Superstition, Malnutrition, all topped off with Truth and Diction,
Basic Passage: But superstition hath been the confusion of many states, and bringeth in a new primum mobile, that ravisheth all the spheres of government. The master of superstition is the people, and in all superstition wise men follow fools.
Correlation: In the beginning Amen Ra ejaculated onto the earth creating Shu and Tefnut, who then brought forth many gods and the heavens, the earth, the sky and the underworld, etc. This was a common viewpoint taken to be true in Egypt around 3000 BC. Presently this idea would be regarded as appalling, heathenish and blasphemous or to say the least superstitious. However it is the grounds of these ancient religions that are the basis of all other religions today. It is all well and good to use your beliefs to live "righteously" and glorify saviors and whatnot to make yourself feel better, but lets just clarify that people’s beliefs are all ridiculous, superstitious bologna, that don't amount to anything other than what we've been taught to believe. Just because one believes something, that doesn't make it real except in their minds. Lets all ground our beliefs in blood and war and greed and anger and tyranny, then we'll paint on a martyr to make ourselves feel bad about existing. Is this the golden path of virtue? Won’t this wrench out the desperate need of man to fill his eyes with the love of his brethren? Or will this turn the men who seek the truth of man and love and virtue to resentment and bitter atheism? Apology: I don’t mean to sound jaded or resentful, and I’m not attacking anyone. I just think that it’s time we found something else to write about in class. All this religion is smothering my muse. She’s gasping inside a plastic bag.
“Certainly, men in great fortunes are strangers to themselves, and while they are in the puzzle of business, they have no time to tend their health either of body or mind. Illi mors gravis incubat, qui notus nimis omnibus, ignotus moritur sibi [It is a sad fate for a man to die too well known to everybody else, and still unknown to himself].” Francis Bacon- “Of Great Place”
Like Bacon said, “It is a sad fate for a man to die too well known to everybody else, and still unknown to himself,” I believe this is true. So many people get tied up with their careers and pleasing others with meeting deadlines and providing exceptional service or even making tons of money, that they don’t take time for themselves. How would they know who they really are if they never took the time to find out? What is the point of working your life away? I believe in working to live not living to work.
Workaholics lose sight of who they really are as well as miss out on time with their families. Before they know it, their children have grown up and their spouse or significant other is not who they think they are either. Their families have grown accustomed to a life without them. There is a difference between good work ethic and just plain working too much. I would rather die having lived a life and have a family who knows me then die rich and alone.
It has been noted that in 2005, Americans threw away an estimated 415 million vacation days. That's 1.6 million years of unused vacation! Chronic stress and over commitment to work have been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and mortality. Research suggests that reducing stress and taking regular vacations—once or twice a year—may be as vital to your emotional and physical well-being as exercise or a healthful diet.
Passage: "Men discover themselves in trust, in passion, at unawares, and of necessity."
People dont know who they really are until they experience somehing out of their comfort zone that puts pressure on them emotional or physically, but usually both. Alot of times people can be in a realationship with another induvidual for a long time before their "true colors" arise, but it is usually the result of a negative situation. The word unawares used by Bacon is referring to that very thing.
Unawares: suddenly and unexpectedly; "rain caught them unawares"; "sorrow comes to all, and to the young it comes with bittered agony because it takes them unawares"- A.Lincoln
For example, when someone discovers they have cancer, the news usually comes with no warning..alot of time people that consider themselves at the peak of health can be diagnosed with this disease. When the possibility of death creeps into that person's phyche it is destined to "change", them. Either they wiill become severly depressed give up on life, become vindictive and full or bitterness, or they will rise above it and fight it with everything left in them. Bacon's point, is the "change" we see in those individuals is not a change but, the REAL person who had been hidden underneath when everything in life had been going according to plan. Diamonds are the most valued jewle on earth, but to become beautiful they must endure a long tedious process, that first begins with extreme pressure. Bacon is trying to remind us that we are not guaranteed tomarrow, or have any kind of insurance that like will continue the way we know it. He is pushing us to look inside and see what is underneath all the false pretneses, and make sure our true identity is strong enough to handle the pressure.
Basic Passage- “I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind.”
Francis Bacon just like millions of other people in this world needed someone or something to believe in. To think that this world is run just naturally without the help of some supernatural being is kind of depressing. To think that after we die, we just die and there is nothing more would cause a certain fear of death that could never be overcome. God’s word is the reason so many people make it through the day. People need to know that they have someone or something to watch over them and ultimately welcome them to their final resting place… whatever or wherever that place may be. In the above passage what Bacon is saying is, he would rather believe any make believe story than to believe there is no higher power that made this world and keeps it going around. It is so much more comforting to think that God is watching out for us than to think that there is no one. If there was no one we would have no faith or hope. When we have something to believe in we create faith. With faith we come to knowing and understanding that this world is being taken care of by God. We have faith that this universal frame certainly has a mind.
Basic Passage: Bacon p, 1556 "It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is unworthy of him. For the one is unbelief, the other is contumely: and certainly superstition is the reproach of the deity."
