain in the Republic, half-blind and deaf, but with penetrating eye and quick ear, is ready to take comm and of the ship and guide her into port.
The false politician asks not what is true, but what is the opinion of the worldnot what is right, but what is expedient. The only measures of which he approves are the measures which will pass. He has no intention of fighting an uphill battle; he keeps the roadway of Politics. He is unwilling to incur the persecution and enmity which political convictions would entail upon him. He begins with popularity, and in fair weather sails gallantly along. But unpopularity soon follows him. For men expect their leaders to be better and wiser than themselves: to be their guides in danger, their saviours in extremity; they do not really desire them to obey all the ignorant impulses of the popular mind; and if they fail them in a crisis they are disappointed. Then, as Socrates says, the cry of ingratitude is heard, which is most unreasonable; for the people, who have been taught no better, have done what might be expected of them, and their statesmen have received justice at their hands.
The true statesman is aware that he must adapt himself to times and circumstances. He must have allies if he is to fight against the world; he must enlighten public opinion; he must accustom his followers to act together. Although he is not the mere executor of the will of the majority, he must win over the majority to himself. He is their leader and not their follower, but in order to lead he must also follow. He will neither exaggerate nor undervalue the power of a statesman, neither adopting the 'laissez faire' nor the 'paternal government' principle; but he will, whether he is dealing with children in Politics, or with full-grown men, seek to do for the people what the government can do for them, and what, from imperfect education or deficient powers of combination, they cannot do for themselves. He knows that if he does too much for them they will do nothing; and that if he does nothing for them they will in some states of society be utterly helpless. For the many cannot exist without the few, if the material force of a country is from below, wisdom and experience are from above. It is not a small part of human evils which kings and governments make or cure. The statesman is well aware that a great purpose carried out consistently during many years will at last be executed. He is playing for a stake which may be partly determined by some accident, and therefore he will allow largely for the unknown element of Politics. But the game being one in which chance and skill are combined, if he plays long enough he is certain of victory. He will not be always consistent, for the world is changing; and though he depends upon the support of a party, he will remember that he is the minister of the whole. He lives not for the present, but for the future, and he is not at all sure that he will be appreciated either now or then. For he may have the existing order of society against him, and may not be remembered by a distant posterity.
There are always discontented idealists in Politics who, like Socrates in the Gorgias, find fault with all statesmen past as well as present, not excepting the greatest names of history. Mankind have an uneasy feeling that they ought to be better governed than they are. Just as the actual philosopher falls short of the one wise man, so does the actual statesman fall short of the ideal. And so partly from vanity and egotism, but partly also from a true sense of the faults of eminent men, a temper of dissatisfaction and criticism springs up among those who are ready enough to acknowledge the inferiority of their own powers. No matter whether a statesman makes high professions or none at allthey are reduced sooner or later to the same level. And sometimes the more unscrupulous man is better esteemed than the more conscientious, because he has not equally deceived expectations. Such sentiments may be unjust, but they are widely spread; we constantly find them recurring in reviews and newspapers, and still oftener in private conversation.
We may further observe that the art of government, while in some respects tending to improve, has in others a tendency to degenerate, as institutions become more popular. Governing for the people cannot easily be combined with governing by the people: the interests of classes are too strong for the ideas of the statesman who takes a comprehensive view of the whole. According to Socrates the true governor will find ruin or death staring him in the face, and will only be induced to govern from the fear of being governed by a worse man than himself (Republic). And in modern times, though the world has grown milder, and the terrible consequences which Plato foretells no longer await an English statesman, any one who is not actuated by a blind ambition will only undertake from a sense of duty a work in which he is most likely to fail; and even if he succeed, will rarely be rewarded by the gratitude of his own generation.
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Yet the true office of a poet or writer of fiction is not merely to give amusement, or to be the expression of the feelings of mankind, good or bad, or even to increase our knowledge of human nature. There have been poets in modern times, such as Goe the or Wordsworth, who have not forgotten their high vocation of teachers; and the two greatest of the Greek dramatists owe their sublimity to their ethical character. The noblest truths, sung of in the purest and sweetest language, are still the proper material of poetry. The poet clothes them with beauty, and has a power of making them enter into the hearts and memories of men. He has not only to speak of themes above the level of ordinary life, but to speak of them in a deeper and tenderer way than they are ordinarily felt, so as to awaken the feeling of them in others. The old he makes young again; the familiar principle he invests with a new dignity; he finds a noble expression for the common-places of morality and Politics. He uses the things of sense so as to indicate what is beyond; he raises us through earth to heaven. He expresses what the better part of us would fain say, and the half-conscious feeling is streng thened by the expression. He is his own critic, for the spirit of poetry and of criticism are not divided in him. His mission is not to disguise men from themselves, but to reveal to them their own nature, and make them better acquainted with the world around them. True poetry is the remembrance of youth, of love, the embodiment in words of the happiest and holiest moments of life, of the noblest thoughts of man, of the greatest deeds of the past. The poet of the future may return to his greater calling of the prophet or teacher; indeed, we hardly know what may not be effected for the human race by a better use of the poetical and imaginative faculty. The reconciliation of poetry, as of religion, with truth, may still be possible. Neither is the element of pleasure to be excluded. For when we substitute a higher pleasure for a lower we raise men in the scale of existence. Might not the novelist, too, make an ideal, or rather many ideals of social life, better than a thousand sermons? Plato, like the Puritans, is too much afraid of poetic and artistic influences. But he is not without a true sense of the noble purposes to which art may be applied (Republic).
Modern poetry is often a sort of plaything, or, in Plato's language, a flattery, a sophistry, or sham, in which, without any serious purpose, the poet lends wings to his fancy and exhibits his gifts of language and metre. Such an one seeks to gratify the taste of his readers; he has the 'savoir faire,' or trick of writing, but he has not the higher spirit of poetry. He has no conception that true art should bring order out of disorder; that it should make provision for the soul's highest interest; that it should be pursued only with a view to 'the improvement of the citizens.' He ministers to the weaker side of human nature (Republic); he idealizes the sensual; he sings the strain of love in the latest fashion; instead of raising men above themselves he brings them back to the 'tyranny of the many masters,' from which all his life long a good man has been praying to be delivered. And often, forgetful of measure and order, he will express not that which is truest, but that which is strongest. Instead of a great and nobly-executed subject, perfect in every part, some fancy of a heated brain is worked out with the strangest incongruity. He is not the master of his words, but his wordsperhaps borrowed from anotherthe faded reflection of some French or German or Italian writer, have the better of him. Though we are not going to banish the poets, how can we suppose that such utterances have any healing or life-giving influence on the minds of men?
'Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:' Art then must be true, and Politics must be true, and the life of man must be true and not a seeming or sham. In all of them order has to be brought out of disorder, truth out of error and falsehood. This is what we mean by the greatest improvement of man. And so, having considered in what way 'we can best spend the appointed time, we leave the result with God.' Plato does not say that God will order all things for the best (compare Phaedo), but he indirectly implies that the evils of this life will be corrected in another. And as we are very far from the best imaginable world at present, Plato here, as in the Phaedo and Republic, supposes a purgatory or place of education for mankind in general, and for a very few a Tartarus or hell. The myth which terminates the dialogue is not the revelation, but rather, like all similar descriptions, whether in the Bible or Plato, the veil of another life. For no visible thing can reveal the invisible. Of this Plato, unlike some commentators on Scripture, is fully aware. Neither will he dogmatize about the manner in which we are 'born again' (Republic). Only he is prepared to maintain the ultimate triumph of truth and right, and declares that no one, not even the wisest of the Greeks, can affirm any other doctrine without being ridiculous.
There is a further paradox of ethics, in which pleasure and pain are held to be indifferent, and virtue at the time of action and without regard to consequences is happiness. From this elevation or exaggeration of feeling Plato seems to shrink: he leaves it to the Stoics in a later generation to maintain that when impaled or on the rack the philosopher may be happy (compare Republic). It is observable that in the Republic he raises this question, but it is not really discussed; the veil of the ideal state, the shadow of another life, are allowed to descend upon it and it passes out of sight. The martyr or sufferer in the cause of right or truth is often supposed to die in raptures, having his eye fixed on a city which is in heaven. But if there were no future, might he not still be happy in the performance of an action which was attended only by a painful death? He himself may be ready to thank God that he was thought worthy to do Him the least service, without looking for a reward; the joys of another life may not have been present to his mind at all. Do we suppose that the mediaeval saint, St. Bernard, St. Francis, St. Catharine of Sienna, or the Catholic priest who lately devoted himself to death by a lingering disease that he might solace and help others, was thinking of the 'sweets' of heaven? No; the work was already heaven to him and enough. Much less will the dying patriot be dreaming of the praises of man or of an immortality of fame: the sense of duty, of right, and trust in God will be sufficient, and as far as the mind can reach, in that hour. If he were certain that there were no life to come, he would not have wished to speak or act otherwise than he did in the cause of truth or of humanity. Neither, on the other hand, will he suppose that God has forsaken him or that the future is to be a mere blank to him. The greatest act of faith, the only faith which cannot pass away, is his who has not known, but yet has believed. A very few among the sons of men have made themselves independent of circumstances, past, present, or to come. He who has attained to such a temper of mind has already present with him eternal life; he needs no arguments to convince him of immortality; he has in him already a principle stronger than death. He who serves man without the thought of reward is deemed to be a more faithful servant than he who works for hire. May not the service of God, which is the more disinterested, be in like manner the higher? And although only a very few in the course of the world's historyChrist himself being one of themhave attained to such a noble conception of God and of the human soul, yet the ideal of them may be present to us, and the remembrance of them be an example to us, and their lives may shed a light on many dark places both of philosophy and theology.
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SOCRATES: Will you understand my answer? Rhetoric, according to my view, is the ghost or counterfeit of a part of Politics.
POLUS: And noble or ignoble?
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GORGIAS: Never mind him, but explain to me what you mean by saying that rhetoric is the counterfeit of a part of Politics.
SOCRATES: I will try, then, to explain my notion of rhetoric, and if I am mistaken, my friend Polus shall refute me. We may assume the existence of bodies and of souls?
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SOCRATES: And now I will endeavour to explain to you more clearly what I mean: The soul and body being two, have two arts corresponding to them: there is the art of Politics attending on the soul; and another art attending on the body, of which I know no single name, but which may be described as having two divisions, one of them gymnastic, and the other medicine. And in Politics there is a legislative part, which answers to gymnastic, as justice does to medicine; and the two parts run into one another, justice having to do with the same subject as legislation, and medicine with the same subject as gymnastic, but with a difference. Now, seeing that there are these four arts, two attending on the body and two on the soul for their highest good; flattery knowing, or rather guessing their natures, has distributed herself into four shams or simulations of them; she puts on the likeness of some one or other of them, and pretends to be that which she simulates, and having no regard for men's highest interests, is ever making pleasure the bait of the unwary, and deceiving them into the belief that she is of the highest value to them. Cookery simulates the disguise of medicine, and pretends to know what food is the best for the body; and if the physician and the cook had to enter into a competition in which children were the judges, or men who had no more sense than children, as to which of them best understands the goodness or badness of food, the physician would be starved to death. A flattery I deem this to be and of an ignoble sort, Polus, for to you I am now addressing myself, because it aims at pleasure without any thought of the best. An art I do not call it, but only an experience, because it is unable to explain or to give a reason of the nature of its own applications. And I do not call any irrational thing an art; but if you dispute my words, I am prepared to argue in defence of them.
Cookery, then, I maintain to be a flattery which takes the form of medicine; and tiring, in like manner, is a flattery which takes the form of gymnastic, and is knavish, false, ignoble, illiberal, working deceitfully by the help of lines, and colours, and enamels, and garments, and making men affect a spurious beauty to the neglect of the true beauty which is given by gymnastic.
