If you read me ever, and you are few and highly valued....you know I love to read Carl Sagan's writings and lectures. I am reading "The Varieties of Scientific Experience" by Carl Sagan...edited by Ann Druyan (Annnn Droooooyan!).
Thinking about the wars around the world...the Palestinians fighting eachother...the Sunni's and Shi'ites fighting eachother and other such conflicts, some of Sagan's words ring true. Here he paraphrases a way of thinking to demonstrate how dangerous it can be. This may seem familiar to anyone who has transitioned from faith in a belief system to self-determined free thinking.
"Our history is in part a battle to the death of inadequate myths. If I can't convince you, I must kill you... ...You are a threat to my version of the truth, especially the truth about who I am and what my nature is. The thought I may have dedicated my life to a lie, that I might have accepted a conventional wisdom that no longer, if it ever did, corresponds to external reality, that is a very painful realization. I will tend to resist it to the last. I will go to almost any lengths to prevent myself from seeing that the worldview that I have dedicated my life to is inadequate." -Carl Sagan
This book is a great read and seems as relevant as can be to today.
=sw
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