When we discussed this passage, the subject of evolution arose. Many people have preconceived notions about Christians views of science. I doubt God would have given us so much to explore and such intricate brains if he did not want us to learn. Many Christians do take the words of the Bible too seriously. The Bible was written by man through God. There is room for interpretation, and to be truthful those are the type people that make Christians out to have a lack of intelligence. It's ridiculous to say, "if it's not in the Bible it's not real". We are not in the Bible. Does that make us not real or unworthy? Christians may not agree with the idea that we evolved from apes, but it's ridiculous to say we have not evolved. How would I be typing on this computer right now if we did not evolve? Even though most Christians throw out the idea of evolution there is a way to explain evolution through a Christians eyes. During the story of Adam and Eve, God supposedly created life in 7 days, but I do not think this story was meant to be taken so literal. What if it took millions to billions of years to create? What if we did evolve from apes? One day may have actually been millions of years. Maybe that day man was created was millions of years of evolution. We act like we have God all figured out, but I'm not sure we do.
Of Atheism and its Virtue Basic Passage: “Therefore atheism did never perturb states, for it makes men wary of themselves as looking no further; and we see the times inclined to atheism (as the time of Augustus Caesar) were civil times.”
As an agnostic, leaning heavily towards atheism, I found this passage written by Francis Bacon in his essay “Of Superstition” to be a parallel to view my own values. Despite having absolutely zero belief in the Christian God, I feel as though my own morals are better than many Christians I know. My motivation is more legitimate for being a moral person, because I do not fear some eternal punishment if I do not do as God says. Life is nothing more than an infinitely small window of time clouded by doubt and confusion. This will be the only chance I get to walk this Earth, and the only chance I get to experience life. With that being said, my desire is to make the most of it that I possibly can. The interactions that I have with people from day to day mean the most to me, simply because I know they only have a finite amount of time and I want it to be as much as it can for them too. Atheists are also not quick to go to war, unlike religious people. Too many people have died in religious wars throughout civilization. We atheists understand than when someone dies, they are gone. We would rather spend time enjoying simple things like the way the world comes to life like music at dawn, or the way the sky looks in a mirror of still water.
Intelligent Design vs Creationist look on Christianity Basic Passage: “A little philosophy inclineth men's minds to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds to religion.” Bacon’s writings sparked an argument upon what different ideas are out there and what certain people do or should believe. There are mainly two different intelligent design views of religion. The first belief is that God does not exist and that nature created earth and the people on it, such as the big bang theory and the theory of evolution. Others believe that some divine power may have created nature and the scientific courses it has taken but it could not have occurred by chance. For example God created the earth but through the big bang theory and he formed evolution in his own rules. Creationism also comes in two varieties. It is mainly the belief that science cannot explain all things and that a miracle can happen through God. In the two varieties there are the “Young-Earth” and “Old-Earth” creationists. Old-Earth Creationists believe in the strictest biblical terms where the earth is only a few years old and flat and do not believe in evolution but believe in divine intervention.Young-Earth creationists believe that Earth is millions of years old and accept evolution- but not the creation of the human soul. In just these few beliefs of Christianity it is certain we will never have pure scientific proof as to which is true or not all that we can rely on is only our faith.
Basic Passage “It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is unworthy of him. For the one is unbelief, the other is contumely: and certainly superstition is the reproach of the deity." Bacon
Bacon, he was a smart man, but at the same not so smart. He wrote about religion in a new way that could have been frowned upon in his time. He wrote about how science and god, and how it effects other people. I am a Christian and I do believe that we came from something, but is it evolution. I mean if God didn’t want us to think about it so much he would not have made our minds so smart. Who is to say that we didn’t evolve, anything is possible. I don’t think that just one day we were here. I think it took years on end to wind up like we are now. I do not think that we evolved from another animal but a tiny cell that just grew into us. Everyone has their own right to an opinion so I am not saying that God did not just put us here. He could have, but our minds are too smart and there would be too many skeptical looking at it and trying to figure it out. Bacon said that we should not have any superstation about us. This means a lot to me. When people at work are having a bad day, the first thing that they say is “It must be a full moon.” Knowing that is not really a full moon. The moon has nothing to do with the way that people act. This comes to play when we try and mix science with math. Some things just are not explained by anything and people just need to learn to let it go.
Basic Passage: "The master of superstition is the people, and in all superstition wise men follow fools, and arguments are fitted to practice in a reversed order.
Correlation: What are people's true opinion of God? Would everyone of thought he was a good ruler if he had not ruled? The story that I chose to write on is By Francis Bacon and is titled Of Superstition. The very first sentence of this story was the one that caught my eye. It says, "It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is unworhty of him." To me this is saying if a person has anything negative to say about God or thinks negatively of him, then they should mine as well not believe in God altogether. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but God made the world that we live in. Everything we do, we do for him so that we can gain access into heavan once our souls depart this world. In my mind, I don't see why anyone would have any superstition when it comes to God and the things he did. Superstition may have dismounted Atheism but Atheism, as described in the book, made men wary of themselves as looking no further. The quote I chosed isn't to hard to comprehend. It is a very true statement brilliantly thought up by Bacon. When it comes down to it The superstition about God is always going to revolve around the people and their opinions. I agree with the part that says the wise men will always follow the fools. I agree with this because the wiser men will dispute with the foolish why they are wrong. There will always be a debate about the topic this story represents and Francis Bacon is giving his take and opinion on it by explaining so that people will understand.
