Philosophy Quote by Carl Lotus Becker — Inspiring Words on Life, Love & Wisdom

“Reason is incompetent to answer any fundamental question about God, or morality, or the meaning of life.”

“Serious thinkers are few, and the world is ruled by crude ideas.”

“I don't want to be a tree; I want to be its meaning.”

“If the meaning of life has become doubtful, if one's relations to others and to oneself do not offer security, then fame is one means to silence one's doubts. It has a function to be compared with that of the Egyptian pyramids or the Christian faith in immortality: it elevates one's individual life from its limitations and instability to the plane of indestructability; if one's name is known to one's contemporaries and if one can hope that it will last for centuries, then one's life has meaning and significance by this very reflection of it in the judgments of others.”

“In the pragmatist, streetwise climate of advanced postmodern capitalism, with its scepticism of big pictures and grand narratives, its hard-nosed disenchantment with the metaphysical, 'life' is one among a whole series of discredited totalities. We are invited to think small rather than big – ironically, at just the point when some of those out to destroy Western civilization are doing exactly the opposite. In the conflict between Western capitalism and radical Islam, a paucity of belief squares up to an excess of it. The West finds itself faced with a full-blooded metaphysical onslaught at just the historical point that it has, so to speak, philosophically disarmed. As far as belief goes, postmodernism prefers to travel light: it has beliefs, to be sure, but it does not have faith.”

“Once individuals become too ‘religious’ about a certain belief or reality tunnel they tend to subconsciously lose sight of the bigger picture. Be it faith, atheism, patriotism, veganism, cross-fittanism among a multitude of other isms and schisms, teachers and followers alike often cannot help but become dogmatic to a considerable degree. This happens when they don’t, at least occasionally, pause, reflect, or question — themselves included — which leaves them blinded by an illusory light at the end of their tunnel. The more certain they become regarding holding absolute truth, the more they drift away from truth; for absolute certainty remains life’s biggest illusion. The key is to do whatever you feel like doing without the need to shove it down others’ throats. And those who vibrate at similar frequencies will eventually find you.”