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Quote by E.A. Bucchianeri

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Vocation of a Gadfly

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E.A. Bucchianeri

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“It's an ancient Anglo-Saxon tradition," Polly began, "the mixing of two ideas---one from earliest Christian times, the other from long before. The first Christians used to follow the custom of 'waking' a new church by singing, feasting, and praying in it." Jess, disappointed: "But that's not got nothing to do with a dead body." "I'm not finished yet." Jess mimed zipping her lips. "The other tradition I mentioned is much older. Long before the Christians came to Britain, an all-night vigil would be held over the body of the recently dead. Loved ones would mourn and chant and share stories of the person's life. It was called 'waking the dead'." Jess felt her eyes widen involuntarily as he thoughts went to Dr. Frankenstein and his monster, to Cathy's ghost haunting Withering Heights. "You mean they brought them back to life?" "Well, no." "But you said---" "Back then, the word 'wake' didn't mean to become alert; it meant 'to watch' or 'to guard'." "But what were they guarding against?" "There were those who believed the newly dead soul was at risk of theft by evil spirits." Soul theft at the hands of evil spirits had been almost as exciting as bringing the dead back to life.”

Religious TraditionsEvil SpiritsWakeProtecting Loved Ones
Book:Homecoming
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“It's an ancient Anglo-Saxon tradition," Polly began, "the mixing of two ideas---one from earliest Christian times, the other from long before. The first Christians used to follow the custom of 'waking' a new church by singing, feasting, and praying in it." Jess, disappointed: "But that's got nothing to do with a dead body." "I'm not finished yet." Jess mimed zipping her lips. "The other tradition I mentioned is much older. Long before the Christians came to Britain, an all-night vigil would be held over the body of the recently dead. Loved ones would mourn and chant and share stories of the person's life. It was called 'waking the dead'." Jess felt her eyes widen involuntarily as her thoughts went to Dr. Frankenstein and his monster, to Cathy's ghost haunting Wuthering Heights. "You mean they brought them back to life?" "Well, no." "But you said---" "Back then, the word 'wake' didn't mean to become alert; it meant 'to watch' or 'to guard'." "But what were they guarding against?" "There were those who believed the newly dead soul was at risk of theft by evil spirits." Soul theft at the hands of evil spirits had been almost as exciting as bringing the dead back to life.”

Religious TraditionsEvil SpiritsWakeProtecting Loved Ones
Book:Homecoming
Create image

“কীভাবে এলোমেলো, উদ্দেশ্যহীন, চেতনাহীন মৃত প্রক্রিয়া, কেবল পদার্থের অণুসমূহ একে অন্যের সাথে সংঘর্ষের ফলে বুদ্ধিমত্তা, প্রাণ, চেতনার উদ্ভব হতে পারে? এমনকি Peer Reviewed গবেষণাপত্রে (নাস্তিক) বিজ্ঞানী হুবার্ট ইয়োকি (Hubert P. Yockey) গবেষণার দ্বারা প্রমাণ দেখিয়েছেন যে বিজ্ঞানী মহলে প্রাণের স্বতঃস্ফূর্ত উদ্ভাবনের প্রচলিত বিশ্বাস কেবলই অন্ধবিশ্বাস।”

LifeAtheismSpontaneous GenerationBlind BelieveHubert Yockey
Book:বিশ্বাসের যৌক্তিকতা
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“It seems to be characteristic of the human mind that when it sees a black box in action, it imagines that the contents of the box are simple. A happy example is seen in the comic strip . Calvin is always jumping in a box with his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, and travelling back in time, or himself into animal shapes, or using it as a and making clones of him-self. A little boy like Calvin easily imagines that a box can fly like an airplane (or something), because Calvin doesn't know how airplanes work. In some ways, grown-up scientists are just as prone to wishful thinking as little boys like Calvin. For example, centuries ago it was thought that insects and other small animals arose directly fom spoiled food. This was easy to believe, because small animals were thought to be very simple (before the invention of the microscope, naturalists thought that insects had no internal organs). But as biology progressed and careful experiments showed that protected food did not breed life, the theory of spontaneous generation retreated to the limits beyond which science detect what was really happening. (...) The key to persuading people was the portrayal of the cells as . One of the chief advocates of the spontaneous generation during the middle of the nineteenth century was Ernst Haeckel, a great admirer of Darwin and an eager popularizer of Darwin's theory. From the limited view of cells that microscope provided, Haeckel believed that a cell was a not much different from a piece of microscopic Jell-O. So it seemed to Haeckel that such simple life, with no internal organs, could be produced easily from inanimate material. Now, of course, we know better.”

EvolutionBiologyHaeckelSpontaneous Generation
Book:Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution
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“It seems to be characteristic of the human mind that when it sees a black box in action, it imagines that the contents of the box are simple. A happy example is seen in the comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes". Calvin is always jumping in a box with his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, and travelling back in time, or "transmogrifying" himself into animal shapes, or using it as a "duplicator" and making clones of him-self. A little boy like Calvin easily imagines that a box can fly like an airplane (or something), because Calvin doesn't know how airplanes work. In some ways, grown-up scientists are just as prone to wishful thinking as little boys like Calvin. For example, centuries ago it was thought that insects and other small animals arose directly fom spoiled food. This was easy to believe, because small animals were thought to be very simple (before the invention of the microscope, naturalists thought that insects had no internal organs). But as biology progressed and careful experiments showed that protected food did not breed life, the theory of spontaneous generation retreated to the limits beyond which science detect what was really happening. (...) The key to persuading people was the portrayal of the cells as "simple". One of the chief advocates of the spontaneous generation during the middle of the nineteenth century was Ernst Haeckel, a great admirer of Darwin and an eager popularizer of Darwin's theory. From the limited view of cells that microscope provided, Haeckel believed that a cell was a "simple lump of albuminous combination of carbon" not much different from a piece of microscopic Jell-O. So it seemed to Haeckel that such simple life, with no internal organs, could be produced easily from inanimate material. Now, of course, we know better.”

EvolutionBiologyHaeckelSpontaneous Generation
Book:Darwin's Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution
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“I hope you read this, whoever you are, and imagine that there is a hypothetical person out there who needs your love, has been waiting silently, patiently for it all his life, is flawed and downright ugly at times and yet would have just eaten up any tiny bit of affection you had been willing to give, had you ever stopped your own happy life to notice. And then imagine that this hypothetical person is real, because he probably is.... Wish I’d met you. Wish I wasn’t your hypothetical. But you’re reading this, which means a few minutes ago, I went into that bathroom and pulled the trigger. You probably heard it. Sorry. You’re welcome. Thank you. And please. Please, please, please, please, please, please, please.”

LoveRelationshipsLonelinessSuicideAffection
Book:Sorry Please Thank You
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“Presi l'abitudine di andare a passeggiare spesso intorno alla tenuta dei Driscoll, specie in primavera, per osservare le suore che vagavano beate tra gli alberi in fiore - dove Myra un tempo dava le sue feste, con la banda che suonava per lei. Mi sembrava che quel luogo fosse rimasto vittima di un incantesimo, come il castello della Bella Addormentata; steso tra quei fiori come un bel cadavere, era caduto in un sonno profondo, da quella notte d'inverno in cui l'Amore era uscito dal cancello per sfidare il Destino. Da allora soltanto canti, orazioni e disciplina - e il tintinnio delle campane, che pareva chiamare le sorelle in eterna preghiera.”

CasaCitazioni In ItalianoLuoghi
Book:My Mortal Enemy
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