Quote: “Shakespear's immense vocabulary bears witness to an uncanny ability to absorb themes from a wide range of pursuits and to transform them into intimate registers of thought and feeling”
Response: Shakespear was one of the most unique writers of his time and composed many sonnets, comedies, and tragedies. Many think that Shakespear was not responsible for the works we know today claiming that he couldn't have made those works because he was unable to know what he was writing about due to lack of experience and proper education. Many people and criticized others who have unique talent as if the always try to surpass them or if surpassing them isn't possible then the try to prove that what they can do is impossible. Why its so hard to accept people with extraordinary talents such as Shakespear who made stories, poems, and sonnets that still to this day are popular. Yet some people are starting to open up to those with extraordinary talents and accept them for exceeding.
He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. If this is true what about the continuity of gene. There would be no one to witness history. A more practical version may be “A young man not yet, an elder man not at all”. May be this is the answer that fulfills life. This statement needs no explation as we know almost all great inventions have been made by single men. Newton, Einstein for instance. A single man can offer a lot both intellectually and financially. Many of us might have experienced a stressful day with a lot of thing that needs different attention often missing the important one. We can’t deny the fact that at some point in life we need to be single and focus in our school, profession or whatever we are doing. The best thing would be to decide what we wan t to do with our life. It is not a good idea to be single and lonely forever but we should definitely be single when we are still young and in a learning phase in life. Bacon is true to some extent of showing married man as hostage but like the other side of the coin this is life. We have to responsible at some point and look after the family where we get the contention we like at our middle aged life.
Passage: The master of superstition is the people, and in all superstition wise men follow fools, and arguments are fitted to practice in a reversed order.
Response: Sir Francis Bacon believed it better to be an atheist or non-believer than a superstitious fool. Most “thinkers” in his time were not superstitious. Superstition is a person’s way of explaining bad things when there is no logical explanation. According to Sir Francis Bacon “The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.” Bacon is saying that if you think logically about the superstition and all the times that things happened as well as all the times things did not happen, you will see that there is not a real correlation. In the passage when Bacon states “in all superstition wise men follow fools,” he’s telling us that no matter how smart you are, if you are superstitious then you are not thinking logically. This is still true in today’s society. For instance, one superstition is if you break a mirror you will have seven years of bad luck. If you think about this logically, there is really no correlation between the breaking of the mirror and the bad luck that comes afterward. In most cases you do not actually have seven years of bad luck and the bad luck you do have would have happened no matter if you had not broken the mirror. The human mind is a powerful tool and if you truly believe something to be true then you can make it fit to your belief.
"It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is unworthy of him. For the one is unbelief, the other is contumely: and certainly superstition is the reproach of the deity."
Why is superstition always looked down upon by those that choose not to believe in a higher power? Is it because they assume those that don’t share their beliefs (or lack there of) to be ignorant? Or is it because they are jealous of those that are perfectly happy to live by a moral code? Consider this. In today’s society, who are the superstitious? One would assume hardcore Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc. Each of these peoples believes in a greater force and a “heaven” of sorts that they wish to proceed to in the next life. They follow a set of rules that they accept as the route to eternal salvation. Atheists believe that there is no God, so they live by their own moral codes. The only difference is, non-believers accept the fact that they die and rot in the ground and that’s it…done. When they hear of people eating bread believing it’s flesh and drinking wine believing it’s blood, they scoff at the notion. They look down their nose at those that kneel so many times, pray so many times, bow their heads so many times, and nitpick different activities they believe advance their morality. It makes one wonder, is it so bad that the religious are superstitious? Obviously the hope that they have makes them happy, or they wouldn’t have it. Atheists, not all of course, ignore the end because they have nothing to look forward to except dirt. Believers have an eternity of happiness to look forward to after this hellhole called Earth. Sometimes saying the same prayer twenty times a day is just the right thing to give a person meaning and a happy ending to anticipate.
“Men in great place are thrice servants: servants of the sovereign or state, servants of fame, and servants of business. So as they have no freedom, neither in their persons, nor in their actions, nor in their times. It is a strange desire, to seek power and to lose liberty, or to seek power over others and to lose power over a man’s self.”
After reading through Francis Bacon’s perceptions and ideas about Men in Great Places, it truly made me think about the concept of happiness. What he says is that a man tends not to look inside himself when seeking happiness but instead looks around him at other men who seem to be happy. For example, the man who craves power, money, or success so much that he loses sight of all else and becomes even unhappier than he originally was; all in an attempt to find happiness in the first place. Another interesting example in today’s world are musicians. People today look at the life of a rock star in pure awe as drool dribbles down their chin because they think that these people are living the perfect life. It is this influence that makes a man look at what he has and feel insignificant; he is letting the idea of happiness become more of a general concept that a society as a whole feels acceptable instead of what might speak to the purity of his own individual soul. Today, the media tells us what makes us happy. For example, a man should have lots of money, a beautiful woman, a house with a two-car garage, and a successful career. He should also have a white-picket fence and a dog named Fido if he really wants to capture this elusive concept we have labeled, “The American Dream.” The only thing anyone has to do to find true happiness is look inside themselves.