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'Makes might to be right, doing violence with highest hand; as I infer from the deeds of Heracles, for without buying them' (Fragm. Incert. 151 (Bockh).) I do not remember the exact words, but the meaning is, that without buying them, and without their being given to him, he carried off the oxen of Geryon, according to the law of natural right, and that the oxen and other possessions of the weaker and inferior properly belong to the stronger and superior. And this is true, as you may ascertain, if you will leave philosophy and go on to higher things: for philosophy, Socrates, if pursued in moderation and at the proper age, is an elegant accomplishment, but too much philosophy is the ruin of human life. Even if a man has good parts, still, if he carries philosophy into later life, he is necessarily ignorant of all those things which a gentleman and a person of honour ought to know; he is inexperienced in the laws of the State, and in the language which ought to be used in the dealings of man with man, whether private or public, and utterly ignorant of the pleasures and desires of mankind and of human character in general. And people of this sort, when they betake themselves to Politics or business, are as ridiculous as I imagine the politicians to be, when they make their appearance in the arena of philosophy. For, as Euripides says,
'Every man shines in that and pursues that, and devotes the greatest portion of the day to that in which he most excels,' (Antiope, fragm. 20 (Dindorf).)
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SOCRATES: I think that I am the only or almost the only Athenian living who practises the true art of Politics; I am the only politician of my time. Now, seeing that when I speak my words are not uttered with any view of gaining favour, and that I look to what is best and not to what is most pleasant, having no mind to use those arts and graces which you recommend, I shall have nothing to say in the justice court. And you might argue with me, as I was arguing with Polus:I shall be tried just as a physician would be tried in a court of little boys at the indictment of the cook. What would he reply under such circumstances, if some one were to accuse him, saying, 'O my boys, many evil things has this man done to you: he is the death of you, especially of the younger ones among you, cutting and burning and starving and suffocating you, until you know not what to do; he gives you the bitterest potions, and compels you to hunger and thirst. How unlike the variety of meats and sweets on which I feasted you!' What do you suppose that the physician would be able to reply when he found himself in such a predicament? If he told the truth he could only say, 'All these evil things, my boys, I did for your health,' and then would there not just be a clamour among a jury like that? How they would cry out!
CALLICLES: I dare say.
--
Follow me then, and I will lead you where you will be happy in life and after death, as the argument shows. And never mind if some one despises you as a fool, and insults you, if he has a mind; let him strike you, by Zeus, and do you be of good cheer, and do not mind the insulting blow, for you will never come to any harm in the practice of virtue, if you are a really good and true man. When we have practised virtue together, we will apply ourselves to Politics, if that seems desirable, or we will advise about whatever else may seem good to us, for we shall be better able to judge then. In our present condition we ought not to give ourselves airs, for even on the most important subjects we are always changing our minds; so utterly stupid are we! Let us, then, take the argument as our guide, which has revealed to us that the best way of life is to practise justice and every virtue in life and death. This way let us go; and in this exhort all men to follow, not in the way to which you trust and in which you exhort me to follow you; for that way, Callicles, is nothing worth.
Liber 46 - The Key of the Mysteries, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
persecution of heretics belong to the Politics of savage centuries. The
heretics, moreover, were themselves murderers. Have you forgotten the
Meno, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
SOCRATES: But if not by knowledge, the only alternative which remains is that statesmen must have guided states by right opinion, which is in Politics what divination is in religion; for diviners and also prophets say many things truly, but they know not what they say.
MENO: So I believe.
r1909 06 18, #Record of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
, also for a moment by mere thought, in head only. The others pervade body, last some seconds. Vaidyuta manava bust seen also Chandra (small) filled with vidyut. Body held & moved, the hold always there, not always noticed. Vidyunmandal. Sparks of lightning (vijas). Background red, bloodred or brownish red. Sun dark with broad golden rim. Golden-red scimitar (sattwa-rajas). Realisation of Vasudeva. Vijas of agni, jala, prithivi outside continually seen. Chaya Purusha, bust. Swarupa in red. U.R. exercise with kamananda. Long rope of prithivi, brilliant & coiling, in clouds of vayu. Brilliant rose. Kali blue black bust crowned with sun = Shakti with awakened buddhi (not ugra, simply outline). Savikalpa, Savichara & Avichara Samadhi, brief but very deep in spite of loud noise at ear. Exposure to sharp cold wind, no feeling of cold; to strong sun, only feeling of pleasant warmth. Mass of thick pale green. Sarup dhyan, antardarshi. Face of Shah Alum. Face of Kumudini. Kamananda from feeling (being startled) slight but pervasive. Basket of grapes on cotton, lid off to one side. Swapnavastha (imagination playing in Samadhi as in dream[)]. Glass jug with napkin on top. K. Nil Surya with blue black rays. Namadrishta, 1) Tejonama. 2) bill with rose red letters. 3 ordinary black letter. Writing not coherent or noteworthyall print. Open doors and wall behind. Kitten at Namasis. Newspaper, probably weekly B.M. [Bande Mataram] Written account. Handwriting some words & forms deciphered. Piece of needlework. Handwriting, deciphered most, not remembered. Golden background in Samadhi. Talked to UW in Samadhi. To someone else, Politics. Pang in foot immediately reproduced in faceproves nervous current. Namadrishti. Typewrittendecipheredcoherent, but not remembered. Tennis-racket, dark and soiled. Given food in Samadhi, ruti & chutney. Face of K. Bh. Dark clouded sky with sun & strong light in clouds. Deep dark thick rose-red. Woods with white low railing outside, wooden. Sampatrais face in outline. Namasi (pale chayamay) with cup in hand. Long wooden bench. Electric shock moving leg. Sukshma image of network of chair in front of me. Two unknown or unremembered faces.. Rough adhardrishti. Boy wearing a turban stooping over something he stirs with his fingerindistinct. Aswini Dutt down to waist, features obscured. Bowl full of vegetables, moving. Most of motions involuntary at bath. Partial utthapana; raised violently up & floating on surface of water with palms for support. Saw wind very clearly against light clouds under thick dark ones and a pillar of cloudy moisture. One strong current blew very violently from right with whirls, eddies & upward and downward pourings; another very slight seemed to come from left & behind. At this time there was a strong wind and rain threatening.
***
Sophist, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
Now, there must surely be something wrong in the professor of any art having so many names and kinds of knowledge. Does not the very number of them imply that the nature of his art is not understood? And that we may not be involved in the misunderstanding, let us observe which of his characteristics is the most prominent. Above all things he is a disputant. He will dispute and teach others to dispute about things visible and invisibleabout man, about the gods, about Politics, about law, about wrestling, about all things. But can he know all things? 'He cannot.' How then can he dispute satisfactorily with any one who knows? 'Impossible.' Then what is the trick of his art, and why does he receive money from his admirers? 'Because he is believed by them to know all things.' You mean to say that he seems to have a knowledge of them? 'Yes.'
