Dale Easley's Favorite Quotations
| People of the Lie |
| Peck, Scott |
| J.R.R. Tolkien in The Return of the King (Ballantine Books),
1965, p.~190: It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but
to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set,
uprooting evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after
may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to
rule. Dozens of times I have been asked by patients or acquaintences: ``Dr.~Peck, why is there evil in the world?'' Yet no one has ever asked me in all these years: ``Why is there good in the world?'' It is as if we automatically assume this is a naturally good world that has somehow been contaminated by evil. In terms of what we know of science, however, it is actually easier to explain evil. That things decay is quite explainable in accord with the natural law of physics. That life whould evolve into more and more complex forms is not so easily understandable. That children generally lie and steal and cheat is routinely observable. The fact that sometimes they grow up to become truly honest adults is what seems the more remarkable. Laziness is more the rule than diligence. If we seriously think about it, it probably makes more sense to assume this is a naturally evil world that has somehow been mysteriously ``contaminated'' by goodnes, rather than the other way around. The mystery of goodness is even greater than the mystery of evil. [p.~41] The plain fact of the matter is that any group will remain potentially conscienceless and evil until such time as each and every individual holds himself or herself directly responsible for the behavior of the whole group---the organism--- of which he or she is part. We have not yet begun to arrive at that point. [p.~218] For the ``group mind'' is ultimately determined by the minds of the individuals who make up the group. As a single vote may be crucial in an election, so the whole course of human history may depend on a change of heart of one solitary and even humbel individual. This is known to the genuinely religious. It is for this reason that no possible activity is considered to be more important than the salvation of a single human soul. This is why the individual is sacred. For it is in the solitary mind and soul of the individual that the battle between good and evil is waged and ultimately won or lost. [[p.~252] We are accustomed to regard science as Truth with a capital T. What scientific knowledge is, in fact, is the best available approximation of truth in the judgement of the majority of scientists who work in the particular speciality involved. Truth is not something that we possess; it is a goal toward which we, hopefully, strive. [p.~257] |