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The Nullifidian Volume 2 Number 05
From ai815@freenet.carleton.caMon Aug 21 11:11:23 1995
Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 05:46:11 -0400
From: Greg Erwin <ai815@freenet.carleton.ca>
To: ry94ad@badger.ac.brocku.ca, apabel@prairienet.org, perfecto@pcnet.com
Subject: May 1995 Nullifidian
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*The*E-Zine*of*Atheistic*Secular*Humanism*and*Freethought**
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!!First Anniversay Issue!!
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###### Volume II, Number 5 ***A Collector's Item!***#####
################### ISSN 1201-0111 #######################
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nullifidian, n. & a. (Person) having no religious faith or
belief. [f. med. L _nullifidius_ f. L _nullus_ none +
_fides_ faith; see -IAN] Concise Oxford Dictionary
The purpose of this magazine is to provide a source of
articles dealing with many aspects of humanism.
We are ATHEISTIC as we do not believe in the actual
existence of any supernatural beings or any transcendental
reality.
We are SECULAR because the evidence of history and the daily
horrors in the news show the pernicious and destructive
consequences of allowing religions to be involved with
politics or government.
We are HUMANISTS and we focus on what is good for humanity,
in the real world. We will not be put off with offers of
pie in the sky, bye and bye.
Re: navigation.
Search for BEG to find the beginning of the next article.
Search for the first few words of the title as given in the
table of contents to find a specific article. I try to
remember to copy the title from the text and then paste it
into the ToC, so it should be exact. Search for "crass
commercialism:" to see what's for sale. Subscription
information, etc is at the end of the magazine, search for
END OF TEXTS.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. CAN THE BIBLE (OR ANY) GOD SUPPORT AN ABSOLUTE
MORALITY? by Timotheus <72724.3223@compuserve.com>
2. HUMANISM WITH A CAPITAL H, by Harvey Lebrun
3. THE POWER OF PREJUDICE, book review by Ron Patterson
4. DIDEROT, Robert G. Ingersoll
5. ABC of Humanism, (a farewell poem) by Wim Ruyten
6. GIORDANO BRUNO THE FORGOTTEN PHILOSOPHER,
from the Bank of Wisdom
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CAN THE BIBLE (OR ANY) GOD SUPPORT AN ABSOLUTE MORALITY?
by Timotheus <72724.3223@compuserve.com>
The world is in moral decay, say the theists, because
of "moral relativism." Only a divine power makes possible
an absolute standard of right and wrong, they say.
And yet, entirely aside from the evil that men (and
women) do, there is much that is terrible and unjust in the
world. So that if there be a God, we realize, He cannot be
both all-good and all-powerful. Because if He were, He
would put an end to such things.
But I'm afraid the situation is much much worse even
than that.
Four hundred years before Jesus Christ is supposed to
have been born, Socrates asked: "whether the pious or holy
is beloved by the gods because it is holy, or holy because
it is beloved of the gods." Socrates also observed that the
gods - plural - argued and disagreed about right and wrong
as much as human beings. He got around this by supposing
that that which all the gods approved was the good, and that
which they all objected to was the evil, and that all else
was neither good nor evil. He might just as well have
considered the problem of a single God - like that of the
Christian Bible - who's inconsistent about what is beloved.
But, as we know only too well, there simply is no honest way
out of contradictions like that.
So let's just consider a strictly theoretical
situation. Just for the sake of argument, let's suppose
there's a God, and that He, She, or It is the absolute
standard of morality. Is right and wrong then simply no
more than this God's say-so? Or is what is right loved by
this God and what is wrong hated by this God because of what
right and wrong are in themselves?
In the first instance, if good and evil are no more
than the product of the will of a divine power, and if that
will is truly free, then such a God could, with a thought,
cause what we consider to be the most repugnant and heinous
criminal act to become the highest virtue. Now the further
question would arise, of course, as to whether if this
happened we would know it. Why? Because of "the moral law
within us," as the philosopher Immanuel Kant put it, or "the
work of the law written in our hearts," as "Saint Paul"
acknowledged (Romans 2:15). If morality is the say-so of a
God, then presumably, like the gravitational effects of a
massive body, any change in His (or Her or Its) will would
cause our own consciences to be instantaneously altered.
I've never heard of this happening, though.
