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Definition Quotes

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Definition Quotes

“The nature of atheism merits clarification on two further points which involve less common ideas about theism. The first involves the idea of 'God' which is metaphorical — for example, a theist who believes in 'God' as a principle of conscience or morality. This 'God' exists in a person’s mind and it is not something which atheists will dispute. Atheists agree that gods exist as ideas in people’s minds; the disagreement lies over whether any gods actually exist independently of human beliefs. Those are the gods which atheists disbelieve in or deny. The second type of theism involves gods that exist as physical objects: stones, trees, rivers, or even the universe itself. Believers treat these objects are their gods, but do atheists reject their existence? Of course not — but how do they then remain atheists? The point of disagreement here is whether the label 'god' communicates any information beyond the more common label of 'stone,' 'tree,' or 'universe.' If not, then as far as atheists are concerned, those objects don’t merit the extra label 'god' and they remain atheists.”

NatureMoralityAtheistMetaphorDescriptionDefinitionPantheism
Author:Austin Cline
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“We are but cells living in a much larger organism, however, this does not make our existence less significant – for an organism without cells is no organism at all. We define it; we make it what it is. We are responsible for its health, its functionality, and above all, its purpose. A lone cell can restore the others, or a lone cell can spread a plague.”

PeopleImportantPurposeChoicesUnitedExistenceResponsibilityAwarenessPerspectiveImportanceUnityCarefulImprovementSignificantCellsSelfishnessMeaningChoiceSignificanceOrganismsSelflessnessCautionPlagueOthersMeaninglessnessDefinition
Book:Rise of the Morningstar
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“I think that what we mean in practice by reason can be defined by three characteristics. In the first place, it relies upon persuasion rather than force; in the second place, it seeks to persuade by means of arguments which the man who uses them believes to be completely valid; and in the third place, in forming opinions, it uses observation and induction as much as possible and intuition as little as possible. The first of these rules out the Inquisition; the second rules out such methods as those of British war propaganda, which Hitler praises on the ground that propaganda “must sink its mental elevation deeper in proportion to the numbers of the mass whom it has to grip”; the third forbids the use of such a major premise as that of President Andrew Jackson a propos of the Mississippi, “the God of the Universe intended this great valley to belong to one nation,” which was self-evident to him and his hearers, but not easily demonstrated to one who questioned it.”

ReasonDefinition1935The Ancestry Of FascismQuotes That Contain Quotes
Book:The Will to Doubt
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“Most people are afflicted with an inability to say what they see or think. They say there’s nothing more difficult than to define a spiral in words; they claim it is necessary to use the unliterary hand, twirling it in a steadily upward direction, so that human eyes will perceive the abstract figure immanent in wire spring and a certain type of staircase. But if we remember that to say is to renew, we will have no trouble defining a spiral; it’s a circle that rises without ever closing. I realize that most people would never dare to define it this way, for they suppose that defining is to say what others want us to say rather than what’s required for the definition. I’ll say it more accurately: a spiral is a potential circle that winds round as it rises, without ever completing itself. But no, the definition is still abstract. I’ll resort to the concrete, and all will become clear: a spiral is a snake without a snake, vertically wound around nothing. All literature is an attempt to make life real. All of us know, even when we act on what we don’t know, life is absolutely unreal in its directly real form; the country, the city and our ideas are absolutely fictitious things, the offspring of our complex sensation of our own selves. Impressions are incommunicable unless we make them literary. Children are particularly literary, for they say what they feel not what someone has taught them to feel. Once I heard a child, who wished to say that he was on the verge of tears, say not ‘I feel like crying’, which is what an adult, i.e., an idiot, would say but rather, ’ I feel like tears.’ And this phrase -so literary it would seem affected in a well-known poet, if he could ever invent it - decisively refers to the warm presence of tears about to burst from eyelids that feel the liquid bitterness. ‘I feel like tears’! The small child aptly defined his spiral. To say! To know how to say! To know how to exist via the written voice and the intellectual image! This is all that matters in life; the rest is men and women, imagined loves and factitious vanities, the wiles of our digestion and forgetfulness, people squirming- like worms when a rock is lifted - under the huge abstract boulder of the meaningless blue sky.”

