Flaker of Flints

And I have found both freedom and safety in my madness; the freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us.

[The angel answered], "Dream not of their fight as of a duel, nor [physical the] wounds of head or heel: [these do not] join the Son human to Godhead, with more strength to foil your enemy. Nor so is [Satan killed,] whose fall from Heaven, [deadlier a] bruise, disabled not to give you your death's wound, which [Christ], who comes your savior, shall [repair], not by destroying Satan, but, [in you and in your seed, destroying Satan's works.] .... [Triumphing] o'er his foes [will Christ] surprise the Serpent, Prince of Air, and drag in chains through all his realm, and there confounded leave. Then Christ will enter glory, and resume his seat at God's right hand, exalted high above all names in Heaven; then shall come when this world's dissolution shall be ripe.

"We have many professors in the philosophy department who study and admire Plato, but none of them actually believes in the theory of the Forms, or feels it, or lives by it."

Interviewer: What do you mean you’ll sometimes extend yourself … work the people up a bit? Morrison: Let’s just say I was testing the bounds of reality. I was curious to see what would happen. That’s all it was: just curiosity. Interviewer: What did you do to test the bounds? Morrison: Just push a situation as far it it’ll go. Interviewer: And yet you don’t feel at any time that things got out of control? Morrison: Never. Interviewer: There is a quote attributed to you. It appears in print a lot. It goes: “I’m interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos…” Morrison: “… especially activity that appears to have no meaning.”

Let's see what happens if the prisoners are released from the cave. At first, when one of them is freed and has to stand up, turn his neck around, walk, and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains. The glare will hurt him, and he won't be able to see the realities whose shadows he'd seen in the cave. Then someone tells him that what he saw before was an illusion, and that now, when he is closer to being and his eye is turned towards more real existence, he has a clearer vision. What will be his reply? Imagine that his instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass and making him name them. Won't he be perplexed? Won't he think that the shadows he used to see are truer than the objects he sees now?

...In my view, these simply aren’t the sort of outcomes that you expect from atoms blindly interacting according to the laws of physics.  These are, instead, the signatures of higher-level causation—and specifically, of a teleological force that operates in our universe to make it distinctively cruel and horrible...

If all eyes were made of green glass, and if all that seems white was really green, who would be the wiser?

Elisha’s servant got up early and went out. He saw an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. [The] servant said to Elisha, “Oh, no! Master, what will we do?” “Don’t be afraid,” Elisha said, “because there are more of us than there are of them.” Then Elisha prayed, “Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw that the mountain was full of horses and fiery chariots surrounding Elisha.

...Jeremiah had seen what there was for all to see if only they would look, but the others refused to look, simply denied, and were unable to see. The royal folk had for so long lived in a protective, fake world that their perceptual field was skewed and with their best looking they could not see what was there to see...

Successful hills are here to stay. Everything must be this way. Gentle streets where people play. Welcome to the Soft Parade. All our lives we sweat and save, Building for a shallow grave. Must be something else, we say, Somehow to defend this place. Everything must be this way. Everything must be this way.