Recent selections

“The external power that deprives man of the freedom to communicate his thoughts publically deprives him at the same time of his freedom to think.” (Immanuel Kant)

“You remind me of somebody who is looking out a closed window and cannot explain to himself the strange movements of a passer-by. He cannot tell what sort of storm is raging out there or that this person might only be managing with difficulty to stay on his feet.” (Wittenstein, to his sister) Louis A. Sass, The Paradoxes of Delusion, Cornell, 1994, p. 13)

“For “in confessing,” as Cavell pointed out, “you do not explain or justify, but describe how it is with you.”” (Ibid., p. 14)

"In the novel In the Region of the Ice, a nun who teaches literature, Sister Irene, speaks of a brilliant, mad student. "'I'm very grateful to have him in class. It's just that ... he thinks ideas are real.' Sister Carlotta, who loved literature also, had been forced to teach grade-school arithmetic for the last four years. That might have been why she said, a little sharply, 'You don't think ideas are real?' Sister Irene acquiesced with a smile, but of course she did not think so: only reality is real."" (Carpenter, Oh What a Blow the Phantom Gave Me, p. 27)

“Today the Penghulus, the longhouse chiefs, have assembled in splendor. Tattooed & armed, in leopard jackets & feathered headdresses, they sit facing Temonggong Jugah, chief of chiefs, who paces back & forth in front of them, pointing at me, then sneering at them: "You with your tattooed fingers [for heads taken]: his hands are clean. You with your spears; he has come to collect them to show to children. You with your parangs [swords]: he is unarmed; he mocks you. Why? He reads. He has come so far in a day, you could not travel it in a lifetime. You will not disobey me: your children will come out of the fields and go to school."” (Carpenter, Oh What a Blow the Phantom Gave Me, p. 44)

“Religious. To love nature is to love nature’s God. The teacher’s manifest opportunity is to take advantage of the still voice in nature to reach the inner recesses of the child soul, to instill there a love for well-doing in looking after the happiness of God’s created things, thereby attaining the child’s happiness and for himself the crown of life. This makes for a religious country folk.” (The Rural Teacher and His Work, Harold Waldstein Foght, Specialist in Rural School Practice, United States Bureau of Education, Author of The American Rural School, Rural Denmark And its Schools, Etc., New York, Macmillan, 1917)

“Disputes and quarrels among spouses were virtually nonexistent, Le Jeune reported, since each sex carried out its own activities without "meddling" in those of the other. Le Jeune deplored the fact that the Montagnais "imagine that they ought by right of birth, to enjoy the liberty of wild ass colts, rendering no homage to any one whomsoever. "” (Gowdy, John. Limited Wants, Unlimited Means. 1998: Covelo: Island Press, p. 145)

“The bulk of the population will divide increasingly into sinners, libertines, profligates, downright criminals, atheists, and cynics on the one hand, and into Stoics, saints, moral heroes, sublime altruists, intensely religious prophets, martyrs, ascetics, mystics, Gnostics, and the like on the other hand. Militant atheism will be countered by religiosity of the greatest intensity, and utter moral depravity by sublime moral heroism. Likewise, egotism will be counterbalances by altruism, anti-sociality by supreme sacrifice, militant materialism by fearless idealism. Skepticism will be met by questioning fanaticism; and criticism, by dogmatism. Opposite the materialistic and utilitarian City of Man will be built with City of God. Earthly utopians will contend with God’s Messiahs.

During the early stages of calamities, the movement of irreligiosity and moral cynicism will be dominant; but with the continuation of the crisis the movement toward religion and moral heroism will increasingly prevail, progressively curbing atheism and depravity. The struggle between these polarized movements will be multifarious, arduous and long, and sealed by the blood or martyrs, the inspiration of prophets, and the enthusiasm of apostles. These will be laying the cornerstone of the new system of values on which—in the post calamity period—a new creative culture and society can be built." (Sorokin, Pitirim A.. Man and Society in Calamity: The Effects of War, Revolution, Famine, Pestilence Upon Human Mind, Behavior, Social Organization and Cultural Life. 1942., p. 317)

“In East Greenland a child was given several names. Some of them were those of deceased persons, but many were words from objects drawn from the general vocabulary of the language: a lamp, perhaps, or a kind of rock. After a person died it was forbidden to mention even one of his names or else his soul would return to haunt the one who uttered it. This was no problem in the case of words that were names and nothing else, but it meant that names taken from objects could no longer be used to refer to those objects. New words had to be invented. When another child was born it might receive some of the tabooed names, which could then be spoken once again. But the corresponding objects kept the new appellations which has been assigned to them. By accumulation over the years, this custom led to changes in while sections of the East Greenlandic vocabulary.” (Burch, Ernest Jr. The Eskimos. 1988. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. , p.90)

“If there was a death along the way, the deceased would be left in the snow, or placed on a hastily erected scaffold. If someone fell ill or was injured, that person would have to be carried on the sled, hindering the party’s progress. If a pregnant woman felt birth pains coming on, a small parturition hut would be built for her, and she would be placed in it, along with a small supply of food. If there was a good camping place nearby, the res of the party would halt there. Otherwise, they would continue on until they found one. The mother would bring her baby into the world alone—as she would have done anyway in accordance with local custom—and catch up with the rest of the party later, on foot, carrying the newborn infant inside her parka.” (Ibid., p. 76)

“Young women were expected to smile pleasantly, talk quietly, and generally maintain an unobtrusive presence in the community, whereas old ladies could laugh and talk and tease and joke and pour forth a torrent of abuse or commentary and time they pleased.” (Ibid., p.110)

“But songs of one kind or another were everywhere. When Rasmussen asked an Alaskan Eskimo how many songs he had composed, he replied, ‘I merely know that I have many, and that everything in me is song. I sing as I draw breath.’” (R16, p. 111)

"There were four men who went hunting together. Three of them were brothers, while the forth one had taken their sister as wife. They went out to the floe-edge. Suddenly the ice broke away, and carried them out of sight of land. After some time the floe of ice became smaller and smaller. Then the oldest brother, who was a great shaman, summoned his guardian spirit, a large bear, and told him of their plight. Then the ice flow began to tip up, and when it became quite steep, the oldest brother slid off into the sea. When he came up again, he was transformed into a polar bear. The other brothers followed his example, and when they came up were also transformed into bears. Then they swam to the shore. The olders brother told the other men that if they should see any seals, they must not kill them, else they would not regain their human shape. The brother-in-law could not resist the temptation of killing a seal when he saw it, and he devoured it. When they reached the land the oldest brother transformed himself into a gull, and flew to a place where the people were cutting up a whale. He had some of the meat, and took some back to his brothers. Then the brothers resumed human shape, but the brother-in-law had to remain a bear" (Ibid, p.?)