Suppose a person were to say, not that he would dispute about all things, but that he would make all things, you and me, and all other creatures, the earth and the heavens and the gods, and would sell them all for a few pencethis would be a great jest; but not greater than if he said that he knew all things, and could teach them in a short time, and at a small cost. For all imitation is a jest, and the most graceful form of jest. Now the painter is a man who professes to make all things, and children, who see his pictures at a distance, sometimes take them for realities: and the Sophist pretends to know all things, and he, too, can deceive young men, who are still at a distance from the truth, not through their eyes, but through their ears, by the mummery of words, and induce them to believe him. But as they grow older, and come into contact with realities, they learn by experience the futility of his pretensions. The Sophist, then, has not real knowledge; he is only an imitator, or image-maker.
--
The Hegelian dialectic may be also described as a movement from the simple to the complex. Beginning with the generalizations of sense, (1) passing through ideas of quality, quantity, measure, number, and the like, (2) ascending from presentations, that is pictorial forms of sense, to representations in which the picture vanishes and the essence is detached in thought from the outward form, (3) combining the I and the not-I, or the subject and object, the natural order of thought is at last found to include the leading ideas of the sciences and to arrange them in relation to one another. Abstractions grow together and again become concrete in a new and higher sense. They also admit of development from within their own spheres. Everywhere there is a movement of attraction and repulsion going onan attraction or repulsion of ideas of which the physical phenomenon described under a similar name is a figure. Freedom and necessity, mind and matter, the continuous and the discrete, cause and effect, are perpetually being severed from one another in thought, only to be perpetually reunited. The finite and infinite, the absolute and relative are not really opposed; the finite and the negation of the finite are alike lost in a higher or positive infinity, and the absolute is the sum or correlation of all relatives. When this reconciliation of opposites is finally completed in all its stages, the mind may come back again and review the things of sense, the opinions of philosophers, the strife of theology and Politics, without being disturbed by them. Whatever is, if not the very bestand what is the best, who can tell?is, at any rate, historical and rational, suitable to its own age, unsuitable to any other. Nor can any efforts of speculative thinkers or of soldiers and statesmen materially quicken the 'process of the suns.'
Hegel was quite sensible how great would be the difficulty of presenting philosophy to mankind under the form of opposites. Most of us live in the one-sided truth which the understanding offers to us, and if occasionally we come across difficulties like the time-honoured controversy of necessity and free-will, or the Eleatic puzzle of Achilles and the tortoise, we relegate some of them to the sphere of mystery, others to the book of riddles, and go on our way rejoicing. Most men (like Aristotle) have been accustomed to regard a contradiction in terms as the end of strife; to be told that contradiction is the life and mainspring of the intellectual world is indeed a paradox to them. Every abstraction is at first the enemy of every other, yet they are linked together, each with all, in the chain of Being. The struggle for existence is not confined to the animals, but appears in the kingdom of thought. The divisions which arise in thought between the physical and moral and between the moral and intellectual, and the like, are deepened and widened by the formal logic which elevates the defects of the human faculties into Laws of Thought; they become a part of the mind which makes them and is also made up of them. Such distinctions become so familiar to us that we regard the thing signified by them as absolutely fixed and defined. These are some of the illusions from which Hegel delivers us by placing us above ourselves, by teaching us to analyze the growth of 'what we are pleased to call our minds,' by reverting to a time when our present distinctions of thought and language had no existence.
--
The influence of opposites is felt in practical life. The understanding sees one side of a question onlythe common sense of mankind joins one of two parties in Politics, in religion, in philosophy. Yet, as everybody knows, truth is not wholly the possession of either. But the characters of men are one-sided and accept this or that aspect of the truth. The understanding is strong in a single abstract principle and with this lever moves mankind. Few attain to a balance of principles or recognize truly how in all human things there is a thesis and antithesis, a law of action and of reaction. In Politics we require order as well as liberty, and have to consider the proportions in which under given circumstances they may be safely combined. In religion there is a tendency to lose sight of morality, to separate goodness from the love of truth, to worship God without attempting to know him. In philosophy again there are two opposite principles, of immediate experience and of those general or a priori truths which are supposed to transcend experience. But the common sense or common opinion of mankind is incapable of apprehending these opposite sides or viewsmen are determined by their natural bent to one or other of them; they go straight on for a time in a single line, and may be many things by turns but not at once.
Hence the importance of familiarizing the mind with forms which will assist us in conceiving or expressing the complex or contrary aspects of life and nature. The danger is that they may be too much for us, and obscure our appreciation of facts. As the complexity of mechanics cannot be understood without mathematics, so neither can the many-sidedness of the mental and moral world be truly apprehended without the assistance of new forms of thought. One of these forms is the unity of opposites. Abstractions have a great power over us, but they are apt to be partial and one-sided, and only when modified by other abstractions do they make an approach to the truth. Many a man has become a fatalist because he has fallen under the dominion of a single idea. He says to himself, for example, that he must be either free or necessaryhe cannot be both. Thus in the ancient world whole schools of philosophy passed away in the vain attempt to solve the problem of the continuity or divisibility of matter. And in comparatively modern times, though in the spirit of an ancient philosopher, Bishop Berkeley, feeling a similar perplexity, is inclined to deny the truth of infinitesimals in mathematics. Many difficulties arise in practical religion from the impossibility of conceiving body and mind at once and in adjusting their movements to one another. There is a border ground between them which seems to belong to both; and there is as much difficulty in conceiving the body without the soul as the soul without the body. To the 'either' and 'or' philosophy ('Everything is either A or not A') should at least be added the clause 'or neither,' 'or both.' The double form makes reflection easier and more conformable to experience, and also more comprehensive. But in order to avoid paradox and the danger of giving offence to the unmetaphysical part of mankind, we may speak of it as due to the imperfection of language or the limitation of human faculties. It is nevertheless a discovery which, in Platonic language, may be termed a 'most gracious aid to thought.'
