Saturday, January 30, 2010

Three passions

Three passions have governed my life: 

The longings for love, the search for knowledge, 
And unbearable pity for the suffering of [humankind]. 

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness. 

In the union of love I have seen 

In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision 

Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined. 

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. 

I have wished to understand the hearts of [people]. 
 
I have wished to know why the stars shine. 

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens, 
 
But always pity brought me back to earth; 
 
Cries of pain reverberated in my heart 
 
Of children in famine, of victims tortured 
 
And of old people left helpless. 
 
I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, 
 
And I too suffer. 

This has been my life; I found it worth living.

~Bertrand Russell

1 comment:

  1. Bertrand Russell, peace activist, anti-nuclear weapons campaigner, philosopher, mathematician, and a moral giant of the mid-20th century.

    We need more like him.

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