The Experience of Clarity

165 We are bored with reality: It is ironic that most of those who discuss “causation” do not regard the discussion itself as an effect, and would rather “get on with the matter” when we try to introduce the topic: “Which breakfast would increase our ability to discuss this topic?” A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

33 As they would have us believe, to think on the devil is as evil as it is to disbelieve in his existence.  Now, it is a sin to think on what we must not fail to acknowledge. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

166 Real change is never as precise or smooth as we would like it to be.  We soon find that our carefully drawn blueprints and our precision instruments no longer apply.  We pick up a rock, screw up our faces and pound. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

34 Our conscience must serve out its sentence as convicted, until habituation succeeds in its appeal. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

167 Working toward control over human nature is something like applying a screwdriver to a machine whose wheels are spinning so fast that they appear stationary or nonexistent.  We begin with confidence and then ... A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

168 If there is but one cup of control for the entire ocean of force, I want it. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

169 With self-control, the goal is not to resist desire (temptation) but to engineer what one desires. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

170 Proving control and taking control are different matters.  Better to leave the former to future research, which is dependent upon the acquisition of the latter. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

171 Our necessary error: That we cannot explain nor prove our control does not take it away from us.  That we believe we have it is our good fortune.   A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

35 Beyond Habit: Living a normal life is not compatible with living life as correctly as possible – which is to say that to live a life as correctly as possible is deviant behavior. A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

172 Perhaps one can only hold oneself responsible for one’s destination in old age.  In youth, one’s drives are so strong and full of energy that the last thing one will do is rein oneself in.  Only after a few years do one’s drives recede to the point where one can ... must seize the reins ... but as one who walks an old horse.  To be the exception here ... A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

36 Innocence-or-Sin? – a vehicle where one begins life’s journey with a foot on the brake.   Ignorance-or-Experience? – the same vehicle, but one accelerates.   A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism

173 The human creature is amazingly complex for having so few tools of influence.  And this flatters us: we would rather sift through our complexities than apply a single tool to ourselves.  We in fact experience “freedom” in proportion to our denial of the self-mechanics that would have added control.  Our denial of reality proceeds like that of a criminal’s defense, expanding in complexity as each revision is put in check.  Simplicity is what we fear most.  The crucial simplicity of our existence sends us whimpering to our knees begging for the illusion to take us back — something as simple as “I am a machine.” A Human Strategy ** The Mechanics of Virtue ** Post-Atheism