At any rate, if there is a God, and if this God's will
determines what is right and wrong, then this supposed God's
being all-good is no more than His (or Her or Its) being
all-powerful. Is that an absolute morality? I don't think
so. Rather, it's a morality that's completely relative to
His (or Her or Its) desire. In a word - well, three
actually - it's might makes right. It's another version of
the law of the jungle. How's that for an admirable system
of morality?
The only thing I'm not sure of is whether it isn't more
or less pathetic than the alternative situation of a God who
is Himself (or Herself or Itself) subject to a logically
anterior or prior standard of morality. That would be the
case in the second instance of things that are good being
beloved by God because they're good. Because, of course,
that puts God on the same level with human beings. It makes
Him (or Her or It) irrelevant.
Well, we know He - or She or It - is irrelevant.
That's why we're revolted by such Biblical stories as that
of Yahweh asking Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as a
burnt offering - as if an all-good God could be pleased by a
criminal act. Abraham certainly did know how to flatter
Yahweh, didn't he? It's curious that this same God is also
supposed to have issued orders of mass extermination, orders
that "The Good Book" tells us were actually carried out with
less hesitation than Abraham had in preparing to kill his
own son.
Well, so much for theistic "absolute morality." It's
anything but.
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"Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the
occurrence of the improbable." [H. L. Mencken]
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HUMANISM WITH A CAPITAL H
by Harvey Lebrun
The indiscriminate use of the term "humanist" for
anyone considered to be working for the good of humanity
once led Paul Kurtz to ask in The Humanist magazine: "Has
'humanism,' like 'motherhood,' peace,' 'brotherhood,' and
'democracy,' become so honorific a term that it is avowed
even by those who do not believe in it? And, in being
co-opted, will it then be undermined?"
One way to avoid the possible degeneration of the term
Humanist into meaninglessness is to insist upon the
distinction between Humanism (capital H), as developed by
the organized Humanist movement, and humanism (small h), as
professed by individuals and organizations outside of that
movement, which include (in Paul Kurtz's words) "even those
who officially downgrade the importance of the welfare of
individuals in their earthly existence." (For example, Pope
Paul VI referred to himself as a "humanist.")
The distinction has practical implications: Who is the sort
of Humanist, or potential Humanist, sought by the organized
Humanist movement to help promote its philosophy, ethics,
social concerns, and way of life?
Of definitions of Humanism, there is no lack. They vary
from the overly simplistic, such as "Humanism is the belief
that, together, humans have what it takes to build a
satisfying life on earth," to the overly detailed
definitions in the Humanist Manifestos.
A good place to look for what constitutes a valid criterion
by which to measure different definitions of Humanism is the
Statement of Purpose preamble to the Bylaws of the American
Humanist Association, which declares the philosophy of
Humanism to be --
a nontheistic world view that rejects all forms of
supernaturalism and is in accord with the spirit and
discoveries of science. In promoting confidence in the
ability of humans to solve their problems through the
use of free inquiry, reason, and imagination, the asso-
ciation provides its members with opportunities to
advance human welfare through fellowship, study, and
service. Activities of the association are undertaken
with respect for, and a desire to secure the survival
of, all forms of life which inhabit planet Earth. The
operation of the association is democratic,
nonpartisan, and free of all authoritarian doctrines.
Implicit here are four basic principles, the raison d'etre
of the American Humanist Association:
(1) A positive, secular, scientific, evolutionary,
naturalistic philosophy and concept of humanity and the
universe.
(2) The negative aspect of that philosophy and concept: No
belief in, reliance upon, or subservience to supposedly
supernatural powers or their effluvia, such as a god or
gods, a soul separate from the body, immortality, sin,
answered prayer, or divine revelation.
(3) Commitment to individual and social ethics that are
based on changing human experience, compassion for
other human beings, and concern for the related world
of humankind and Earth -- rather than on supposedly
divine injunctions, church pronouncements, divine
rewards and punishments in this or a future life, and
so forth.
(4) The solution of individual and social problems by the
methods of science, democracy, reason, and freedom,
rather than by dependence on visions (divinely inspired
or drug-induced), pseudoscience, or political,
religious, or economic power-dictates.