Main Passage: There is a superstition in avoiding superstition. -Francis Bacon
Correlation: According to Webster’s Dictionary, the word Superstition is defined as: 1. Any belief, based on fear or ignorance, that is inconsistent with the known laws of science or with what is generally considered in the particular society as true and rational; esp., such a belief in charms, omens, the supernatural, etc. 2. Any action or practice based on such a belief 3. Such beliefs collectively Francis Bacon was more than likely talking about the second definition, “any action or practice based on such a belief,” than the others. There are many times I have done this…one example is that I never leave an umbrella at home because I know that the day I leave it, it will rain. To break a mirror will bring you seven years bad luck, An apple a day keeps the doctor away, and Friday the thirteenth is an unlucky day are all common superstitions that some people actually do take rather seriously. So is this good for us? If we get so caught into superstitions that it causes us to always live in fear, then it's definitely not healthy. We also must not confuse bad habits with superstitions…some people think that they cannot live without their cigarettes when in fact the cigarettes are going to eventually cause the pain, but people think they are incapable of breaking such habits. This is when being ultra superstitious can cause discouragement, excuses, and apprehension. I am not superstitious in avoiding superstition, I just don’t like it when it makes people insecure.
Basic Passage:"The problem of knowledge--- what we know, how we know, what areas of knowledge most demand attention, what methods are useful in studying those areas--came to be of pressing concern of the 17th centurey thinkers and writers"
One of these writers which is known as Sir Francis Bacon; one whom was concerned with what we know and how we learn best! As a literary figure Sir Francis Bacon played a cenntral role in the development of the English essay and also inaugurated the genre of the scientific utopia in his New Atlantis. Bacon was was an even more important figure to the intellectual and cultural history of the 17th century for his treaties on reforming and premoting learning through experiment and induction. He had a life span which overlapped Donne and Johson, but he came from a noble family with close to the centter of government and power. As an essayist Bacon geared his topics towards "Civil and Moral." In his first edition, the first ten short pieces are a little more than collections of maxims placed in sequence; although the thirty-eight in the second edition are much longer and looser; the final fifty-eight of the edition are still longer, smoother in texture, more unified, and use more figurative language. In his lastedition so many of the essays deal with public life, truth, marriage, and love. They evoke an atmosphere of expediency and self interestbut also voice precepts of moral wisdom. Sir Francis delcared early in his life, " I have not taken all knowledge to be my province."
“A little philosophy inclineth men's minds to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds to religion.”
Some religions believe that the earth was created by God in six days, and man from the dust of the earth. They believe that we did not evolve from apes and there is no other explanation of how the earth came around. Then there is a scientific explanation/idea that the universe has expanded from a primordial hot and dense initial condition at some finite time in the past- “The Big Bang Theory.” Who knows what is true. We have comprhensive and accurate explanations with scientific evidence for the Big Bang Theory; however, what evidence is there of Genesis other than a story in the bible. Then there is the evolution of man- where we humans evolved from an ape-like ancestor. How can anyone exactly say that the other is wrong. I am iffy about all three. Did we come from some microorganism, a religious being, or from an ape. I am going more along the lines of the evolution theory. I was raised in church and I believed the God created the earth thing, but I need more of a scientific explanation and Homology explains it better then a book in the Bible. Im not wrong and your not wrong if you have a different view. Beliefs are different and they always will be for generations to become.
Title: To Believe or Not to Believe, That is the Question
Passage: “It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is unworthy of him. For the one is unbelief, the other is contumely. And certainly superstition is the reproach of the deity. Plutarch saith well to that purpose: ‘surely I had rather a great deal mean should say there was no such man at all as Plutarch, than that they should say that there was on Plutarch that would eat his children as soon as they were born….Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation…but superstition dismounts all of these and erecteth an absolute monarchy in the minds of men.”
Correlation: Believing “there’s no God” serves humanity better than millions of individuals thinking “what if there’s a God?” It seems that people who’ve lived with a belief in a higher power “take aim at divine matters by human, which cannot but breed mixture of imaginations...joined with calamities...” You only have to learn about genocides, crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Protestant Reformation, etc. to get all the evidence you need for this.
I whole-heartedly agree with Bacon when he states “atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, [and] to reputation.” Who’s ever heard of a war between atheists? How about an atheist at the head of a religious holocaust? Nobody.
Religion, particularly Christianity, gets a bad rap for impeding humanity’s progress. Its well deserved. If the heads of Christianity had overpowered science and reason we’d all be living at the center of the universe on a flat planet with stars being holes poked in the sky leading to God’s realm.
What a load of crap.
You’d think people could look at history and realize that the church is just about the biggest problem with the world today. How many improvements in the standard of living were impeded because the church deemed knowledge “sinful?” I sure hope people will eventually begin to reevaluate the church’s “right” to determine what is “good” and “bad.” Maybe then we can apply reason to the use of modern knowledge of stem-cells, abortion, and birth-control instead of letting the stars be holes.
Superstition, Malnutrition, all topped off with Truth and Diction,
ReplyDeleteBasic Passage: But superstition hath been the confusion of many states, and bringeth in a new primum mobile, that ravisheth all the spheres of government. The master of superstition is the people, and in all superstition wise men follow fools.
