> get lamp

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, from a letter to his son Michael Tolkien ca. October 1968:

The 'protestant' search backwards for 'simplicity' and directness -- which, of course, though it contains some good or at least intelligible motives, is mistaken and indeed vain. Because 'primitive Christianity' is now and in spite of all 'research' will ever remain largely unknown; because 'primitiveness' is no guarantee of value, and is and was in great part a reflection of ignorance. ... Still more because 'my church' was not intended by Our Lord to be static or remain in perpetual childhood; but to be a living organism (likened to a plant), which develops and changes in externals by the interaction of its bequeathed divine life and history -- the particular circumstances of the world into which it is set. There is no resemblance between the 'mustard-seed' and the full-grown tree. For those living in the days of its branching growth the Tree is the thing, for the history of a living thing is part of its life, and the history of a divine thing is sacred. The wise may know that it began with a seed, but it is vain to try and dig it up, for it no longer exists, and the virtue and powers that it had now reside in the Tree. Very good: but in husbandry the authorities, the keepers of the Tree, must look after it, according to such wisdom as they possess, prune it, remove cankers, rid it of parasites, and so forth. ... But they will certainly do harm, if they are obsessed with the desire of going back to the seed or even to the first youth of the plant when it was (as they imagine) pretty and unafflicted by evils.

The professor is speaking here of Roman Catholicism, but it's an interesting reflection on religion in general and I think it could be quite applicable to Paganism.

There should be less sex in the media and more of it in real life. Sometimes I think the Secret Masters want us to forget what a real kiss is.

(Thistle Kachunk)

There currently is a [Library of Congress Subject Heading] proposal for "Targetted killings" which pose[s] interesting definitional problems. Whether it is a military tactic or a type of terrorism apparently depends on which side of the gun you are on.

--someone on one of the cataloging lists I subscribe to, in a thread about which sh subdivision (--Death and burial or --Assassination) is likely going to be applied to the books that are surely soon to be written about the killing of Osama bin Laden.

(Reminds me of that Alfred Hitchcock quote about how television is like a gun.)

"Despite a lack of natural ability, I did have the one element necessary to all early creativity: naivete, that fabulous quality that keeps you from knowing just how unsuited you are for what you are about to do."

--Steve Martin, Born Standing Up

Trufax. All the better experiences of my life that I can think of over the past ten years or so were born from not having any real clue that I might be Doing It Wrong.

"No M. Night Sh...yishkabob fanfic?"

Hanging is too good for a man who makes puns; he should be drawn and quoted.

(Fred Allen)

seen in on wild_witch:

You are never alone or helpless. The force that guides the stars guides you too.

(Shrii Shrii Anandamurti)

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see.

(Arthur Schopenhauer)

In re: last post (which some of you will not have seen), I decided to look up Voltaire (the French guy, that is, not the goth musician) and see if "Anything too stupid to be said is sung" is in fact attributed to him. Apparently it is, and there's some other good ones on that page, such as:

"God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere." --I'd wonder if he'd been reading Crowley, if he hadn't died in 1778.

"Regimen is superior to medicine" and "The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease."

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

and
"Use, do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy."

I wonder if there's such a thing as "quote-o-mancy", by use of such devices as the random selection page? Maybe that's just a variation of bibliomancy.