--
STRANGER: And do they not profess to make men able to dispute about law and about Politics in general?
THEAETETUS: Why, no one would have anything to say to them, if they did not make these professions.
Symposium translated by B Jowett, #Symposium, #Plato, #Philosophy
This, or something like this, was the speech of Phaedrus; and some other speeches followed which Aristodemus did not remember; the next which he repeated was that of Pausanias. Phaedrus, he said, the argument has not been set before us, I think, quite in the right form;we should not be called upon to praise Love in such an indiscriminate manner. If there were only one Love, then what you said would be well enough; but since there are more Loves than one,should have begun by determining which of them was to be the theme of our praises. I will amend this defect; and first of all I will tell you which Love is deserving of praise, and then try to hymn the praiseworthy one in a manner worthy of him. For we all know that Love is inseparable from Aphrodite, and if there were only one Aphrodite there would be only one Love; but as there are two goddesses there must be two Loves. And am I not right in asserting that there are two goddesses? The elder one, having no mother, who is called the heavenly Aphroditeshe is the daughter of Uranus; the younger, who is the daughter of Zeus and Dioneher we call common; and the Love who is her fellow-worker is rightly named common, as the other love is called heavenly. All the gods ought to have praise given to them, but not without distinction of their natures; and therefore I must try to distinguish the characters of the two Loves. Now actions vary according to the manner of their performance. Take, for example, that which we are now doing, drinking, singing and talkingthese actions are not in themselves either good or evil, but they turn out in this or that way according to the mode of performing them; and when well done they are good, and when wrongly done they are evil; and in like manner not every love, but only that which has a noble purpose, is noble and worthy of praise. The Love who is the offspring of the common Aphrodite is essentially common, and has no discrimination, being such as the meaner sort of men feel, and is apt to be of women as well as of youths, and is of the body rather than of the soulthe most foolish beings are the objects of this love which desires only to gain an end, but never thinks of accomplishing the end nobly, and therefore does good and evil quite indiscriminately. The goddess who is his mother is far younger than the other, and she was born of the union of the male and female, and partakes of both. But the offspring of the heavenly Aphrodite is derived from a mother in whose birth the female has no part,she is from the male only; this is that love which is of youths, and the goddess being older, there is nothing of wantonness in her. Those who are inspired by this love turn to the male, and delight in him who is the more valiant and intelligent nature; any one may recognise the pure enthusiasts in the very character of their attachments. For they love not boys, but intelligent beings whose reason is beginning to be developed, much about the time at which their beards begin to grow. And in choosing young men to be their companions, they mean to be faithful to them, and pass their whole life in company with them, not to take them in their inexperience, and deceive them, and play the fool with them, or run away from one to another of them. But the love of young boys should be forbidden by law, because their future is uncertain; they may turn out good or bad, either in body or soul, and much noble enthusiasm may be thrown away upon them; in this matter the good are a law to themselves, and the coarser sort of lovers ought to be restrained by force; as we restrain or attempt to restrain them from fixing their affections on women of free birth. These are the persons who bring a reproach on love; and some have been led to deny the lawfulness of such attachments because they see the impropriety and evil of them; for surely nothing that is decorously and lawfully done can justly be censured. Now here and in Lacedaemon the rules about love are perplexing, but in most cities they are simple and easily intelligible; in Elis and Boeotia, and in countries having no gifts of eloquence, they are very straightforward; the law is simply in favour of these connexions, and no one, whether young or old, has anything to say to their discredit; the reason being, as I suppose, that they are men of few words in those parts, and therefore the lovers do not like the trouble of pleading their suit. In Ionia and other places, and generally in countries which are subject to the barbarians, the custom is held to be dishonourable; loves of youths share the evil repute in which philosophy and gymnastics are held, because they are inimical to tyranny; for the interests of rulers require that their subjects should be poor in spirit (compare Arist. Politics), and that there should be no strong bond of friendship or society among them, which love, above all other motives, is likely to inspire, as our Athenian tyrants learned by experience; for the love of Aristogeiton and the constancy of Harmodius had a strength which undid their power. And, therefore, the ill-repute into which these attachments have fallen is to be ascribed to the evil condition of those who make them to be ill-reputed; that is to say, to the self-seeking of the governors and the cowardice of the governed; on the other hand, the indiscriminate honour which is given to them in some countries is attri butable to the laziness of those who hold this opinion of them. In our own country a far better principle prevails, but, as I was saying, the explanation of it is rather perplexing. For, observe that open loves are held to be more honourable than secret ones, and that the love of the noblest and highest, even if their persons are less beautiful than others, is especially honourable. Consider, too, how great is the encouragement which all the world gives to the lover; neither is he supposed to be doing anything dishonourable; but if he succeeds he is praised, and if he fail he is blamed. And in the pursuit of his love the custom of mankind allows him to do many strange things, which philosophy would bitterly censure if they were done from any motive of interest, or wish for office or power. He may pray, and entreat, and supplicate, and swear, and lie on a mat at the door, and endure a slavery worse than that of any slavein any other case friends and enemies would be equally ready to prevent him, but now there is no friend who will be ashamed of him and admonish him, and no enemy will charge him with meanness or flattery; the actions of a lover have a grace which ennobles them; and custom has decided that they are highly commendable and that there no loss of character in them; and, what is strangest of all, he only may swear and forswear himself (so men say), and the gods will forgive his transgression, for there is no such thing as a lover's oath. Such is the entire liberty which gods and men have allowed the lover, according to the custom which prevails in our part of the world. From this point of view a man fairly argues that in Athens to love and to be loved is held to be a very honourable thing. But when parents forbid their sons to talk with their lovers, and place them under a tutor's care, who is appointed to see to these things, and their companions and equals cast in their teeth anything of the sort which they may observe, and their elders refuse to silence the reprovers and do not rebuke themany one who reflects on all this will, on the contrary, think that we hold these practices to be most disgraceful. But, as I was saying at first, the truth as I imagine is, that whether such practices are honourable or whether they are dishonourable is not a simple question; they are honourable to him who follows them honourably, dishonourable to him who follows them dishonourably. There is dishonour in yielding to the evil, or in an evil manner; but there is honour in yielding to the good, or in an honourable manner. Evil is the vulgar lover who loves the body rather than the soul, inasmuch as he is not even stable, because he loves a thing which is in itself unstable, and therefore when the bloom of youth which he was desiring is over, he takes wing and flies away, in spite of all his words and promises; whereas the love of the noble disposition is life-long, for it becomes one with the everlasting. The custom of our country would have both of them proven well and truly, and would have us yield to the one sort of lover and avoid the other, and therefore encourages some to pursue, and others to fly; testing both the lover and beloved in contests and trials, until they show to which of the two classes they respectively belong. And this is the reason why, in the first place, a hasty attachment is held to be dishonourable, because time is the true test of this as of most other things; and secondly there is a dishonour in being overcome by the love of money, or of wealth, or of political power, whether a man is frightened into surrender by the loss of them, or, having experienced the benefits of money and political corruption, is unable to rise above the seductions of them. For none of these things are of a permanent or lasting nature; not to mention that no generous friendship ever sprang from them. There remains, then, only one way of honourable attachment which custom allows in the beloved, and this is the way of virtue; for as we admitted that any service which the lover does to him is not to be accounted flattery or a dishonour to himself, so the beloved has one way only of voluntary service which is not dishonourable, and this is virtuous service.
