tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post6264218837379549679..comments2024-03-28T10:44:30.518-06:00Comments on American Creation: Ben Franklin Quotation that Typifies the Zeitgeist that Caused the Great EnrichmentBrad Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17669677047039491864noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-13630979587589223642016-10-17T17:40:29.940-06:002016-10-17T17:40:29.940-06:00"Only the disciplined mind can see reality, W...<br />"Only the disciplined mind can see reality, Winston.”<br /> <br />=:-0Mrs. Webfoothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09688935118585583682noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-33084033040757865422016-10-17T16:55:48.238-06:002016-10-17T16:55:48.238-06:00The period in which they operated was "the En...<i>The period in which they operated was "the Enlightenment" of the late 18th Century. Ironically, the advances of modernity didn't start to take off until 1800, which marks the end of that period. So we can say that the late 18th Century Enlightenment is when the seeds were planted. </i><br /><br />The end of the Enlightenment is often given as the French Revolution, which I would agree marks the beginning of "modernity," which I do not see as a self-evidently good thing--I credit it with much of what is wrong with the world today, the denial of a universal natural law and the imposition of the human will over nature and indeed reality.<br /><br />_____________<br /><br /> Only the disciplined mind can see reality, Winston. You believe that reality is something objective, external, existing in its own right. You also believe that the nature of reality is self-evident. When you delude yourself into thinking that you see something, you assume that everyone else sees the same thing as you. But I tell you, Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the Party holds to be the truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party. That is the fact that you have got to relearn, Winston. It needs an act of self-destruction, an effort of the will. You must humble yourself before you can become sane.' <br /><br />He paused for a few moments, as though to allow what he had been saying to sink in. <br /><br />'Do you remember,' he went on, 'writing in your diary, "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four"?' <br /><br />'Yes,' said Winston. <br /><br />O'Brien held up his left hand, its back towards Winston, with the thumb hidden and the four fingers extended. <br /><br />'How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?' <br /><br />'Four.' <br /><br />'And if the party says that it is not four but five -- then how many?' <br /><br />'Four.' <br /><br />The word ended in a gasp of pain. Tom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07121072404143877596noreply@blogger.com