Quotes About Belief

Dios. El sacerdote exclamaba «Hoc est corpus meum!» («¡Este es mi cuerpo!»), y, ¡abracadabra!, el pan se convertía en la carne de Cristo.

Imagined orders are not evil conspiracies or useless mirages. Rather, they are the only way large numbers of humans can cooperate effectively. Bear in mind, though, that Hammurabi might have defended his principle of hierarchy using the same logic: 'I know that superiors, commoners and slaves are not inherently different kinds of people. But if we believe that they are, it will enable us to create a stable and prosperous society.

The humanities and social sciences devote most of their energies to explaining exactly how the imagined order is woven into the tapestry of life.

It's relatively easy to agree that only Homo sapiens can speak about things that don't really exist, and believe six impossible things before breakfast. You could never convince a monkey to give you a banana by promising him limitless bananas after death in monkey heaven. But why is it important? After all, fiction can be dangerously misleading or distracting.

Under the right circumstances myths can change rapidly.

truth is a poor test for knowledge. The

Since all social orders and hierarchies are imagined, they are all fragile, and the larger the society, the more fragile it is.

To grasp the depth and implications of the humanist revolution, consider how modern European culture differs from medieval European culture. In 1300 people in London, Paris and Toledo did not believe that humans could determine by themselves what is good and what is evil, what is right and what is wrong, what is beautiful and what is ugly. Only God could create and define goodness, righteousness and beauty. Although

The monotheist religions expelled the gods through the front door with a lot of fanfare, only to take them back in through the side window. Christianity, for example, developed its own pantheon of saints, whose cults differed little from those of the polytheistic gods.

nunca convenceremos a un mono para que nos dé un plátano con la promesa de que después de morir tendrá un número ilimitado de bananas a su disposición en el cielo de los monos. Pero

numerous theories and stories have been ascribed to the Buddha, often without any supporting evidence. But you need not believe any of them in order to meditate.

Hasta la era moderna, los humanos achacaban las enfermedades al mal aire, a demonios malévolos y a dioses enfurecidos, y no sospechaban de la existencia de bacterias ni virus

Really powerful human organisations – such as pharaonic Egypt, communist China, the European empires and the modern school system – are not necessarily clear-sighted. Much of their power rests on their ability to force their fictional beliefs on a submissive reality.

Unlike lying, an imagined reality is something that everyone believes in, and as long as this communal belief persists, the imagined reality exerts force in the world.

Ancient Greece the philosopher Epicurus explained that worshipping gods is a waste of time, that there is no existence after death, and that happiness is the sole purpose of life.

The imagined order is embedded in the material world. Though the imagined order exists only in our minds, it can be woven into the material reality around us,

It is easy for us to accept that the division of people into 'superiors' and 'commoners' is a figment of the imagination. Yet the idea that all humans are equal is also a myth.

There is one logical way of solving the riddle: to argue that there is a single omnipotent God who created the entire universe – and He's evil. But nobody in history has had the stomach for such a belief.

Whereas theism justified traditional agriculture in the name of God, humanism has justified modern industrial farming in the name of Man.

That is how it is with lies. If you can have enough people believe your lies, before you know it, even the one you have lied against will be confused. The lie will make itself at home and the truth will be knocking outside its own door.

Paganism is more of an attitude of mind than a fixed creed. It is always tempting to ask, "what do Pagans believe?" but a better question is "what do Pagans do?

And what kind of religion can make do without the devil?

Acredite na vida, siga em frente e sempre é bom pedir uma ajuda extra ao seu guia espiritual. Ele já deve estar do seu lado, ansioso para dar-lhe uma mãozinha e ter a satisfação de vê-lo deslanchar.

Quando a gente está no bem e com Deus no coração, tudo dá