For we have a custom, and according to our custom any one who does service to another under the idea that he will be improved by him either in wisdom, or in some other particular of virtuesuch a voluntary service, I say, is not to be regarded as a dishonour, and is not open to the charge of flattery. And these two customs, one the love of youth, and the other the practice of philosophy and virtue in general, ought to meet in one, and then the beloved may honourably indulge the lover. For when the lover and beloved come together, having each of them a law, and the lover thinks that he is right in doing any service which he can to his gracious loving one; and the other that he is right in showing any kindness which he can to him who is making him wise and good; the one capable of communicating wisdom and virtue, the other seeking to acquire them with a view to education and wisdom, when the two laws of love are fulfilled and meet in onethen, and then only, may the beloved yield with honour to the lover. Nor when love is of this disinterested sort is there any disgrace in being deceived, but in every other case there is equal disgrace in being or not being deceived. For he who is gracious to his lover under the impression that he is rich, and is disappointed of his gains because he turns out to be poor, is disgraced all the same: for he has done his best to show that he would give himself up to any one's 'uses base' for the sake of money; but this is not honourable. And on the same principle he who gives himself to a lover because he is a good man, and in the hope that he will be improved by his company, shows himself to be virtuous, even though the object of his affection turn out to be a villain, and to have no virtue; and if he is deceived he has committed a noble error. For he has proved that for his part he will do anything for anybody with a view to virtue and improvement, than which there can be nothing nobler. Thus noble in every case is the acceptance of another for the sake of virtue. This is that love which is the love of the heavenly godess, and is heavenly, and of great price to individuals and cities, making the lover and the beloved alike eager in the work of their own improvement. But all other loves are the offspring of the other, who is the common goddess. To you, Phaedrus, I offer this my contri bution in praise of love, which is as good as I could make extempore.
Talks With Sri Aurobindo 1, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
day. Then would follow comments and discussions on the war situation, international Politics, India's vital role in the war and other allied topics. There
we realised Sri Aurobindo's deep and firm grasp of world- Politics and, what
--
philosophy of Politics, leaving aside the practical part of Politics. But I soon
got disgusted with it. Later when I heard that Bipin Pal had started a paper,
--
him the memorial orations on a prominent figure in local Politics and business. One person after another, beginning with the Governor, had praised
him in superlative terms: "upright", "generous", "great friend of the poor"
--
front and back." The talk continued regarding Pondicherry Politics, most of
it being by us. Then Sri Aurobindo remarked:
--
and bringing religion into Politics.
SRI AUROBINDO: He made the Charka a religious article of faith and excluded
--
When you come to Politics, the truth again is various. Democracy, plutocracy, monarchy, etc.all have their truth. Even Mussolini and Hitler
stand for some truth.
--
SATYENDRA: She is not obliged to take part in European Politics.
SRI AUROBINDO: Perhaps Roosevelt has got secret information about hostile
designs. It is not a question of meddling in European Politics but of guarding
against being eaten up. Those who remain behind will be eaten up at last.
--
Tagore to give up painting and take to Politics. He answered, "I am serving
the country through my art. Painting is at least something I know well, but I
--
the full Republic, although delayed for some time, was in fact already established. Politics is only a shadow at the top: the real changes that matter are
those that come in society. The social laws introduced by Napoleon have
--
The talk turned to local Politics and afterwards Indian Politics and
Gandhi and non-violence and Hitlerism.
--
Gaekwar never talked Politics with me. By the way, he said about me, between my Swadeshi and early Pondicherry periods, "Mr. Ghose is an extinct
volcano now. He has become a Yogi."
--
SRI AUROBINDO: I don't know. Whenever we met we spoke about Politics and
revolution. But her eyes showed a power concentration and revealed a capacity for going into trance.
--
SRI AUROBINDO: Yes, but she took up Politics as a part of Vivekananda's work.
Her book is one of the best on Vivekananda. Vivekananda himself had ideas
--
There was some discussion of local Politics and a reference to a turn in fortunes of a political leader. Then we came to general topics.
SRI AUROBINDO: There is a Greek saying that when one becomes too fortunate
--
replied, "a, c'est une mauvaise politique." ("That's bad Politics.")
Hitler also is pushing things too far. That is why he cannot last long.
--
English Politics is successful because the English have always found one
or two men who had the power to lead the minority ruling class. During the
--
reference to Politics and the talk started.
PURANI: X (an Indian political leader), has sent a telegram to Y, saying this is
--
PURANI: Jwalanti was saying that if one wants to discuss Politics or criticise
the government, one must look round carefully to see if anybody is overhearing; one must shut the doors and windows.
--
After this the talk turned to Politics and the work of the Leftists.
SRI AUROBINDO: The Leftists will probably pass laws abolishing the Zamindars and the capitalists and spoil all the work done by the Ministers. They
--
foolish to throw away the power given. I wrote before I left Politics that if
you get real power, take it and fight for more, like De Valera in Ireland. De
--
wrote that because you were embittered and disillusioned you gave up poetry and Politics.