A feature of modern Humanism that differentiates it sharply
from authoritarian religions, such as the Roman Catholic
Church or Protestant bodies holding the Bible inviolate, is
that Humanism supports unending questioning of assumptions
in every field of thought and action -- including those of
Humanism itself. Humanism affirms free inquiry, in the
light of evidence and reason, into all aspects of the human
condition and the cosmos, without any external limitations
imposed by religious, political, economic, or other
authorities. And this includes the freedom to apply the
principles of Humanism according to one's own lights.
These four principles may be expressed in more concise form
as a two-sided statement with which few, if any, Humanists
(capital H) would disagree --
Humanism is:
(1) A naturalistic, scientific, secular philosophy or
concept of humanity and the universe that precludes any
belief in or reliance upon supposedly supernatural
powers.
(2) An ethics or way of life based on human experience and
imbued with compassion for other human beings that
calls for commitment to betterment of humanity through
the methods of science, democracy, and reason, without
any limitations by political, ecclesiastical, or other
dictates.
Individuals and organizations that subscribe to one but not
the other of these two basic principles, or to a part but
not all of either one, may be said to be humanistically
inclined -- but they are not advocates of Humanism in the
modern sense of the term. Those called Humanists (with a
capital H) proclaim both items as intrinsic elements in
their philosophy, way of life, religion, or whatever they
choose to call their deepest affirmations.
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is an updated text of the late Harvey Lebrun's essay,
"Humanism With A Capital H," which first appeared as a
longer paper in the August 1973 issue of Progressive World,
and then, in 1977, was published in this shorter form as a
brochure of the American Humanist Association. Mr. Lebrun
was the founder of the Chapter Assembly of the American
Humanist Association and the Fund for Chapter Expansion. He
also chaired the AHA's Committee on Democratization,
revising the association's bylaws.
(C) Copyright 1994 and 1977 by the American Humanist
Association
(C) Copyright 1973 by Harvey Lebrun
So long as profit is not your motive and you always include
this copyright notice, please feel free to reproduce and
distribute this material in electronic form as widely as you
please. Nonprofit Humanist and Freethought publications have
additional permission to republish this in print form. All
other permission must be sought from the American Humanist
Association, which can be contacted at the following
address:
AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION
PO BOX 1188
AMHERST NY 14226-7188
Phone: (800) 743-6646
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The basic test of freedom is perhaps less in what we are
free to do than in what we are free not to do. --Eric Hoffer
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THE POWER OF PREJUDICE, book review by Ron Patterson
[from Free Thoughts, distributed by LaHumanist@aol.com ]
***********************************************************
Free Thoughts is published by and for Freethought Forum
(AOL)
participants. It is an exchange of essays, ideas, meeting
notes, minutes, book reviews and other information of
interest to the freethought community. Address
correspondence to Freethought Forum, Box 319, Meridianville,
AL 35759. Our phone number is (205) 828-9135.
***********************************************************
The famous trial lawyer, Gerry Spence (he is the one with
the buckskin coat that has been on TV a lot lately), has
written a book called "How to Argue and Win Every Time."
Being a person who dearly loves to argue and win, I had to
have the book. It is a jewel.
I am only half way through the book, but so far my favorite
chapter is called "The Power of Prejudice." I will list a
few gems from that chapter here.
"Religion as prejudice: Are not all religions prejudices?
Or are we too prejudiced to acknowledge this? Indeed,
should one wish to, what chance would one have in convincing
a Baptist that Christ was not the son of God, or a devout
Mormon that Brigham Young was a pariah with a penchant for
the ladies? If you close this book at this point, it will
have something to do with your prejudice.
Try to convince a business tycoon that hoarding more than
his share of the common wealth is driven by greed and evil.
Instead, he will point to his freshly audited financial
statement as evidence of his success, an accounting that
makes mention of his struggling workers only as 'cost of
Labor.' The notions that children ought not to starve, that
the sick should be cared for, that our young should be
educated, that every man, woman, and child should have a
roof over their heads are seen not as notions of humanity,
but as evil tenets of socialism. That we have more concern
for starving puppies in the street than starving children
under the bridge can only be attributed to a blinding
prejudice."