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Book:The Book of Disquiet
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“The coining of their new catch-phrase 'homophiliac' displayed in contrast to 'homophobic' was rather amusing, though to think that they believe it means anything different to 'homophobic' is just facetious. It's like someone trying to create a difference in definition between 'genocide' and 'ethnic cleansing' - or to make the one look better or less reprehensible than the other.”

BelieveDifferentGenocideContrastDifferenceAmusingEthnic CleansingDefinitionHomophobicFacetiousDisplayedReprehensibleCatch PhraseHomophiliacCoining
Author:Christina Engela
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“The term dissociation is ordinarily used to describe the phenomenon of compartmentalization or fragmentation of mental contents. It does not ascribe any particular mechanism by which the dissociative process occurs. Does dissociation occur as a result of automatic, nonconscious processes, or are there other specific mechanisms by which it occurs? Especially in the context of describing amnesia, the term repression is widely used in connection with several different mechanisms. As it is commonly used, it often implies how individuals may block our memories of uncomfortable or conflictual experiences. If done consciously, the mechanism is more accurately called suppression, which results from actively trying not to think about negative experiences.”

PsychologyChild AbuseRapeRepressionDiagnosisDissociationChild Sexual AbuseAbuse SurvivorsPsychotherapySuppressionIncestDefinitionUnconscious MindTraumatizedFragmentationRepressed MemoriesDissociative AmnesiaDissociative DisordersChild Sexual Abuse SurvivorRecovered MemoriesChild Abuse DeniersTrauma MemoriesCompartmentalizationClergy AbuseRape SurvivorsDefence Mechanisms
Book:Rebuilding Shattered Lives: Treating Complex PTSD and Dissociative Disorders
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“Positive energy is collective, integrative, expansion. Whereas negative energy (...) is simply that which disconnects, which segregates, which separates, which lowers energy, lowers frequency. Whereas Positive increases the frequency and allows us to see things more holistically. Whereas negative energy breaks things into parts that makes things a bit more challenging to manage.”

Positive EnergyEnergy HealingDefinitionNegative EnergyEnergiesEnergy MedicineBasharPositive Vs Negative
Author:Darryl Anka
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“Faivre’s starting point is the observation of a “family resemblance” between various religious and philosophical currents in the history of Western culture. He assumes that this family resemblance is based on a common “form of thought” that one can call “esoteric” and that is distinct from other typical forms of Western thought, such as the theological or the scientific. He further claims that it is possible to identify a number of characteristics that are at the basis of the esoteric form of thought. He considers four of these characteristics to be fundamental, and two others to be secondary. The fundamental ones are correspondences, living nature, imagination/mediations, and transmutation; the two secondary ones are correlation and transmission. The four fundamental characteristics must all be present simultaneously to identify a current, a movement, an author, or a text as esoteric.”

CriteriaDefinition2016Esotericism1992Western Esotericism
Book:Esotericism Emergent: The Beginning of the Study of Esotericism in the Academy
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“Power is defined as an ability to do qualitative work with a quantitative passion, backed by a compelling conviction, directed by a propelling purpose, fulfilling a divine destiny. That is power!”

