Bertrand Russell, Three passions have governed my life

[spiros]

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Three passions have governed my life
Bertrand Russell

Three passions have governed my life:
The longing for love, the search for knowledge,
And unbearable pity for the suffering of humankind.

Love brings ecstasy and relieves loneliness.
In the union of love I have seen
In a mystic miniature the prefiguring vision
Of the heavens that saints and poets have imagined.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge.
I have wished to understand the hearts of people.
I have wished to know why the stars shine.

Love and knowledge led upwards to the heavens,
But always pity brought me back to earth;
Cries of pain reverberated in my heart
Of children in famine, of victims tortured
And of old people left helpless.
I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot,
And I too suffer.

This has been my life; I found it worth living.






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[lionpsyche]

Spiros, I think that search for knowledge is unlimited something that maybe good or bad for the one who searches it...

[spiros]

Knowledge without love is a cold light, a false light, which leads into the abyss.
~ Abram Poljak

[lionpsyche]

I agree with you!!! "Abyss"!

[banned]

Θαυμάσιο κείμενο. Συμφωνώ απόλυτα με τον Bertrand Russell (και τον Σπύρο). Ακριβώς τα ίδια πάθη έχουν καθορίσει και τη δική μου ζωή. Ο Russell υπήρξε ένας από τους αγαπημένους φιλοσόφους (ήταν και μαθηματικός βέβαια) των νεανικών μου χρόνων. Χαρακτηριστικά βιβλία του στη βιβλιοθήκη μου: In praise of idleness, Mysticism and logic, Why I am not a Christian.

[spiros]

Εμένα με σημάδεψε το The Conquest of Happiness.