A Myth in Creation: Awais Aftab's Blog: Russell's encounter with God

Thursday 21 June 2007

Russell's encounter with God

"Bertrand Russell was asked what he would say if he died and found himself confronted by God, demanding to know why Russell had not believed in him. 'Not enough evidence, God, not enough evidence,' was Russell's (I almost said immortal) reply. Mightn't God respect Russell for his courageous scepticism... far more than he would respect Pascal for his cowardly bet-hedging?"

Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

A Quasi-Philosophical Outlook

"It did not seem to Plato any insult to philosophy that it should be transformed into literature, realized as drama, and beautified with style; nor any derogation to its dignity that it should apply itself, even intelligibly, to living problems of morality and the state."

Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy

After tasting the intricacies of religion and metaphysics, i have finally come to appreciate the philosophy of the more mundane aspects of life. Like Plato, it doesn't appear to me any insult to philosophy that I should apply it to the living, concrete world around me instead of abstract issues, or that I should discover and share fragments of it in literature, music, movies and TV serials. The quasi-philosophical outlook of this blog does not have anything as technical or sophisticated as Wittgenstein or Sartre, but maybe the reader can find something in it to appreciate, and use it to climb up on to higher steps of intellect.