Uncertainty in the pressure of vivid hopes and fears is painful, but must be endured if we wish to live without the support of comforting fairy tales.
Interpretation
Facing uncertainty is difficult but necessary for a genuine life, free from illusions.
Bertrand Russell highlights the inherent pain that comes from living with uncertainty, particularly when we have strong hopes and fears. He suggests that to lead an authentic life, we must confront this discomfort and forgo the comforting falsehoods that may provide temporary solace, embracing reality instead.
In practice
I shared this quote during a seminar about facing fears and embracing change.
St. Paul introduced an entirely novel view of marriage, that it existed primarily to prevent the sin of fornication. It is just as if one were to maintain that the sole reason for baking bread is to prevent people from stealing cake.
Freedom comes only to those who no longer ask of life that it shall yield them any of those personal goods that are subject to the mutations of time.
Of these austerer virtues the love of truth is the chief, and in mathematics, more than elsewhere, the love of truth may find encouragement for waning faith. Every great study is not only an end in itself, but also a means of creating and sustaining a lofty habit of mind; and this purpose should be kept always in view throughout the teaching and learning of mathematics.
At all times, except when a monarch could enforce his will, war has been facilitated by the fact that vigorous males, confident of victory, enjoyed it, while their females admired them for their prowess.
Moreover, the attitude that one ought to believe such and such a proposition, independently of the question whether there is evidence in its favor, is an attitude which produces hostility to evidence and causes us to close our minds to every fact that does not suit our prejudices.
Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.
I am good to people who are good. I am also good to people who are not good. Because Virtue is goodness.
You accept that this civilisation could be abolished and life will begin later on after a few thousand years because that is something that has happened in the history of this planet. When you have peace in yourself and accept, then you are calm enough to do something, but if you are carried by despair there is no hope.
If our condition were truly happy, we would not seek diversion from it in order to make ourselves happy.
I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind.
Religion is the opiate of the people.
Eliminate the Diaspora, or the Diaspora will surely eliminate you.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.