The whole problem of living can never be understood until...

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

"The whole problem of living can never be understood until the world recognizes that artists are not a race apart. Every man has some element of the artist in him, and if this is pulled up by the roots he becomes suicidal and dies.

In the East this quality has never been damaged-to that is traceable the virility of most Eastern peoples. In the West it remains healthy and active only amongst those sections of the community which have never fully subscribed to Western values-that is, the exploited sections, plus some rebels from the bourgeoisie. For the rest, mathematical thinking has made them so intellectualized, so detached and so self conscious that it has tended to kill the creative emotional side. The result is that Western civilization advances its members more and more in control of their environment, yet more and more at the mercy of it. The man who accepts Western values absolutely, finds his creative faculties becoming so completely warped and stunted that he is almost completely dependent on external satisfactions; and the moment he becomes frustrated in his search for these, he begins to develop neurotic symptoms, to feel that life is not worth living, and in chronic cases takes his own life."

- Paul Robeson

http://www.scc.rutgers.edu/njh/PaulRobeson/

Quote copied from Saul Williams site:
http://www.saulwilliams.com/

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

1. Kick for Brother Paul

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

2. Double kick

:)

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

3. Triple kick against ignorance

[UdoKier]

4. I disagree with the premise.

I consider liberalism to be the fruit of western civilization and values.

"Conservatism" is simply the expression of man's basest instincts - fear, hate, greed...

I'm all for extolling the virtues of eastern civilizations and cultures, but to do so by bashing the philosophies and thought that enabled us to be here having this talk via the internet rings rather false to me.

[Veggie Meathead]

5. I agree with you.The flower of Western thought is the elevation

of reason over emotion.Libral Western thought has reason as its basis.It is only when we abandon reason that trouble erupts.Without Reason and the Scientific Method,all the fruits of Science we enjoy today, including this Internet based conversation,will be a mirage.

[smirkymonkey]

6. I wish I had heard that years ago, it's absolutely

true for me, but it has taken me a long time to figure it out for myself.

:kick:

[nuxvomica]

7. I just sent this quote to a coworker

He was telling me how they are trying to find spot cooling equipment for the 6th and 7th floors of our company's office building in case the building's A/C system fails. He remarked about how much more simple it would be if we could just open the windows when that happens but the windows are sealed. This part of Robeson's quote seemed appropriate:

The result is that Western civilization advances its members more and more in control of their environment, yet more and more at the mercy of it.