Saturday, January 31, 2009

Reports of the Death of God Are Greatly Exagerated

Les hommes ont banni la Divinité d’entr’eux; ils l’ont réleguée dans un Sanctuaire; les murs d’un temple bornent sa vue; elle n’éxiste point au-delà. Insensés que vous êtes, détruisez ces enceintes qui rétrécissent vos idées, élargissez Dieu: voyez-le partout où il est, ou dites qu’il n’est point.

Men have banned divinity from their midst, they have relegated it to their sanctuary. The walls of a temple are the limits of its view; beyond these walls it does not exist. Crazed as you are, you must destroy these enclosures that limit your horizon; liberate God; see Him where he actually is, or otherwise say that He does not exist.

Denis Diderot, Pensées philosophiques pp. 21-22 (1746)(S.H. [Scott Horton] transl.) [Originally published January 31, 2009 in No Comment at Harpers.org.]

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