Quotes About Enlightenment

The process of philosophic and scientific enlightenment has shaken the stability of beliefs held explicitly as articles of faith.

You do not understand yet what you will understand in the end .

I argue that most of the moral development of the past several centuries has been the result of secular not religious forces, and that the most important of these that emerged from the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment are science and reason, terms that I use in the broadest sense to mean reasoning through a series of arguments and then confirming that the conclusions are true through empirical verification.

The Age of Reason, then, was the age when humanity was born again, not from original sin, but from original ignorance and dependence on authority and superstition. Never again should we allow ourselves to be the intellectual slaves of those who would bind our minds with the chains of dogma and authority. In its stead we use reason and science as the arbiters of truth and knowledge.

Natural rights theory arose during the Enlightenment to counter the belief in the divine right of kings, and became the basis of the social contract that gave rise to democracy, a superior system for the protection of human rights. This is what the English philosopher John Locke had in mind in his 1690 Second Treatise of Government (written to rebut Sir Robert Filmer's 1680 Patriarcha, which defended the divine right of kings8

By contrast, in a reason-based worldview like that of Enlightenment humanism in which the principle of interchangeable perspectives means that no one can reasonably argue for special privilege over others, morality shifts from the vantage point of the group to that of the individual, and instead of working toward some unfounded and unattainable utopian ideology in the distant future, the political system is designed to solve specific problems that are obtainable in the here and now.

The goal of the practice is not happiness... the goal of the practice is freedom.

We're still in the Dark Ages. The scared and the superstitious savage still lurks behind the mask of civilization and he will remain there for untold generations to come.

I know that no matter how liberal or progressive I profess to be, no matter how successfully, how diligently I seek to be enlightened and nuanced in my understanding of the world and those around me, I know that there still is a tiny, virulent nugget, a germ of prejudice that exists deep within me — the product of those stereotypes and awful jokes of childhood and adolescence, and that it must always be powerfully held at bay by reason, understanding and love.

We are born to inquire into truth; it belongs to a greater to possess it.

The 'Enlightenment', which discovered the liberties, also invented the disciplines.

The Enlightened One, if he had meditated on it, would not necessarily have rejected a technical solution.

How odd, that light should prevent one from seeing

Every human is a God in seed form waiting for it's flowering, but not letting it blossom impeded by his own ego, he remains earthly. So annihilate your ego and evolve to divinity MickeyMizing your life. Share this for conversion of angels from humans and let us all know only bliss :)

Philosophize means 'feel-loss-of-eyes' because with open eyes you see only illusions and when you shut them and internalize, you understand the truth, the whole picture and the philosophy of all. Withdraw all your senses and internalize, let there be inner wakefulness, and MickeyMize.

The sun was always there may be you did not have the eyes to see it, light was always around may be you did not have the vision to perceive it, open up your being, perceptualize, have access to all the light and get MickeyMized!

I view the state of Slow simply as a mindful approach to what is happening around you. It is a way to gain enlightenment (and happiness) through thinking, self-contemplation, and intuition. It is using the ability to stop, process, and then proceed in a non-accelerated manner. What is great about this slow mindset is that while the effort can be minimal—the rewards can often be huge.

Nothing frees you like the truth, and nothing holds you back more than not knowing it. Knowledge is power; it heals what hurts, fills what's empty, clears what's confused, lightens what's heavy, brings friends together, turns dust to gold, and raises the sun.

Nothing frees you like the truth, and nothing holds you back more than not knowing it.

Heaven is everywhere, always, at once. Hell is not knowing it.

Primitive societies live by the Rule of Might, and the strong prevail. Advanced societies live by the Rule of Law, and the privileged prevail. Enlightened societies live by the Rule of Love, and everyone is lifted higher.

The sole mission of science is to light the road.

All religions, with their gods, their demi-gods, and their prophets, their messiahs and their saints, were created by the prejudiced fancy of men who had not attained the full development and full possession of their faculties.

I need nothing. I seek nothing. I desire nothing.