#cons

We do not realize how deeply our starting assumptions affect the way we go about looking for and interpreting the data we collect. We should recognize that nonhuman organisms need not meet every new definition of human language, tool use, mind, or consciousness in order to have versions of their own that are worthy of serious study. We have set ourselves too much apart, grasping for definitions that will distinguish man from all other life on the planet. We must rejoin the great stream of life from whence we arose and strive to see within it the seeds of all we are and all we may become. ↗

— E. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh

#consciousness #life #life

... the most important concept ever put forth was that matter, ALL matter, with no exceptions from stone to star to starfish to student to sovereign, is as divine as all else in the cosmos, for all flows from Consciousness, the Word that came before the World - and all, in time, will flow back. ↗

— Ki Longfellow

#divine-consciousness #divinity #life #philosophy #life

Our culture tries to convince us on just about every front that more is better. More is a sign of wealth, luxury, power. Gone are the days when meals were moments of connection and conversation; now it’s all about consumption and calories. ↗

— Mary DeTurris Poust

#consumption #culture #eating #food #mealtime

Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties. ↗

— Abraham Lincoln

#constitution #interfere #liberties #maintained #must

A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. ↗

— James Madison

#constitution #freedom #right-to-bear-arms #second-amendment #freedom

The immature conscience is not its own master. It simply parrots the decisions of others. It does not make judgments of its own; it merely conforms to the judgments of others. That is not real freedom, and it makes true love impossible, for if we are to love truly and freely, we must be able to give something that is truly our own to another. If our heart does not belong to us, asks Merton, how can we give it to another? ↗

— Jon Katz

#judgement #love #true #freedom

Guilt is also a way for us to express to others that we are a person of good conscience. 'I feel really guilty about getting drunk last night,' we say, when in actual fact we feel no guilt whatsoever or, at least, we could choose to feel no guilt. When people say to me, 'I drank too much last night,' I always reply, 'I drank exactly the right amount. ↗

— Tom Hodgkinson

#drinking #guilt #freedom

If every time we choose a turd, society, at a great expense, simply allows us to redeem it for a pepperoni, then not only will we never learn to make smart choices, we will also surrender the freedom to choose, because a choice without consequences is no choice at all. ↗

— Tom Robbins

#choice #consequences #freedom #redemption #responsibility

If I know better than you know what I am up to, it is only because I spend more time with myself than you do. ↗

— Daniel C. Dennett

#free-will #unconscious #freedom

Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one. ↗

— A.J. Liebling

#freedom #press #speech #writing #freedom