PurposeEnergyPowerfulQualityDestinyPowerAchievementDirectFood For ThoughtConvictionIsraelmore AyivorQuantityCompellingFulfillingDriveDefinitionDo ItFulfillQualitativeConvictionsDunamisCompelDo It BetterDunamis PowerFulfilQuantitativePropellingWhat Is Power
Book:Michelangelo | Beethoven | Shakespeare: 15 Things Common to Great Achievers
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“The literature on ritualistic abuse suggests that ritualistic sexual practices with young children are a characteristic of particularly abusive groups, and that such practices typically occur alongside a diverse range of other abusive practices, such as child prostitution and the manufacture of child abuse images. One of the shortcomings of the available literature, however, is the general presumption (implicit or explicit) that abusive groups are motivated by a religious or spiritual conviction. In clinical and research literature, abusive groups are generally referred to as 'cults', and 'cult abuse' is a term that has been used interchangeably with 'ritual abuse'." p38”

ResearchChild AbuseCultChild Sexual AbuseRitual AbuseDefinitionSatanic Ritual AbuseCultsRitualistic AbuseCult AbuseSraTermsClinical LiteratureRitualistic Sexual AbuseIntergenerational Abuse
Book:Organised Sexual Abuse
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“My definition of Theology My proverb of theology is a doctrine study of overall foundation of biblical notions, transcendence, an scriptures relativist, researcher and conservative of the Word of God with sensible and measured pursuit of infinite growth, a marriage of the spiritual knowledge (Gnosis), and unutterable love for the faith in constant pursuits and mission for truths with devoutness to prowess faith and love from faith’s vocation and noetic that’s flamed within that gives us the calling (vocation) of theologian. For theology pursues and endless journey of the Lord’s knowledge while maintaining the faith and is the strength hold of creed that manifest purpose, ontology and guardianship of the soul and wisdom, in a relation, a sound mind for divinity. . .”

LoveGodFaithRelationshipConservativeResilienceTheologyDefinitePrudenceConservatismPrudentGod S LoveGod S GraceProverbRelativismDefinitionProverbial WisdomCreedBible InterpretationResearchers Of TruthPhilosohpyConservationist
Book:Awakening Kings and Princes Volume I
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“Over the years I have had much occasion to ponder this word, the intelligentsia. We are all very fond of including ourselves in it—but you see not all of us belong. In the Soviet Union this word has acquired a completely distorted meaning. They began to classify among the intelligentsia all those who don't work (and are afraid to) with their hands. All the Party, government, military, and trade union bureaucrats have been included. All bookkeepers and accountants—the mechanical slaves of Debit. All office employees. And with even greater ease we include here all teachers (even those who are no more than talking textbooks and have neither independent knowledge nor an independent view of education). All physicians, including those capable only of making doodles on the patients' case histories. And without the slightest hesitation all those who are only in the vicinity of editorial offices, publishing houses, cinema studios, and philharmonic orchestras are included here, not even to mention those who actually get published, make films, or pull a fiddle bow. And yet the truth is that not one of these criteria permits a person to be classified in the intelligentsia. If we do not want to lose this concept, we must not devalue it. The intellectual is not defined by professional pursuit and type of occupation. Nor are good upbringing and good family enough in themselves to produce and intellectual. An intellectual is a person whose interests in and preoccupation with the spiritual side of life are insistent and constant and not forced by external circumstances, even flying in the face of them. An intellectual is a person whose thought is nonimitative.”

PropagandaOccupationSoviet UnionDefinitionIntellectuals1974IntelligentsiaTrusties
Book:The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation, Books III-IV
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“FV: Annandale defines 'definition' as "an explanation of the signification of a term." Yet Oxford, on the other hand, defines it as "a statement of the precise meaning of a word." A small, perhaps negligible difference you might think. And neither, would you say, is necessarily more correct than the other? But now look up each of the words comprising each definition, and then the definitions of those definitions, and so on. Some still may only differ slightly, while others may differ quite a lot. Yet any discrepancy, large or small, only compounds that initial difference further and further, pushing each 'definition' farther apart. How similar are they then at the end of this process...assuming it ever would end? Could we possibly even be referring to the same word by this point? And we still haven't considered what Collins here...or Gage, or Funk and Wagnalls might have to say about it. Off on enough tangents and you're eventually led completely off track. ML: Or around in circles. FV: Precisely! ML: Oxford, though, is generally considered the authority, isn't it? FV: Well, it's certainly the biggest...the most complete. But then, that truly is your vicious circle - every word defined...every word in every definition defined...around and around in an infinite loop. Truly a book that never ends. A concise or abridged dictionary may, at least, have an out... ML: I wonder, then, what the smallest possible "complete dictionary" would be? Completely self-contained, that is, with every word in every definition accounted for. How many would that be, do you suppose? Or, I guess more importantly, which ones? FV: Well, that brings to mind another problem. You know that Russell riddle about naming numbers?”