"The Preacher: Take the preacher as another example--here's
one that may surprise you. Many, perhaps most, support the
death penalty. Many preachers, although they profess that
to follow Christian doctrine, suffer from 'dislocated love,'
that is to say, they love God but hate man, although God has
played more dirty tricks on them than any single person they
can point to. It wouldn't surprise me, considering the wide
support the clergy has given to our various wars, to see
bumper stickers popping up on the cars of preachers that
read KILL FOR CHRIST. In short, preachers are becoming
politically more and more aligned with the far right, which
paradoxically means they harbor less and less love for the
human race. When preachers want money they tell us to give
of ourselves, as Christ gave. But when some poor twisted
soul whose psyche was mercilessly traumatized as an innocent
child commits a crime, the preacher is likely to refer to
the law of Moses -- 'An eye for an eye...' Or are we dealing
once more with my prejudices?"
In another place, he quotes Lord Acton's immortal law, but
leaves in the part that most books of quotations drop:
"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts
absolutely. That unalterable rule applies both to God and
man."
A couple of other jewels from the book are: "I would rather
have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief." I
felt like he was talking to me when he wrote: "Rejection is
the bed the iconoclast has prepared for himself."
This book is published by St. Martin's press, originally at
$22.95. It can be ordered from Bookstar or the Barnes &
Noble catalog for $16.95.
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"In every country and in every age the priest has been
hostile to liberty; he is always in allegiance to the
despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection of his
own." [Thomas Jefferson]
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Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
**** ****
[From the archives of Bank of Wisdom]
This file, its printout, or copies of either
are to be copied and given away, but NOT sold.
Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
**** ****
[from]
The Works of ROBERT G. INGERSOLL
**** ****
DIDEROT.
DOUBT IS THE FIRST STEP TOWARD TRUTH.
Diderot was born in 1713. His parents were in what may
be called the humbler walks of life. Like Voltaire he was
educated by the Jesuits. He had in him something of the
vagabond, and was for several years almost a beggar in
Paris. He was endeavoring to live by his pen. In that day
and generation, a man without a patron, endeavoring to live
by literature, was necessarily almost a beggar. He nearly
starved -- frequently going for days without food.
Afterward, when he had something himself, he was as generous
as the air. No man ever was more willing to give, and no man
less willing to receive, than Diderot.
He wrote upon all conceivable subjects, that he might
have bread. He even wrote sermons, and regretted it all his
life. He and D'Alembert were the life and soul of the
Encyclopedia. With infinite enthusiasm he helped to gather
the knowledge of the world for the use of each and all. He
harvested the fields of thought, separated the grain from
the straw and chaff, and endeavored to throw away the seeds
and fruit of superstition. His motto was, "Incredulity is
the first step towards philosophy."
He had the vices of most Christians -- was nearly as
immoral as the majority of priests. His vices he shared in
common, his virtues were his own. All who knew him united in
saying that he had the pity of a woman, the generosity of a
prince, the self-denial of an anchorite, the courage of
Caesar, and the enthusiasm of a poet. He attacked with every
power of his mind the superstition of his day. He said what
he thought. The priests hated him. He was in favor of
universal education -- the church despised it. He wished to
put the knowledge of the whole world within reach of the
poorest.
He wished to drive from the gate of the Garden of Eden
the cherubim of superstition, so that the child of Adam
might return to eat once more the fruit of the tree of
knowledge. Every Catholic was his enemy. His poor little
desk was ransacked by the police searching for manuscripts
in which something might be found that would justify the
imprisonment of such a dangerous man. Whoever, in 1750,
wished to increase the knowledge of mankind was regarded as
the enemy of social order.
The intellectual superstructure of France rests upon
the Encyclopedia. The knowledge. given to the people was the
impulse, the commencement, of the revolution that left the
church without an altar and the king without a throne.
Diderot thought for himself, and bravely gave his thoughts
to others. For this reason he was regarded as a criminal. He
did not expect his reward in another world. He did not do
what he did to please some imaginary God. He labored for
mankind. He wished to lighten the burdens of those who
should live after him. Hear these noble words:
"The more man ascends through the past, and the more he
launches into the future, the greater he will be, and all
these philosophers and ministers and truth-telling men who
have fallen victims to the stupidity of nations, the
atrocities of priests, the fury of tyrants, what consolation
was left for them in death? This: That prejudice would pass,
and that posterity would pour out the vial of ignominy upon
their enemies. O Posterity! Holy and sacred stay of the
unhappy and the oppressed; thou who art just, thou who art
incorruptible, thou who findest the good man, who unmaskest
the hypocrite, who breakest down the tyrant, may thy sure
faith, thy consoling faith never, never abandon me!"
