This is one of their [the Christians'] rules. Let no man that is learned, wise, or prudent come among us: but if they be unlearned, or a child, or an idiot, let him freely come. So they openly declare that none but the ignorant, and those devoid of understanding, slaves, women, and children, are fit disciples for the God they worship.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the exclusion of learned individuals from religious discourse, suggesting that ignorance is favored over wisdom.
Aulus Cornelius Celsus highlights a paradox within certain religious practices, where the wisdom and knowledge of learned individuals are dismissed in favor of those deemed less intelligent or uneducated. This raises questions about the nature of belief and the value placed on understanding versus blind faith. Celsus critiques the idea that only the ignorant and vulnerable are valued in religious contexts, suggesting a troubling stance on intellectual engagement within the community of believers.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discourse on the role of education in religion during a philosophy class.
Live in rooms full of light. Avoid heavy food. Be moderate in the drinking of wine. Take massage, baths, exercise, and gymnastics. Fight insomnia with gentle rocking or the sound of running water. Change surroundings and take long journeys. Strictly avoid frightening ideas. Indulge in cheerful conversation and amusements. Listen to music.
Seemingly, man has learned to live without God, preoccupied and indifferent toward Him and concerned only about material security and pleasure.
No, I don’t wish I knew Heaven was like the picture in my Great Divorce, because, if we knew that, we should know it was no better. The good things even of this world are far too good ever to be reached by imagination. Even the common orange, you know: no one could have imagined it before he tasted it. How much less Heaven.
Few things in this world are more predictable than the reaction of conventional minds to unconventional ideas.
I lay there silently, hoarding my small dignity. I did not ask about the gate or the closet. I did not question the bedtime ritual where, on the cold bathroom tiles, I was spread out daily and examined for flaws. I did not know that my bones, those solids, those pieces of sculpture would not splinter.
There are some things about myself I can’t explain to anyone. There are some things I don’t understand at all. I can’t tell what I think about things or what I’m after. I don’t know what my strengths are or what I’m supposed to do about them. But if I start thinking about these things in too much detail the whole thing gets scary. And if I get scared I can only think about myself. I become really self-centered, and without meaning to, I hurt people. So I’m not such a wonderful human being.
The settler makes history and is conscious of making it. And because he constantly refers to the history of his mother country, he clearly indicates that he himself is the extension of that mother country. Thus the history which he writes is not the history of the country which he plunders but the history of his own nation in regard to all that she skims off, all that she violates and starves.
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