Correlation:
In the beginning Amen Ra ejaculated onto the earth creating Shu and Tefnut, who then brought forth many gods and the heavens, the earth, the sky and the underworld, etc. This was a common viewpoint taken to be true in Egypt around 3000 BC. Presently this idea would be regarded as appalling, heathenish and blasphemous or to say the least superstitious. However it is the grounds of these ancient religions that are the basis of all other religions today. It is all well and good to use your beliefs to live "righteously" and glorify saviors and whatnot to make yourself feel better, but lets just clarify that people’s beliefs are all ridiculous, superstitious bologna, that don't amount to anything other than what we've been taught to believe. Just because one believes something, that doesn't make it real except in their minds. Lets all ground our beliefs in blood and war and greed and anger and tyranny, then we'll paint on a martyr to make ourselves feel bad about existing. Is this the golden path of virtue? Won’t this wrench out the desperate need of man to fill his eyes with the love of his brethren? Or will this turn the men who seek the truth of man and love and virtue to resentment and bitter atheism?
Apology:
I don’t mean to sound jaded or resentful, and I’m not attacking anyone. I just think that it’s time we found something else to write about in class. All this religion is smothering my muse. She’s gasping inside a plastic bag.
Emily Alford
ReplyDeleteWorkaholic
Basic Passage
“Certainly, men in great fortunes are strangers to themselves, and while they are in the puzzle of business, they have no time to tend their health either of body or mind. Illi mors gravis incubat, qui notus nimis omnibus, ignotus moritur sibi [It is a sad fate for a man to die too well known to everybody else, and still unknown to himself].”
Francis Bacon- “Of Great Place”
Like Bacon said, “It is a sad fate for a man to die too well known to everybody else, and still unknown to himself,” I believe this is true. So many people get tied up with their careers and pleasing others with meeting deadlines and providing exceptional service or even making tons of money, that they don’t take time for themselves. How would they know who they really are if they never took the time to find out? What is the point of working your life away? I believe in working to live not living to work.
Workaholics lose sight of who they really are as well as miss out on time with their families. Before they know it, their children have grown up and their spouse or significant other is not who they think they are either. Their families have grown accustomed to a life without them. There is a difference between good work ethic and just plain working too much. I would rather die having lived a life and have a family who knows me then die rich and alone.
It has been noted that in 2005, Americans threw away an estimated 415 million vacation days. That's 1.6 million years of unused vacation! Chronic stress and over commitment to work have been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and mortality. Research suggests that reducing stress and taking regular vacations—once or twice a year—may be as vital to your emotional and physical well-being as exercise or a healthful diet.
Passage: "Men discover themselves in trust, in passion, at unawares, and of necessity."
ReplyDeletePeople dont know who they really are until they experience somehing out of their comfort zone that puts pressure on them emotional or physically, but usually both. Alot of times people can be in a realationship with another induvidual for a long time before their "true colors" arise, but it is usually the result of a negative situation. The word unawares used by Bacon is referring to that very thing.
Unawares: suddenly and unexpectedly; "rain caught them unawares"; "sorrow comes to all, and to the young it comes with bittered agony because it takes them unawares"- A.Lincoln
For example, when someone discovers they have cancer, the news usually comes with no warning..alot of time people that consider themselves at the peak of health can be diagnosed with this disease. When the possibility of death creeps into that person's phyche it is destined to "change", them. Either they wiill become severly depressed give up on life, become vindictive and full or bitterness, or they will rise above it and fight it with everything left in them. Bacon's point, is the "change" we see in those individuals is not a change but, the REAL person who had been hidden underneath when everything in life had been going according to plan. Diamonds are the most valued jewle on earth, but to become beautiful they must endure a long tedious process, that first begins with extreme pressure. Bacon is trying to remind us that we are not guaranteed tomarrow, or have any kind of insurance that like will continue the way we know it. He is pushing us to look inside and see what is underneath all the false pretneses, and make sure our true identity is strong enough to handle the pressure.
Faith and Hope
ReplyDeleteBasic Passage- “I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind.”
Francis Bacon just like millions of other people in this world needed someone or something to believe in. To think that this world is run just naturally without the help of some supernatural being is kind of depressing. To think that after we die, we just die and there is nothing more would cause a certain fear of death that could never be overcome. God’s word is the reason so many people make it through the day. People need to know that they have someone or something to watch over them and ultimately welcome them to their final resting place… whatever or wherever that place may be. In the above passage what Bacon is saying is, he would rather believe any make believe story than to believe there is no higher power that made this world and keeps it going around. It is so much more comforting to think that God is watching out for us than to think that there is no one. If there was no one we would have no faith or hope. When we have something to believe in we create faith. With faith we come to knowing and understanding that this world is being taken care of by God. We have faith that this universal frame certainly has a mind.
God and Evolution
ReplyDeleteBasic Passage:
Bacon p, 1556
"It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is unworthy of him. For the one is unbelief, the other is contumely: and certainly superstition is the reproach of the deity."