Posterity is for the philosopher what the other world is for
the devotee.
Diderot took the ground that, if orthodox religion be
true Christ was guilty of suicide. Having the power to
defend himself he should have used it.
Of course it would not do for the church to allow a man
to die in peace who had added to the intellectual wealth of
the world. The moment Diderot was dead, Catholic priests
began painting and recounting the horrors of his expiring
moments. They described him as overcome with remorse, as
insane with fear; and these falsehoods have been repeated by
the Protestant world, and will probably be repeated by
thousands of ministers after we are dead. The truth is, he
had passed his three-score years and ten. He had lived for
seventy-one years. He had eaten his supper. He had been
conversing with his wife. He was reclining in his easy
chair. His mind was at perfect rest. He had entered, without
knowing it, the twilight of his last day. Above the horizon
was the evening star, telling of sleep. The room grew still
and the stillness was lulled by the murmur of the street.
There were a few moments of perfect peace. The wife said,
"He is asleep." She enjoyed his repose, and breathed softly
that he might not be disturbed. The moments wore on, and
still he slept. Lovingly, softly, at last she touched him.
Yes, he was asleep. He had become a part of the eternal
silence.
[Next month: Hume]
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"While we are under the tyranny of Priests [...] it will
ever be in their interest, to invalidate the law of nature
and reason, in order to establish systems incompatible
therewith." [Ethan Allen, _Reason the Only Oracle of Man_]
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This was written when Wim had to temporarily sign of the
secular humanist email discussion list.
ABC of Humanism, by Wim Ruyten
Agnostic or atheist, it doesn't matter
Both can compete for the best way to be
Certainly beating out mindless religion
Daring to fathom that mankind is free
Even when granting that life can be difficult
Fear is superfluous for we are sure
God is a shadow of sheer superstition
Hell a concoction no man shall endure
Isn't it telling that we can accept them:
Jews, Muslims, Christians, whoever else
Keeping no record of petty transgressions
Looking instead for broad parallels?
Morals, some say, are likely our downfall
Never there's been a more common mistake
Other than reason there isn't an answer
Prayers, by contrast, our brothers forsake
Questions are welcome, no subject off limits
Reaching no verdict which scripture affirms
Sin as a judgment on our mere existence
This we deny in the strongest of terms
Use then your passion, your pleasure in living
Venture forth with us, join in our quest
Wanting to spread the great find of the humanist
XX or XY, no chromosome's best
Yes there are those who long to discover
Zero on in, we will tell them the truth!
-- Wim Ruyten
------------------------------
[He had to say farewell as he was compelled to leave the
secular humanist email discussion mailing list.]
you can receive the discussion list by sending a one line
message as follows, if your name were, say, pat robertson:
subscribe sechum-l pat roberston
to: listserv@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu
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'...the Bible as we have it contains elements that are
scientifically incorrect or even morally repugnant. No
amount of "explaining away" can convince us that such
passages are the product of Divine Wisdom.'
-- Bernard J. Bamberger, _The Story of Judaism_
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GIORDANO BRUNO
THE FORGOTTEN PHILOSOPHER
6 page printout
Reproducible Electronic Publishing can defeat censorship.
This disk, its printout, or copies of either
are to be copied and given away, but NOT sold.
Bank of Wisdom, Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201
**** ****
In the year 1548 an Italian boy was born in the little
town of Nola, not far from Vesuvius. Although, he spent the
greater part of his life in hostile and foreign countries he
was drawn back to his home at the end of his travels and
after he had written nearly twenty books.
When he was thirteen years old he began to go to school
at the Monastery of Saint Domenico. It was a famous place.
Thomas Aquinas, himself a Dominican, had lived there and
taught. Within a few years Bruno had become a Dominican
priest.
It was not long before the monks of Saint Dominico
began to learn something about the extraordinary enthusiasm
of their young colleague. He was frank, outspoken and
lacking in reticence. It was not long before he got himself
into trouble. It was evident that this boy could not be made
to fit into Dominican grooves. One of the first things that
a student has to learn is to give the teacher the answers
that the teacher wants. The average teacher is the preserver
of the ancient land marks. The students are his audience.
They applaud but they must not innovate. They must learn to
labor and to wait. It was not Bruno's behavior but his
opinions that got him into trouble.
