De Rerum Natura
"When human life – before the eyes of all – lay foully prostrate upon the earth, crushed down under the weight of religion, which glowered down from heaven upon mortal men with a hideous appearance, one man — a Greek — first dared to lift up his mortal eyes and stand up face-to-face against religion.
"When human life – before the eyes of all – lay foully prostrate upon the earth, crushed down under the weight of religion, which glowered down from heaven upon mortal men with a hideous appearance, one man — a Greek — first dared to lift up his mortal eyes and stand up face-to-face against religion.
This man could not be quashed either by stories of gods or thunderbolts or even by the deafening roar of heaven. Those things only spurred on the eager courage of his soul, filling him with desire to be the first to burst the tight bars placed on Nature’s gates.
The living force of his soul won the day, and on he passed, far beyond the flaming walls of the world, travelling with his mind and with his spirit the immeasurable universe. And from there he returned to us – like a conqueror — to tell us what can be, and what cannot, and on what principle and deep-set boundary mark Nature has established all things. Through this knowledge, superstition is thrown down and trampled underfoot, and by his victory we are raised equal with the stars."
This is a point that is made throughout De Rerum Natura — that some things are possible, and some are not — due to the eternal unchanging characteristics of the atoms. The atoms vary in many ways indeed, but they do not vary infinitely. While the number of possibilities of combinations of atoms are many and varied, they are not infinite, and neither are they random.
This may seem to be quibbling with words, but in a world where “anything is possible” is well-worn cliche, it is important to observe that “anything” — not angels, not demons, and not “gods” in the common sense of the term– is exactly what is not possible.
And to mention one more topic that I think is helpful to clarify: let’s dismiss once and for all St. Paul’s familiar slander that the atoms (the “elements”) are weak and beggarly (Galations 4:9).
When we say that the soul is made out of atoms, we do not imply – or admit– that we know the full nature of the atoms, and that the atoms are essentially “dirt.”
The defining characteristics of the atoms are essentially that they are indivisible and eternal; beyond that — even when we discuss shapes or sizes — we are truly moving into speculation.
And one of the core principles of Epicurean thought, such as contained in Doctrines 24 and 25, is that we must never assume that we know something with certainty when the evidence is insufficient to justify that conclusion.
To consider the atoms as weak and beggarly is a slander of religion, not an accurate assessment of the essential material of the universe which has produced the wonders we behold every day.
Professor Greenblatt points the way toward even better and more “aggressive” presentations in the future. The ancient Epicureans did not shrink from the idea that the soul is mortal – they embraced it, as the truth.
The universe is not random, or accidental, with the “sloppiness” that that implies. The universe is the result of the wondrous movement of innumerable atoms in infinite space and time, according to the laws established by the eternal and unchanging nature of the atoms themselves. And the atoms along with the space in which they move are the universe, and all that we hold dear to us.
written by Cassius Amicus
...................................................................................
This is a point that is made throughout De Rerum Natura — that some things are possible, and some are not — due to the eternal unchanging characteristics of the atoms. The atoms vary in many ways indeed, but they do not vary infinitely. While the number of possibilities of combinations of atoms are many and varied, they are not infinite, and neither are they random.
This may seem to be quibbling with words, but in a world where “anything is possible” is well-worn cliche, it is important to observe that “anything” — not angels, not demons, and not “gods” in the common sense of the term– is exactly what is not possible.
And to mention one more topic that I think is helpful to clarify: let’s dismiss once and for all St. Paul’s familiar slander that the atoms (the “elements”) are weak and beggarly (Galations 4:9).
When we say that the soul is made out of atoms, we do not imply – or admit– that we know the full nature of the atoms, and that the atoms are essentially “dirt.”
The defining characteristics of the atoms are essentially that they are indivisible and eternal; beyond that — even when we discuss shapes or sizes — we are truly moving into speculation.
And one of the core principles of Epicurean thought, such as contained in Doctrines 24 and 25, is that we must never assume that we know something with certainty when the evidence is insufficient to justify that conclusion.
To consider the atoms as weak and beggarly is a slander of religion, not an accurate assessment of the essential material of the universe which has produced the wonders we behold every day.
Professor Greenblatt points the way toward even better and more “aggressive” presentations in the future. The ancient Epicureans did not shrink from the idea that the soul is mortal – they embraced it, as the truth.
The universe is not random, or accidental, with the “sloppiness” that that implies. The universe is the result of the wondrous movement of innumerable atoms in infinite space and time, according to the laws established by the eternal and unchanging nature of the atoms themselves. And the atoms along with the space in which they move are the universe, and all that we hold dear to us.
written by Cassius Amicus
...................................................................................
Epicurus
Go to Epicurus' Garden and read the motto carved there:
“Stranger, here you will do well to tarry; here our highest good is pleasure.”
The care-taker of that abode, a kindly host, will be ready for you; he will welcome you with barley-meal and serve you water also in abundance, with these words:
“Have you not been well entertained? This garden does not whet your appetite; it quenches it. Nor does it make you more thirsty with every drink; it slakes the thirst by a natural cure, a cure that demands no fee."
- Seneca, Letters, Book I, XXI
Source:
http://newepicurean.com/?p=2917
Go to Epicurus' Garden and read the motto carved there:
“Stranger, here you will do well to tarry; here our highest good is pleasure.”
The care-taker of that abode, a kindly host, will be ready for you; he will welcome you with barley-meal and serve you water also in abundance, with these words:
“Have you not been well entertained? This garden does not whet your appetite; it quenches it. Nor does it make you more thirsty with every drink; it slakes the thirst by a natural cure, a cure that demands no fee."
- Seneca, Letters, Book I, XXI
Source:
http://newepicurean.com/?p=2917
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