When we discussed this passage, the subject of evolution arose. Many people have preconceived notions about Christians views of science. I doubt God would have given us so much to explore and such intricate brains if he did not want us to learn. Many Christians do take the words of the Bible too seriously. The Bible was written by man through God. There is room for interpretation, and to be truthful those are the type people that make Christians out to have a lack of intelligence. It's ridiculous to say, "if it's not in the Bible it's not real". We are not in the Bible. Does that make us not real or unworthy? Christians may not agree with the idea that we evolved from apes, but it's ridiculous to say we have not evolved. How would I be typing on this computer right now if we did not evolve? Even though most Christians throw out the idea of evolution there is a way to explain evolution through a Christians eyes. During the story of Adam and Eve, God supposedly created life in 7 days, but I do not think this story was meant to be taken so literal. What if it took millions to billions of years to create? What if we did evolve from apes? One day may have actually been millions of years. Maybe that day man was created was millions of years of evolution. We act like we have God all figured out, but I'm not sure we do.
A.W. Faris
ReplyDeleteOf Atheism and its Virtue
Basic Passage:
“Therefore atheism did never perturb states, for it makes men wary of themselves as looking no further; and we see the times inclined to atheism (as the time of Augustus Caesar) were civil times.”
As an agnostic, leaning heavily towards atheism, I found this passage written by Francis Bacon in his essay “Of Superstition” to be a parallel to view my own values. Despite having absolutely zero belief in the Christian God, I feel as though my own morals are better than many Christians I know. My motivation is more legitimate for being a moral person, because I do not fear some eternal punishment if I do not do as God says.
Life is nothing more than an infinitely small window of time clouded by doubt and confusion. This will be the only chance I get to walk this Earth, and the only chance I get to experience life. With that being said, my desire is to make the most of it that I possibly can. The interactions that I have with people from day to day mean the most to me, simply because I know they only have a finite amount of time and I want it to be as much as it can for them too.
Atheists are also not quick to go to war, unlike religious people. Too many people have died in religious wars throughout civilization. We atheists understand than when someone dies, they are gone. We would rather spend time enjoying simple things like the way the world comes to life like music at dawn, or the way the sky looks in a mirror of still water.
Intelligent Design vs Creationist look on Christianity
ReplyDeleteBasic Passage: “A little philosophy inclineth men's minds to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds to religion.”
Bacon’s writings sparked an argument upon what different ideas are out there and what certain people do or should believe. There are mainly two different intelligent design views of religion. The first belief is that God does not exist and that nature created earth and the people on it, such as the big bang theory and the theory of evolution. Others believe that some divine power may have created nature and the scientific courses it has taken but it could not have occurred by chance. For example God created the earth but through the big bang theory and he formed evolution in his own rules. Creationism also comes in two varieties. It is mainly the belief that science cannot explain all things and that a miracle can happen through God. In the two varieties there are the “Young-Earth” and “Old-Earth” creationists. Old-Earth Creationists believe in the strictest biblical terms where the earth is only a few years old and flat and do not believe in evolution but believe in divine intervention.Young-Earth creationists believe that Earth is millions of years old and accept evolution- but not the creation of the human soul. In just these few beliefs of Christianity it is certain we will never have pure scientific proof as to which is true or not all that we can rely on is only our faith.
Alex Newton
ReplyDeleteBasic Passage
“It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is unworthy of him. For the one is unbelief, the other is contumely: and certainly superstition is the reproach of the deity."
Bacon
Bacon, he was a smart man, but at the same not so smart. He wrote about religion in a new way that could have been frowned upon in his time. He wrote about how science and god, and how it effects other people. I am a Christian and I do believe that we came from something, but is it evolution. I mean if God didn’t want us to think about it so much he would not have made our minds so smart. Who is to say that we didn’t evolve, anything is possible. I don’t think that just one day we were here. I think it took years on end to wind up like we are now. I do not think that we evolved from another animal but a tiny cell that just grew into us. Everyone has their own right to an opinion so I am not saying that God did not just put us here. He could have, but our minds are too smart and there would be too many skeptical looking at it and trying to figure it out. Bacon said that we should not have any superstation about us. This means a lot to me. When people at work are having a bad day, the first thing that they say is “It must be a full moon.” Knowing that is not really a full moon. The moon has nothing to do with the way that people act. This comes to play when we try and mix science with math. Some things just are not explained by anything and people just need to learn to let it go.
The Superstition of God
ReplyDeleteBasic Passage: "The master of superstition is the people, and in all superstition wise men follow fools, and arguments are fitted to practice in a reversed order.
Correlation: What are people's true opinion of God? Would everyone of thought he was a good ruler if he had not ruled? The story that I chose to write on is By Francis Bacon and is titled Of Superstition. The very first sentence of this story was the one that caught my eye. It says, "It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is unworhty of him." To me this is saying if a person has anything negative to say about God or thinks negatively of him, then they should mine as well not believe in God altogether. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but God made the world that we live in. Everything we do, we do for him so that we can gain access into heavan once our souls depart this world. In my mind, I don't see why anyone would have any superstition when it comes to God and the things he did. Superstition may have dismounted Atheism but Atheism, as described in the book, made men wary of themselves as looking no further. The quote I chosed isn't to hard to comprehend. It is a very true statement brilliantly thought up by Bacon. When it comes down to it The superstition about God is always going to revolve around the people and their opinions. I agree with the part that says the wise men will always follow the fools. I agree with this because the wiser men will dispute with the foolish why they are wrong. There will always be a debate about the topic this story represents and Francis Bacon is giving his take and opinion on it by explaining so that people will understand.