He ran away from school, from his home town, from his
own country and tried to find among strangers and foreigners
a congenial atmosphere for his intellectual integrity that
he could not find at home. It is difficult not to get
sentimental about Bruno. He was a man without a country and,
finally, without a church.
Bruno was interested in the nature of ideas. Although
the name was not yet invented it will be perfectly proper to
dub Bruno as an epistemologist, or as a pioneer Semanticist.
He takes fresh stock of the human mind.
It is an interesting fact that here, at the close of
the 16th Century, a man, closed in on all sides by the
authority of priestly tradition, makes what might be termed
a philosophical survey of the world which the science of the
time was disclosing. It is particularly interesting because
it is only in the 20th Century that the habit of this sort
of speculation is again popular. Bruno lived in a period
when philosophy became divorced from science. Perhaps it
might be better to say that science became divorced from
philosophy. Scientists became too intrigued with their new
toys to bother about philosophy. They began to busy
themselves with telescopes and microscopes and chemical
glassware.
In 1581 Bruno went to Paris and began to give lectures
on philosophy. It was not an uncommon thing for scholars to
wander from place to place. He made contacts easily and was
able to interest any group with whom he came in contact with
the fire of his ideas. His reputation reached King Henry III
who became curious to look over this new philosophical
attraction. Henry Ill was curious to find out if Bruno's art
was that of the magician or the sorcerer. Bruno had made a
reputation for himself as a magician who could inspire
greater memory retention. Bruno satisfied the king that his
system was based upon organized knowledge. Bruno found a
real patron in Henry Ill and it had much to do with the
success of his short career in Paris.
It was about this time that one of Bruno's earliest
works was published, De Umbras Idearum, The Shadows of
Ideas, which was shortly followed by Ars Memoriae, Art of
Memory. In these books he held that ideas are only the
shadows of truth. The idea was extremely novel in his time.
In the same year a third book followed: Brief Architecture
of the Art of Lully with its Completion. Lully had tried to
prove the dogmas of the church by human reason. Bruno denies
the value of such mental effort. He points out that
Christianity is entirely irrational, that it is contrary to
philosophy and that it disagrees with other religions. He
points out that we accept it through faith, that revelation,
so called, has no scientific basis.
In his fourth work he selects the Homeric sorcerer
Circi who changed men into beasts and makes Circi discuss
with her handmaiden a type of error which each beast
represents. The book 'Cantus Circaeus,' The Incantation of
Circe, shows Bruno working with the principle of the
association of ideas, and continually questioning the value
of traditional knowledge methods.
In the year 1582, at the age of 34 he wrote a play Il
Candelajo, The Chandler. He thinks as a candle-maker who
works with tallow and grease and then has to go out and vend
his wares with shouting and ballyhoo:
"Behold in the candle borne by this Chandler, to
whom I give birth, that which shall clarify certain
shadows of ideas ... I need not instruct you of my
belief. Time gives all and takes all away; everything
changes but nothing perishes. One only is immutable,
eternal and ever endures, one and the same with itself.
With this philosophy my spirit grows, my mind expands.
Whereof, however obscure the night may be, I await the
daybreak, and they who dwell in day look for night ...
Rejoice therefore, and keep whole, if you can, and
return love for love."
There came a time when the novelty of Bruno had worn
off in France and he felt that it was time to move on. He
went to England to begin over again and to find a fresh
audience. He failed to make scholastic contact with Oxford.
Oxford, like other European universities of this time, paid
scholastic reverence to the authority of Aristotle. A great
deal has been written about the Middle Ages being throttled
by the dead hand of Aristotle. It was not the methods of
Aristotle nor the fine mind of Aristotle which were so much
in question as it was the authority of Aristotle. A thing
must be believed because Aristotle said it. It was part of
the method of Bruno to object in his own strenuous fashion
to the cramming down one's throat of statements of fact
because Aristotle had made such statements when they were
plainly at variance with the fresh sense experience which
science was producing.
In his work The Ash Wednesday Supper, a story of a
private dinner, being entertained by English guests, Bruno
spreads the Copernican doctrine. A new astronomy had been
offered the world at which people were laughing heartily,
because it was at variance with the teachings of Aristotle.
Bruno was carrying on a spirited propaganda in a fighting
mood. Between the year 1582 and 1592 there was hardly a
teacher in Europe who was persistently, openly and actively
spreading the news about the "universe which Copernicus had
charted, except Giordano Bruno. A little later on another
and still more famous character was to take up the work:
Galileo.