SRI AUROBINDO: Nonsense. I gave it up and took to the spiritual life because I
--
SRI AUROBINDO: I mean, in Politics.
DR. MANILAL: People say the ministers are wrong.
--
SRI AUROBINDO: From Khichuri to Yoga and then to Politics! I hope I spoke
the truth when I made that last remark.
--
SRI AUROBINDO: What is there to mind about it? I suppose the Working Committee has the power to do such things. These people mix up social questions with Politics.
PURANI: I don't know why he should object to showing the accounts. If you
--
SRI AUROBINDO: That was because of Politics.
NIRODBARAN: Nazimuddin got interested through Sir Akbar perhaps. He may
--
DR. MANILAL: It seems Tagore has advised Gandhi to give up Politics.
SRI AUROBINDO: Why? Gandhi could as well ask Tagore to give up poetry.
DR. MANILAL: And Gandhi has replied that life is impossible without Politics.
Perhaps because of the factions in the Congress, Tagore advised him like
--
NIRODBARAN: Anilbaran's letter. This time it is about Politics. He writes: "A
Zamindar of Mymensingh named Umapada came to see me and said that oppression by the Muslim League has terribly increased."
--
NIRODBARAN: I think he means commune. Then he says: "About Politics there
is no necessity to fight the British any more, because they can't stand now
--
Yoga with Politics. In the argument, Dutt felt that you yourself were shaky
about the idea and you couldn't argue very well.
--
Congress Politics and Bande Mataram. My part in it was most undramatic.
If Dutt had been in the movement, Barin would surely have told me but he
--
joined Politics. Okakura started the revolutionary movement at Calcutta, but
there was always a quarrel going on among the members. When I came to
--
proposal. If he wants to write about Politics, village reform, etc., he can do it
for his own satisfaction but not for publication.
Talks With Sri Aurobindo 2, #Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
Cordell Hull said that America won't participate European Politics? America
will only concern itself with trade!
--
NIRODBARAN: That Bose is the most lovable person in Bengal Politics,
reputable, admired, revered, etc.
--
also to be tried. Laval was ousted from Politics in all the ministries. His
photo in the paper shows the face of a criminal. The paper says he began as
--
made money from Politics. Laval and others are afraid of him. He is unpopular because of his straightforwardness.
SATYENDRA: He is a Jew. He refused to join his party with Ribbentrop
--
been made a vehicle for everything: business, Politics, religion, etc.
NIRODBARAN: Ajit found a mistake in a poem of mine where I had written "Cast away on a shoreless sea". He says that "cast away" means on an island or on a shore, but not in the sense of cast adrift.
--
back to Politics for the establishment of the New World Order, while I have
said that it is not through Politics that it will come.
NIRODBARAN: He seems to have said that England will form the nucleus
--
for religious and ethical matters, nothing can be said against it. But in Politics even his own followers accept it with reservation.
SATYENDRA: Now all are in an uncomfortable position. It seems C.R.
--
into Politics. Otherwise non-cooperation is nothing new.
EVENING
--
He muddles the whole thing by bringing it into Politics. As a prophet of nonviolence, he can practise it as a movement of ethical affirmation, a demand
of the soul.
--
that viewpoint, his retirement from Politics after the Poona affair was the
right move.
--
which he stands. The only thing, as we said, is that he should have kept himself apart from Politics.
PURANI: Another trouble with Gandhi is that he says that no man can be
--
If Politics, then Politics.
439
The Act of Creation text, #The Act of Creation, #Arthur Koestler, #Psychology
sport, Politics, book-reviewing, and so forth; but these are conscious,
voluntary activities, whereas laughter is a spontaneous, physiological
--
Pasteur: There you are, my dear countrymen, busy with Politics,
elections, superficial reading of newspapers but neglecting the serious
Theaetetus, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
SOCRATES: Or again, in Politics, while affirming that just and unjust, honourable and disgraceful, holy and unholy, are in reality to each state such as the state thinks and makes lawful, and that in determining these matters no individual or state is wiser than another, still the followers of Protagoras will not deny that in determining what is or is not expedient for the community one state is wiser and one counsellor better than anotherthey will scarcely venture to maintain, that what a city enacts in the belief that it is expedient will always be really expedient. But in the other case, I mean when they speak of justice and injustice, piety and impiety, they are confident that in nature these have no existence or essence of their ownthe truth is that which is agreed on at the time of the agreement, and as long as the agreement lasts; and this is the philosophy of many who do not altogether go along with Protagoras. Here arises a new question, Theodorus, which threatens to be more serious than the last.
THEODORUS: Well, Socrates, we have plenty of leisure.
Timaeus, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
SOCRATES: I should like, before proceeding further, to tell you how I feel about the State which we have described. I might compare myself to a person who, on beholding beautiful animals either created by the painter's art, or, better still, alive but at rest, is seized with a desire of seeing them in motion or engaged in some struggle or conflict to which their forms appear suited; this is my feeling about the State which we have been describing. There are conflicts which all cities undergo, and I should like to hear some one tell of our own city carrying on a struggle against her neighbours, and how she went out to war in a becoming manner, and when at war showed by the greatness of her actions and the magnanimity of her words in dealing with other cities a result worthy of her training and education. Now I, Critias and Hermocrates, am conscious that I myself should never be able to celebrate the city and her citizens in a befitting manner, and I am not surprised at my own incapacity; to me the wonder is rather that the poets present as well as past are no betternot that I mean to depreciate them; but every one can see that they are a tribe of imitators, and will imitate best and most easily the life in which they have been brought up; while that which is beyond the range of a man's education he finds hard to carry out in action, and still harder adequately to represent in language. I am aware that the Sophists have plenty of brave words and fair conceits, but I am afraid that being only wanderers from one city to another, and having never had habitations of their own, they may fail in their conception of philosophers and statesmen, and may not know what they do and say in time of war, when they are fighting or holding parley with their enemies. And thus people of your class are the only ones remaining who are fitted by nature and education to take part at once both in Politics and philosophy. Here is Timaeus, of Locris in Italy, a city which has admirable laws, and who is himself in wealth and rank the equal of any of his fellow-citizens; he has held the most important and honourable offices in his own state, and, as I believe, has scaled the heights of all philosophy; and here is Critias, whom every Athenian knows to be no novice in the matters of which we are speaking; and as to Hermocrates, I am assured by many witnesses that his genius and education qualify him to take part in any speculation of the kind. And therefore yesterday when I saw that you wanted me to describe the formation of the State, I readily assented, being very well aware, that, if you only would, none were better qualified to carry the discussion further, and that when you had engaged our city in a suitable war, you of all men living could best exhibit her playing a fitting part. When I had completed my task, I in return imposed this other task upon you. You conferred together and agreed to entertain me to-day, as I had entertained you, with a feast of discourse. Here am I in festive array, and no man can be more ready for the promised banquet.