Quote: “Shakespear's immense vocabulary bears witness to an uncanny ability to absorb themes from a wide range of pursuits and to transform them into intimate registers of thought and feeling”
ReplyDeleteResponse: Shakespear was one of the most unique writers of his time and composed many sonnets, comedies, and tragedies. Many think that Shakespear was not responsible for the works we know today claiming that he couldn't have made those works because he was unable to know what he was writing about due to lack of experience and proper education. Many people and criticized others who have unique talent as if the always try to surpass them or if surpassing them isn't possible then the try to prove that what they can do is impossible. Why its so hard to accept people with extraordinary talents such as Shakespear who made stories, poems, and sonnets that still to this day are popular. Yet some people are starting to open up to those with extraordinary talents and accept them for exceeding.
Single or Married
ReplyDeleteHe that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.
If this is true what about the continuity of gene. There would be no one to witness history. A more practical version may be “A young man not yet, an elder man not at all”. May be this is the answer that fulfills life. This statement needs no explation as we know almost all great inventions have been made by single men. Newton, Einstein for instance. A single man can offer a lot both intellectually and financially.
Many of us might have experienced a stressful day with a lot of thing that needs different attention often missing the important one. We can’t deny the fact that at some point in life we need to be single and focus in our school, profession or whatever we are doing. The best thing would be to decide what we wan t to do with our life. It is not a good idea to be single and lonely forever but we should definitely be single when we are still young and in a learning phase in life. Bacon is true to some extent of showing married man as hostage but like the other side of the coin this is life. We have to responsible at some point and look after the family where we get the contention we like at our middle aged life.
Thinking Logically
ReplyDeletePassage:
The master of superstition is the people, and in all superstition wise men follow fools, and arguments are fitted to practice in a reversed order.
Response:
Sir Francis Bacon believed it better to be an atheist or non-believer than a superstitious fool. Most “thinkers” in his time were not superstitious. Superstition is a person’s way of explaining bad things when there is no logical explanation. According to Sir Francis Bacon “The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss; and commit to memory the one, and forget and pass over the other.” Bacon is saying that if you think logically about the superstition and all the times that things happened as well as all the times things did not happen, you will see that there is not a real correlation. In the passage when Bacon states “in all superstition wise men follow fools,” he’s telling us that no matter how smart you are, if you are superstitious then you are not thinking logically. This is still true in today’s society. For instance, one superstition is if you break a mirror you will have seven years of bad luck. If you think about this logically, there is really no correlation between the breaking of the mirror and the bad luck that comes afterward. In most cases you do not actually have seven years of bad luck and the bad luck you do have would have happened no matter if you had not broken the mirror. The human mind is a powerful tool and if you truly believe something to be true then you can make it fit to your belief.
Owen Bradley
ReplyDeleteDirtnap
"It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is unworthy of him. For the one is unbelief, the other is contumely: and certainly superstition is the reproach of the deity."
Why is superstition always looked down upon by those that choose not to believe in a higher power? Is it because they assume those that don’t share their beliefs (or lack there of) to be ignorant? Or is it because they are jealous of those that are perfectly happy to live by a moral code? Consider this. In today’s society, who are the superstitious? One would assume hardcore Christians, Jews, Muslims, etc. Each of these peoples believes in a greater force and a “heaven” of sorts that they wish to proceed to in the next life. They follow a set of rules that they accept as the route to eternal salvation. Atheists believe that there is no God, so they live by their own moral codes. The only difference is, non-believers accept the fact that they die and rot in the ground and that’s it…done. When they hear of people eating bread believing it’s flesh and drinking wine believing it’s blood, they scoff at the notion. They look down their nose at those that kneel so many times, pray so many times, bow their heads so many times, and nitpick different activities they believe advance their morality. It makes one wonder, is it so bad that the religious are superstitious? Obviously the hope that they have makes them happy, or they wouldn’t have it. Atheists, not all of course, ignore the end because they have nothing to look forward to except dirt. Believers have an eternity of happiness to look forward to after this hellhole called Earth. Sometimes saying the same prayer twenty times a day is just the right thing to give a person meaning and a happy ending to anticipate.
Vindicate any Man in Great Place
ReplyDelete“Men in great place are thrice servants: servants of the sovereign or state, servants of fame, and servants of business. So as they have no freedom, neither in their persons, nor in their actions, nor in their times. It is a strange desire, to seek power and to lose liberty, or to seek power over others and to lose power over a man’s self.”
After reading through Francis Bacon’s perceptions and ideas about Men in Great Places, it truly made me think about the concept of happiness. What he says is that a man tends not to look inside himself when seeking happiness but instead looks around him at other men who seem to be happy. For example, the man who craves power, money, or success so much that he loses sight of all else and becomes even unhappier than he originally was; all in an attempt to find happiness in the first place. Another interesting example in today’s world are musicians. People today look at the life of a rock star in pure awe as drool dribbles down their chin because they think that these people are living the perfect life. It is this influence that makes a man look at what he has and feel insignificant; he is letting the idea of happiness become more of a general concept that a society as a whole feels acceptable instead of what might speak to the purity of his own individual soul. Today, the media tells us what makes us happy. For example, a man should have lots of money, a beautiful woman, a house with a two-car garage, and a successful career. He should also have a white-picket fence and a dog named Fido if he really wants to capture this elusive concept we have labeled, “The American Dream.” The only thing anyone has to do to find true happiness is look inside themselves.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteInsecure by superstition
ReplyDeleteMain Passage:
There is a superstition in avoiding superstition. -Francis Bacon
Correlation:
According to Webster’s Dictionary, the word Superstition is defined as:
1. Any belief, based on fear or ignorance, that is inconsistent with the known laws of science or with what is generally considered in the particular society as true and rational; esp., such a belief in charms, omens, the supernatural, etc.