Galileo never met Bruno in person and makes no mention
of him in his works, although he must have read some of
them. We may not blame Galileo for being diplomat enough to
withhold mention of a recognized heretic. Galileo has often
been criticized because he played for personal safety in the
matter of his own difficulties. We demand a great deal of
our heroes.
While in England Bruno had a personal audience with
Queen Elizabeth. He wrote of her in the superlative fashion
of the time calling her diva, Protestant Ruler, sacred,
divine, the very words he used for His Most Christian
Majesty and Head of The Holy Roman Empire. This was
treasured against him when he was later brought to trial as
an atheist, an infidel and a heretic. Queen Elizabeth did
not think highly of Bruno. She thought him as wild, radical,
subversive and dangerous. Bruno found Englishmen rather
crude.
Bruno had no secure place in either Protestant or Roman
Catholic religious communities. He carried out his long
fight against terrible odds. He had lived in Switzerland and
France and was now in England and left there for Germany. He
translated books, read proofs, and got together groups and
lectured for whatever he could get out of it. It requires no
great stretch of the imagination to picture him as a man who
mended his own clothes, who was often cold, hungry and
shabby. There are only a few things that we know about Bruno
with great certainty and these facts are the ideas which he
left behind in his practically forgotten books, the bootleg
literature of their day. After twenty years in exile we
picture him as homesick, craving the sound of his own native
tongue and the companionship of his own countrymen. But he
continued to write books. In his book De la Causa, principio
et uno, On Cause, Principle, and Unity we find prophetic
phrases:
"This entire globe, this star, not being subject
to death, and dissolution and annihilation being
impossible anywhere in Nature, from time to time renews
itself by changing and altering all its parts. There
is no absolute up or down, as Aristotle taught; no
absolute position in space; but the position of a body
is relative to that of other bodies. Everywhere there
is incessant relative change in position throughout the
universe, and the observer is always at the center of
things."
His other works were The Infinity, the Universe and Its
Worlds, The Transport of Intrepid Souls, and Cabala of the
Steed like unto Pegasus with the Addition of the Ass of
Cyllene, an ironical discussion of the pretensions of
superstition. This "ass," says Bruno, is to be found
everywhere, not only in the church but in courts of law and
even in colleges. In his book The Expulsion of the
'Triumphant Beast' he flays the pedantries he finds in
Catholic and Protestant cultures. In yet another book The
Threefold Leas and Measure of the Three Speculative Sciences
and the Principle of Many Practical Arts, we find a
discussion on a theme which was to be handled in a later
century by the French philosopher Descartes. The book was
written five years before Descartes was born and in it he
says: "Who so itcheth to Philosophy must set to work by
putting all things to the doubt."
He also wrote Of the Unit, Quantity and Shape and
another work On Images, Signs and Ideas, as well as On What
is Immense and Innumerable; Exposition of the Thirty Seals
and List of Metaphysical Terms for Taking the Study of Logic
and Philosophy in Hand. His most interesting title is One
Hundred Sixty Articles Directed Against the Mathematics and
Philosophers of the Day. One of his last works, The
Fastenings of Kind, was unfinished.
It is easy to get an impression of the reputation which
Bruno had created by the year 1582 in the minds of the
clerical authorities of southern Europe. He had written of
an infinite universe which had left no room for that greater
infinite conception which is called God. He could not
conceive that God and nature could be separate and distinct
entities as taught by Genesis, as taught by the Church and
as even taught by Aristotle. He preached a philosophy which
made the mysteries of the virginity of Mary, of the
crucifixion and the mass, meaningless. He was so naive that
he could not think of his own mental pictures as being
really heresies. He thought of the Bible as a book which
only the ignorant could take literally. The Church's methods
were, to say the least, unfortunate, and it encouraged
ignorance from the instinct of self-preservation.
Bruno wrote: "Everything, however men may deem it
assured and evident, proves, when it is brought under
discussion to be no less doubtful than are extravagant and
absurd beliefs." He coined the phrase "Libertes
philosophica." The right to think, to dream, if you like,
to make philosophy. After 14 years of wandering about
Europe Bruno turned his steps toward home. Perhaps he was
homesick. Some writers have it that he was framed. For Bruno
to go back to Italy is as strange a paradox as that of the
rest of his life.
