Today's reflection "lost" me... but I found out, from the social chat, that I wasn't the only one. I decided I wasn't going to give up on David Hume. So I googled "David Hume quotes" and I found a few interesting nuggets.
When I go hunting for quotes, I don't always find ones I agree or disagree with, but for the most part, I find thoughts that make me think further and dwell there for awhile. I think that is the whole purpose of the AFL journey. Not to agree or disagree, but to dwell in the thoughts. It isn't always an easy place.
When I woke up this morning to greet my favourite month of the year, I had an imagination of sorts. I imagined myself camped at a crossroad. My tent was set up and there were paths going past my tent and in different directions. I couldn't see far past each path. Maybe because the trees in the forest were blocking the view. I imagined myself setting up a chair in front of my tent and putting the tea pot on. My imagination turned into a poem (which you can find on my poetry blog here. ).
Atheism for Lent is like that for me. I feel myself camped and not willing to venture far from my place at the point of choice, but I want to sit down for tea with some of the travellers that come by. Some won't stop. They have their destination in mind, and they aren't up for a conversation unless it is with someone who is on the same path as they are. So I wave and they move along. But what about those who stop? What kind of conversations will we have?
David Hume stopped by today and this is what I heard from him.
"It is an absurdity to believe that the Deity has human passions, and one of the lowest of human passions, a restless appetite for applause." DH
"Your corn is ripe today; mine will be so tomorrow. 'Tis profitable for us both, that I should labour with you today, and that you should aid me tomorrow. I have no kindness for you, and know you have as little for me. I will not, therefore, take any pains upon your account; and should I labour with you upon my own account, in expectation of a return, I know I should be disappointed, and that I should in vain depend upon your gratitude. Here then I leave you to labour alone; You treat me in the same manner. The seasons change; and both of us lose our harvests for want of mutual confidence and security." DH
"The identity that we ascribe to things is only a fictitious one, established by the mind, not a peculiar nature belonging to what we’re talking about." DH
"Indulge your passion for science…but let your science be human, and such as may have a direct reference to action and society. Be a philosopher; but amidst all your philosophy, be still a man." DH
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." DH
"In public affairs men are often better pleased that the truth, though known to everybody, should be wrapped up under a decent cover than if it were exposed in open daylight to the eyes of all the world." DH
"Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty. One person may even perceive deformity, where another is sensible beauty; and every individual ought to acquiesce in his own sentiment, without pretending to regulate those of others. To seek the real beauty, or real deformity, is as fruitless an enquiry, as to pretend to ascertain the real sweet or real bitter." DH
"When I shall be dead, the principles of which I am composed will still perform their part in the universe, and will be equally useful in the grand fabric, as when they composed this individual creature. The difference to the whole will be no greater betwixt my being in a chamber and in the open air. The one change is of more importance to me than the other; but not more so to the universe." DH