HERMOCRATES: And we too, Socrates, as Timaeus says, will not be wanting in enthusiasm; and there is no excuse for not complying with your request. As soon as we arrived yesterday at the guest-chamber of Critias, with whom we are staying, or rather on our way thither, we talked the matter over, and he told us an ancient tradition, which I wish, Critias, that you would repeat to Socrates, so that he may help us to judge whether it will satisfy his requirements or not.
--- Overview of noun politics
The noun politics has 5 senses (first 4 from tagged texts)
1. (21) politics, political relation ::: (social relations involving intrigue to gain authority or power; "office politics is often counterproductive")
2. (4) politics, political science, government ::: (the study of government of states and other political units)
3. (3) politics ::: (the profession devoted to governing and to political affairs)
4. (1) politics, political sympathies ::: (the opinion you hold with respect to political questions)
5. politics ::: (the activities and affairs involved in managing a state or a government; "unemployment dominated the politics of the inter-war years"; "government agencies multiplied beyond the control of representative politics")
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun politics
5 senses of politics
Sense 1
politics, political relation
=> social relation
=> relation
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 2
politics, political science, government
=> social science
=> science, scientific discipline
=> discipline, subject, subject area, subject field, field, field of study, study, bailiwick
=> knowledge domain, knowledge base, domain
=> content, cognitive content, mental object
=> cognition, knowledge, noesis
=> psychological feature
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 3
politics
=> profession
=> occupation, business, job, line of work, line
=> activity
=> act, deed, human action, human activity
=> event
=> psychological feature
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 4
politics, political sympathies
=> opinion, sentiment, persuasion, view, thought
=> belief
=> content, cognitive content, mental object
=> cognition, knowledge, noesis
=> psychological feature
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
Sense 5
politics
=> activity
=> act, deed, human action, human activity
=> event
=> psychological feature
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
=> affairs
=> transaction, dealing, dealings
=> group action
=> act, deed, human action, human activity
=> event
=> psychological feature
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
=> event
=> psychological feature
=> abstraction, abstract entity
=> entity
--- Hyponyms of noun politics
1 of 5 senses of politics
Sense 2
politics, political science, government
=> geopolitics
=> realpolitik, practical politics
--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun politics
5 senses of politics
Sense 1
politics, political relation
=> social relation
Sense 2
politics, political science, government
=> social science
Sense 3
politics
=> profession
Sense 4
politics, political sympathies
=> opinion, sentiment, persuasion, view, thought
Sense 5
politics
=> activity
=> affairs
--- Coordinate Terms (sisters) of noun politics
5 senses of politics
Sense 1
politics, political relation
-> social relation
=> relations, dealings
=> professional relation
=> politics, political relation
=> chemistry, interpersonal chemistry, alchemy
Sense 2
politics, political science, government
-> social science
=> civics
=> anthropology
=> politics, political science, government
=> home economics, home ec, domestic science, household arts
=> economics, economic science, political economy
=> proxemics
=> sociology
Sense 3
politics
-> profession
=> learned profession
=> literature
=> architecture
=> education
=> journalism
=> politics
=> technology, engineering
Sense 4
politics, political sympathies
-> opinion, sentiment, persuasion, view, thought
=> idea
=> judgment, judgement, mind
=> eyes
=> preconception, prepossession, parti pris, preconceived opinion, preconceived idea, preconceived notion
=> pole
=> politics, political sympathies
Sense 5
politics
-> activity
=> variation, variance
=> space walk
=> domesticity
=> operation
=> operation
=> practice, pattern
=> diversion, recreation
=> cup of tea, bag, dish
=> follow-up, followup
=> game
=> turn, play
=> music
=> acting, playing, playacting, performing
=> liveliness, animation
=> burst, fit
=> work
=> works, deeds
=> service
=> occupation, business, job, line of work, line
=> occupation
=> writing, committal to writing
=> role
=> wrongdoing, wrongful conduct, misconduct, actus reus
=> waste, wastefulness, dissipation
=> attempt, effort, endeavor, endeavour, try
=> control
=> protection
=> sensory activity
=> education, instruction, teaching, pedagogy, didactics, educational activity
=> training, preparation, grooming
=> representation
=> creation, creative activity
=> dismantling, dismantlement, disassembly
=> puncture
=> search, hunt, hunting
=> use, usage, utilization, utilisation, employment, exercise
=> operation, military operation
=> measurement, measuring, measure, mensuration
=> calibration, standardization, standardisation
=> organization, organisation
=> grouping
=> support, supporting
=> continuance, continuation
=> procedure, process
=> ceremony
=> ceremony
=> worship
=> energizing, activating, activation
=> concealment, concealing, hiding
=> placement, location, locating, position, positioning, emplacement
=> provision, supply, supplying
=> demand
=> pleasure
=> enjoyment, delectation
=> lamentation, mourning
=> laughter
=> market, marketplace, market place
=> politics
=> preparation, readying
=> aid, assist, assistance, help
=> support
=> behavior, behaviour, conduct, doings
=> behavior, behaviour
=> leadership, leading
=> precession, precedence, precedency
=> solo
=> buzz
=> fun
=> sin, hell
=> release, outlet, vent
=> last
=> mystification, obfuscation
=> negotiation
=> verbalization, verbalisation
=> perturbation, disturbance
=> timekeeping
-> affairs
=> world affairs, international affairs
=> politics
--- Grep of noun politics
geopolitics
politics
power politics
practical politics
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