2. Any action or practice based on such a belief
3. Such beliefs collectively
Francis Bacon was more than likely talking about the second definition, “any action or practice based on such a belief,” than the others. There are many times I have done this…one example is that I never leave an umbrella at home because I know that the day I leave it, it will rain. To break a mirror will bring you seven years bad luck, An apple a day keeps the doctor away, and Friday the thirteenth is an unlucky day are all common superstitions that some people actually do take rather seriously. So is this good for us? If we get so caught into superstitions that it causes us to always live in fear, then it's definitely not healthy. We also must not confuse bad habits with superstitions…some people think that they cannot live without their cigarettes when in fact the cigarettes are going to eventually cause the pain, but people think they are incapable of breaking such habits. This is when being ultra superstitious can cause discouragement, excuses, and apprehension. I am not superstitious in avoiding superstition, I just don’t like it when it makes people insecure.
Lindsay B.
ReplyDeleteBasic Passage:"The problem of knowledge--- what we know, how we know, what areas of knowledge most demand attention, what methods are useful in studying those areas--came to be of pressing concern of the 17th centurey thinkers and writers"
One of these writers which is known as Sir Francis Bacon; one whom was concerned with what we know and how we learn best!
As a literary figure Sir Francis Bacon played a cenntral role in the development of the English essay and also inaugurated the genre of the scientific utopia in his New Atlantis. Bacon was was an even more important figure to the intellectual and cultural history of the 17th century for his treaties on reforming and premoting learning through experiment and induction. He had a life span which overlapped Donne and Johson, but he came from a noble family with close to the centter of government and power. As an essayist Bacon geared his topics towards "Civil and Moral." In his first edition, the first ten short pieces are a little more than collections of maxims placed in sequence; although the thirty-eight in the second edition are much longer and looser; the final fifty-eight of the edition are still longer, smoother in texture, more unified, and use more figurative language. In his lastedition so many of the essays deal with public life, truth, marriage, and love. They evoke an atmosphere of expediency and self interestbut also voice precepts of moral wisdom. Sir Francis delcared early in his life, " I have not taken all knowledge to be my province."
Brittany Bryant
ReplyDeleteBelieve what you believe
“A little philosophy inclineth men's minds to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds to religion.”
Some religions believe that the earth was created by God in six days, and man from the dust of the earth. They believe that we did not evolve from apes and there is no other explanation of how the earth came around. Then there is a scientific explanation/idea that the universe has expanded from a primordial hot and dense initial condition at some finite time in the past- “The Big Bang Theory.” Who knows what is true. We have comprhensive and accurate explanations with scientific evidence for the Big Bang Theory; however, what evidence is there of Genesis other than a story in the bible. Then there is the evolution of man- where we humans evolved from an ape-like ancestor. How can anyone exactly say that the other is wrong. I am iffy about all three. Did we come from some microorganism, a religious being, or from an ape. I am going more along the lines of the evolution theory. I was raised in church and I believed the God created the earth thing, but I need more of a scientific explanation and Homology explains it better then a book in the Bible. Im not wrong and your not wrong if you have a different view. Beliefs are different and they always will be for generations to become.
Sarah Skaggs
ReplyDeleteWeek 8 Response; (bacon)
(250 words)
Title: To Believe or Not to Believe, That is the Question
Passage: “It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is unworthy of him. For the one is unbelief, the other is contumely. And certainly superstition is the reproach of the deity. Plutarch saith well to that purpose: ‘surely I had rather a great deal mean should say there was no such man at all as Plutarch, than that they should say that there was on Plutarch that would eat his children as soon as they were born….Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation…but superstition dismounts all of these and erecteth an absolute monarchy in the minds of men.”
Correlation:
Believing “there’s no God” serves humanity better than millions of individuals thinking “what if there’s a God?” It seems that people who’ve lived with a belief in a higher power “take aim at divine matters by human, which cannot but breed mixture of imaginations...joined with calamities...” You only have to learn about genocides, crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the Protestant Reformation, etc. to get all the evidence you need for this.
I whole-heartedly agree with Bacon when he states “atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, [and] to reputation.” Who’s ever heard of a war between atheists? How about an atheist at the head of a religious holocaust?
Nobody.
Religion, particularly Christianity, gets a bad rap for impeding humanity’s progress. Its well deserved. If the heads of Christianity had overpowered science and reason we’d all be living at the center of the universe on a flat planet with stars being holes poked in the sky leading to God’s realm.
What a load of crap.
You’d think people could look at history and realize that the church is just about the biggest problem with the world today. How many improvements in the standard of living were impeded because the church deemed knowledge “sinful?” I sure hope people will eventually begin to reevaluate the church’s “right” to determine what is “good” and “bad.” Maybe then we can apply reason to the use of modern knowledge of stem-cells, abortion, and birth-control instead of letting the stars be holes.