It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this.
~~ Bertrand Russell ~~ (1872 - 1970)
Man a rational animal? Those who say that man is a rational animal are stretching the truth! LOL. That’s why Mr. Bertrand Russell could not find any evidence in his search; man and rationality don’t mix!
I think that if animals were to know that we are comparing man to them, most of them will be offended except, perhaps, the snakes. Snakes will probably claim that they are more creepy than the man. LOL
Men (humans) usually do whatever creepy thing they are bent upon doing with no regard to facts and offer rationalizations after the fact to justify their actions. It happens that way likely because it’s much harder and difficult to face facts and act accordingly while being creepy is easier and often profitable! :-)
The fact is that while men (humans) may be capable of thinking and acting rationally, history tells us that they usually act irrationally. A good example is the wars fought throughout history over religion. Now let us assume, for the sake of argument, that everybody in the world adopts a religion ‘X’. Then what? Will the conflicts go away? Will everybody start showing love and respect for everybody else? Not a chance. So this pursuit of forcing one’s religion, any religion, on others is totally irrational (and useless as well) yet man has followed it since ages and continues to follow it today, often using brutal force.
One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.
~~ Bertrand Russell ~~ (1872 - 1970)
Most of us take our work too seriously. That is a paradox considering that most of us don’t like our jobs; many surveys show that only about 2% of us are making our living by doing what we really like to do.
Don’t take your work too seriously. Work is a means for living, not the living itself. You might think that your work is extremely important and only you can do it well but you are sadly mistaken. Nobody is irreplaceable. What if you die right now? Will the world come to a halt? Absolutely not. The world didn’t come to a halt even when those who labeled themselves as ‘Great’ passed away.
When you are not around, there will be many others willing and able to fill your shoes and may be do even better than you! So relax, avoid nervous breakdown and premature death. LOL.
The wheel of time keeps on turning; with or without you!
Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim.
~~ Bertrand Russell ~~ (1872 - 1970)
That just about sums it up though I’d prefer to use the word ‘predator’ rather than the ‘criminal’ so that the quote would read ‘Life is nothing but a competition to be the predator rather than the victim (prey)’. It’s because at least a few of the powerful criminals do get caught and are punished whereas the predators roam free.
The whole universe appears to be in a predator and victim (prey) mode; everything is in a constant state of war like the bacteria attacking our bodies all the time trying to make us sick or even die, powerful animals like lions killing other animals for food etc etc. Humans are unique predators in the sense that many a times they kill other humans just for the sake of killing and they kill other animals sometimes for food, sometimes for their skin or bones and sometimes just for fun and call it ’sport’. So much so that humans have driven even the very powerful and agile animal species like the tiger to the verge of extinction.
And humans’ economic predatory practices over other humans are atrocious. For instance, corporate executives, usually in concert with the so called board of directors, earning hundreds or even thousands of times more wages than the average wages of their workers. Nobody is worth that much; it’s simply a case of the calculating predators sucking the blood of the working class people.
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
~~ Bertrand Russell ~~ (1872 - 1970)
So true and is proven by recent events. I am sure you have noticed how the present day fools and religious fanatics are positively sure that their God is the Best and their religion is the finest and, in particular, their interpretation of their religion is the correct one! While, at the same time, many of them say that there is only one God.
Now if we assume that there is only one God then the question of whose God is better doesn’t or shouldn’t even arise. But fools and fanatics are not capable of such reasoning and thinking because if they were capable of such reasoning and thinking then they won’t qualify as fools and fanatics.
Even if we assume that there are many Gods or gods, when was the last time their God or god appointed these fools and fanatics to speak on His (their God’s) behalf? Never, that I know of. All those who pretend to speak on behalf of the God are fake, no matter what religion they may belong to. If God intended to speak to us humans then I am sure God is quite capable of speaking for Himself.
If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.
~~ Bertrand Russell ~~ (1872 - 1970)
That is the basic human nature; we tend to believe what our instincts tell us even though our instincts may prove to be wrong. But I am not too sure how that explains the origin of myths.