LanguageWordsContradictionParadoxDictionaryDefinitionDictionariesLexicology
Book:Citations: A Brief Anthology
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“Is the term for the human species clearly defined? There is no authoritative definition of 'species'. The boundaries between biological populations are, by definition, fluid. If this wasn't the case, evolution could never have taken place – the principle is change, not being static. In particular, the often quoted criterion, that two different species cannot produce 'fertile offspring' is not consistent with reality. Primates produce fertile offspring, often not only between different species (white-handed gibbon and capped gibbon, hamadryas baboons and olive baboons) but also between different defined genera (such as the hanuman langur [Semnopithecus] and the Nilgiri langur [Presbytis]) and, this happens in the wild. The boundary between the 'species' human and other primates is therefore arbitrary from a biological point of view. There is no 'special characteristic feature' that could justify such a boundary. […]”

SpeciesBiologyDefinitionAnthropocentrismGenusBiocentrism
Book:The Dog and his Philosopher: A Call for Autonomy and Animal Rights
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“The obvious definition of a monarchy seems to be that of a state, in which a single person, by whatsoever name he may be distinguished, is entrusted with the execution of the laws, the management of the revenue, and the command of the army. But, unless public liberty is protected by intrepid and vigilant guardians, the authority of so formidable a magistrate will soon degenerate into despotism. The influence of the clergy, in an age of superstition, might be usefully employed to assert the rights of mankind; but so intimate is the connection between the throne and the altar, that the banner of the church has very seldom been seen on the side of the people. A martial nobility and stubborn commons, possessed of arms, tenacious of property, and collected into constitutional assemblies, form the only balance capable of preserving a free constitution against enterprises of an aspiring prince.”

ChurchLibertyMonarchyChurch And StateRight To Bear ArmsDefinition1776
Book:The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume I
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“The space (nam-mkha') or dimension (dbyings) or expance (klong) of the Dharmakaya provides room for all possible manifestations of phenomena to arise without obstruction. Thus, the literal significance of Dharmakaya (chos-sku) is not "body," such as "Truth Body" or "Law Body," as some would treanslate it, but the dimension (sku, Skt. kāya) of all existence (chos, Skt. dharma). Dharma is what exists, that is, "reality"; and, therefore, it is also the teaching about what really exists. The term kāya (sku) means not only "body" in the ordinary physical sense, but the entire manifest dimension of the individual.”

DefinitionKayaDzogchenDharmakaya
Book:The Golden Letters: The Tibetan Teachings of Garab Dorje, First Dzogchen Master
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“There are occasions, however, when even S holds a secret delight or two in the form of a pink, such as the one I found among the citations (or "cits" for short) for "sex kitten": sex kitten sex pot There is no essential difference in these defs [definitions], but they're not the same. Some differentiation shd be made. The pink was written by one of our former physical science editors infamous for commenting as brusquely as possible on things beyond his remit... Another one of our science editors who was reviewing the batch later was apparently irritated by this note, and decided to comment on what he no doubt saw as needless meddling. His typewritten response to the note about "sex kitten" reads, "I will no doubt regret saying this but I think you have misconstrued the meaning of 'physical' science somewhere along here." But a pink's a pink. Steve acted on it for the Tenth, adding the word "young" to the definition for "sex kitten.”

HumorDictionaryDefinitionPhysical ScienceSex Kitten
Book:Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries
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