“The drive to be useful is encoded in our genes. But when we gather in very large numbers, as in the modern nation-state, we seem capable of levels of folly and self-destruction to be found nowhere else in all of nature. But if we keep at it and keep alive, we are in for one surprise after another. We can build structures for human society never seen before, thoughts never heard before, music never heard before.” IfsHumansSelfStatesSeemsFoundNationsLevelsNumbersAliveHeardModernCapableDestructionStructureSurprisePersistenceFollyGenesLarge NumbersHuman SocietySelf Destruction Author:Lewis Thomas
“Art is the means by which we communicate what it feels like to be alive - in the past, that was mixed up with other illustrative duties, but that was still its central function that has been liberated in the art called modern.” FeelsMeanHas BeensArtStillsPastAliveModernDutyArt IsFunctionCommunicateLiberated Author:Antony Gormley
“The modern world has created airports and hospitals and put 10,000 songs in our pocket. It has built gleaming buildings and computers and advances and innovations that blow our minds. But we have soul, and spirit, and consciousness, and the modern world hasn't done so well at helping us name and understand what it means to be thriving and fully alive with a full heart.” WorldMindWellsHeartMeanSoulDoneHelpingSpiritSongNamesConsciousnessAliveModernBuildingComputerBuiltInnovationBlowPocketsHospitalsAirportsModern WorldFull Hearts Author:Rob Bell
“Music is neither old nor modern: it is either good or bad music, and the date at which it was written has no significance whatever. Dates and periods are of interest only to the student of musical history. . . . All old music was modern once, and much more of the music of yesterday already sounds more old-fashioned than works which were written three centuries ago. All good music, whatever its date, is ageless - as alive and significant today as it was when it was written” TodayThreeSoundInterestAliveWrittenModernCenturyStudentsPeriodsMusic IsMusicalYesterdaySignificantSignificanceOld FashionedAgelessOld MusicBad Music Author:Peter Warlock
“Somebody must have sense enough to meet hate with love. Somebody must have sense enough to meet physical force with soul force. If we will but try this way, we will be able to change these conditions and yet at the same time win the hearts and souls of those who have kept these conditions alive a way as old as the insights of Jesus of Nazareth, as modern as the techniques of Mohandas K. Gandhi. There is another way.” IfsWayTryingHeartSoulEnoughAbleHateJesusWinningForceAliveModernConditionsInsightTechniqueAnother WayHeart And SoulNazarethPhysical ForceSoul Force Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I think we all try to figure out ways to ignore the fact that life is about suffering. In the modern world, that's what we're surrounded with. We have all these little tools, such as phones and the Internet, to help us forget about suffering. Whenever you are tired, you don't have to really sit in the abyss of what it means to be alive. We always find ways to avoid it. When a ship sinks, you are sitting in it. There is no way to avoid.” ThinkingWorldWayTryingMeanLittlesFactsHelpingLife IsSufferingForgetAliveModernFiguresInternetSittingToolsTiredPhonesShipsAbyssModern World Author:Matt de la Pena