He was invited to Venice by a young man whose name was
Mocenigo, who offered him a home and who then brought
charges against him before the Inquisition. The case dragged
on. He was a prisoner in the Republic of Venice but a
greater power wanted him and he was surrendered to Rome. For
six years, between 1593 and 1600 he lay in a Papal prison.
Was he forgotten, tortured? Whatever historical records
there are never have been published by those authorities who
have them. In the year 1600 a German scholar Schoppius
happened to be in Rome and wrote about Bruno, who was
interrogated several times by the Holy Office and convicted
by the chief theologians. At one time he obtained forty days
to consider his position; by and by he promised to recant,
then renewed his "follies." Then he got another forty days
for deliberation but did nothing but baffle the pope and the
Inquisition. After two years in the custody of the
Inquisitor he was taken on February ninth to the palace of
the Grand Inquisitor to hear his sentence on bended knee,
before the expert assessors and the Governor of the City.
Bruno answered the sentence of death by fire with the
threatening: "Perhaps you, my judges, pronounce this
sentence against me with greater fear than I receive it." He
was given eight more days to see whether he would repent.
But it was no use. He was taken to the stake and as he was
dying a crucifix was presented to him, but he pushed it away
with fierce scorn.
They were wise in getting rid of him for he wrote no
more books, but they should have strangled him when he was
born. As it turned out, they did not get rid of him at all.
His fate was not an unusual one for heretics; this strange
madcap genius was quickly forgotten. His works were honored
by being placed on the Index expurgatorius on August 7,
1603, and his books became rare. They never obtained any
great popularity.
In the early part of the 18th Century English deists
rediscovered Bruno and tried to excite the imagination of
the public with the retelling of the story of his life, but
this aroused no particular enthusiasm.
The enthusiasm of German philosophy reached the subject
of Bruno when Jacobi (1743-1819) drew attention to the
genius of Bruno and German thinkers generally recognized his
genius but they did not read his books. In the latter part
of the 19th Century Italian scholars began to be intrigued
with Bruno and for a while "Bruno Mania" was part of the
intellectual enthusiasm of cultured Italians. Bruno began to
be a symbol to represent the forward-looking free-thinking
type of philosopher and scientist, and has become a symbol
of scientific martyrdom. Bruno was a truant, a philosophical
tramp, a poetic vagrant, but has no claims to the name of
scientist. His works are not found in American libraries. In
this age of biographical writing it is surprising that no
modern author has attempted to reconstruct his life,
important because it is in the direct line of modern
progress. Bruno was a pioneer who roused Europe from its
long intellectual sleep. He was martyred for his enthusiasm.
Bruno was born five years after Copernicus died. He had
bequeathed an intoxicating idea to the generation that was
to follow him. We hear a lot in our own day about the
expanding universe. We have learned to accept it as
something big. The thought of the Infinity of the Universe
was one of the great stimulating ideas of the Renaissance.
It was no longer a 15th Century God's backyard. And it
suddenly became too vast to be ruled over by a 15th Century
God. Bruno tried to imagine a god whose majesty should
dignify the majesty of the stars. He devised no new
metaphysical quibble nor sectarian schism. He was not
playing politics. He was fond of feeling deep thrills over
high visions and he liked to talk about his experiences. And
all of this refinement went through the refiners' fire --
that the world might be made safe from the despotism of the
ecclesiastic 16th Century Savage. He suffered a cruel death
and achieved a unique martyr's fame. He has become the
Church's most difficult alibi. She can explain away the case
of Galileo with suave condescension. Bruno sticks in her
throat.
He is one martyr whose name should lead all the rest.
He was not a mere religious sectarian who was caught up in
the psychology of some mob hysteria. He was a sensitive,
imaginative poet, fired with the enthusiasm of a larger
vision of a larger universe ... and he fell into the error
of heretical belief. For this poets vision he was kept in a
dark dungeon for eight years and then taken out to a blazing
market place and roasted to death by fire.
It is an incredible story.
The "Church" will never outlive him. This and many
other texts available from:
Bank of Wisdom
Box 926,
Louisville, KY 40201
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Autumn wind: Where there are humans Greg Erwin, pres., Humanist
gods, Buddha-- you'll find flies, Association of Ottawa
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--Shiki --Issa godfree@magi.com
