5 notes

The key to understanding who and what we are is that our futures, as individuals, societies or cultures, are not fixed or pre-ordained by some hidden hand of God; that what will become of us depends in part on what we choose to become; that we need to shed the illusions of the past by the use of science, reason, and wisdom; that we need in every age to summon the courage to enter into the world boldly and to create new institutions and civilizations. These should be both intelligent and compassionate, recognizing both our limitations and the opportunities for achieving the good life for ourselves and our fellow human beings. Thus we need to shed the false illusions of the past. We need to recogize that “no deity will save us, but that we must save ourselves.