| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Pagan and Christian Creeds by Edward Carpenter: a subject I shall deal with presently--had as a matter of
fact this all embracing and universal scope.
To return to the Golden Age or Garden of Eden. Our
conclusion seems to be that there really was such a period
of comparative harmony in human life--to which later
generations were justified in looking back, and looking back
with regret. It corresponded in the psychology of human
Evolution to stage One. The second stage was
that of the Fall; and so one is inevitably led to the
conjecture and the hope that a third stage will redeem the
earth and its inhabitants to a condition of comparative
Pagan and Christian Creeds |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: person from myself, and in that case it would have been his duty
to arrest me on the instant, and send me back to Baltimore
from the first station. When he left me with the assurance
that I was all right, though much relieved, I realized that
I was still in great danger: I was still in Maryland,
and subject to arrest at any moment. I saw on the train
several persons who would have known me in any other clothes,
and I feared they might recognize me, even in my sailor "rig,"
and report me to the conductor, who would then subject me
to a closer examination, which I knew well would be fatal to me.
Though I was not a murderer fleeing from justice, I felt perhaps
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Euthyphro by Plato: that all the gods condemn and abominate such an action. But I will amend
the definition so far as to say that what all the gods hate is impious, and
what they love pious or holy; and what some of them love and others hate is
both or neither. Shall this be our definition of piety and impiety?
EUTHYPHRO: Why not, Socrates?
SOCRATES: Why not! certainly, as far as I am concerned, Euthyphro, there
is no reason why not. But whether this admission will greatly assist you
in the task of instructing me as you promised, is a matter for you to
consider.
EUTHYPHRO: Yes, I should say that what all the gods love is pious and
holy, and the opposite which they all hate, impious.
|
