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“The great majority of men and women, in ordinary times, pass through life without ever contemplating or criticising, as a whole, either their own conditions or those of the world at large. They find themselves born into a certain place in society, and they accept what each day brings forth, without any effort of thought beyond what the immediate present requires. Almost as instinctively as the beasts of the field, they seek the satisfaction of the needs of the moment, without much forethought, and without considering that by sufficient effort the whole conditions of their lives could be changed.“
— Bertrand Russell, Proposed Roads to Freedom (1918), Introduction, p. 4
“If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance with his instincts, he will accept it even on the slenderest evidence.“
— Bertrand Russell, Proposed Roads To Freedom (1918), Ch. VI: International Relations, p. 97
Image: Bertrand Russell (1935), National Gallery, London, United Kingdom.
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“The universe is what it is, not what I choose that it should be. If it is indifferent to human desires, as it seems to be; if human life is a passing episode, hardly noticeable in the vastness of cosmic processes; if there is no superhuman purpose, and no hope of ultimate salvation, it is better to know and acknowledge this truth than to endeavor, in futile self-assertion, to order the universe to be what we find comfortable.”
— Bertrand Russell, Understanding History (1943), Ch. II: The Value of Free Thought, p. 52
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Image: Bertrand Russell (1963) by Richard Avedon (1923- 2004) a well known and respected American fashion and portrait photographer.
Almost a century before freethinkers and atheists such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens there was Bertrand Russell. Russell was a passionate philosopher and mathematician who was outraged by what he considered humankind's irrational beliefs and needless cruelties. Russell's great success can be partly explained that he wrote and spoke to be understood. Russell's clarity of expression reflects the clarity of his thought. Unlike many philosophers, Russell is well-known for his lucid and elegant prose style. In his philosophical works, there is little abstract jargon nor do we find many flowery expressions. Russell valued getting to the point. Bertrand Russell helped open the door to the demystification of religion, writing in plain language at a time when people had been told for centuries that serious discussions about the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God required a detailed knowledge of the Bible, the Quran, Latin, Arabic, Hebrew, Church history, theology, etc.
Russell believed none of this:
”Those who say that God is beyond the human mind profess to know a great deal about God. They do not really mean God is beyond comprehension, only partly beyond comprehension. And generally they mean that He is beyond the comprehension of your mind and not beyond the comprehension of theirs.”
— Bertrand Russell, The Collected Papers of Bertrand Russell, paper 35, volume 10
Not only was Russell was critical of the particular Abrahamic deity, but in all religious and dogmatic belief. Russell continues:
“I think all the great religions of the world—Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and Communism—all untrue and harmful. It is evident as a matter of logic that, since they disagree, not more than one of them can be true. With very few exceptions, the religion which a man accepts is that of the community in which he lives, which makes it obvious that the influence of environment is what has led him to accept the religion in question.“
— Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects (1957), Preface. xxii
Russell would die from a strain of influenza at his home on the night of 2 February 1970. He was 97 years old. His ashes were scattered over the Welsh hills in unknown locations. In accordance with his will, there was no religious ceremony but one minute's silence, with only five people present (the number five being Russell's favorite number).
Concerning an Afterlife, Russell said in a 1959 interview CBC TV titled On the Existence of God & the Afterlife:
Question: “As you approach the end of life, do you have any fear of some kind of afterlife, or do you feel that is just …“
Russell's Answer: “Oh, no, I think that’s nonsense.“
Question: “There is no afterlife?“
Russell's Answer: “NONE WHATEVER.“
“To understand the actual world as it is, not as we should wish it to be, is the beginning of wisdom.“
1d ·
Bertrand Russell's advice when facing others of a different opinion —
“It is important to learn not to be angry with opinions different from your own, but to set to work understanding how they come about. If, after you have understood them, they still seem false, you can then combat them much more effectually than if you had continued to be merely horrified. I am not suggesting that the philosopher should have no feelings; the man who has no feelings, if there be such a man, does nothing, and therefore achieves nothing.
No man can hope to become a good philosopher unless he has certain feelings which are not very common. He must have an intense desire to understand the world, as far as that is possible; and for the sake of understanding, he must be willing to overcome those narrownesses of outlook that make a correct perception impossible.
He must learn to think and feel, not as a member of this or that group, but as just a human being. If he could, he would divest himself of the limitations to which he is subject as a human being. If he could perceive the world as a Martian or an inhabitant of Sirius, if he could see it as it seems to a creature that lives for a day and also as it would seem to one that lived for a million years, he would be a better philosopher.”
— Bertrand Russell, The Art of Philosophizing and other Essays (1942), Essay I: The Art of Rational Conjecture, pp. 23-4
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The Art of Rational Conjecture was originally published in 1942 while Russell was teaching philosophy at American universities and exercising a growing influence on America's student population.
Image: Bertrand Russell, 1953.
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"None of our beliefs are quite true; all have at least a penumbra of vagueness and error. The methods of increasing the degree of truth in our beliefs are well known; they consist in hearing all sides, trying to ascertain all the relevant facts, controlling our own bias by discussion with people who have the opposite bias, and cultivating a readiness to discard any hypothesis which has proved inadequate…”
~Bertrand Russell, Free Thought and Official Propaganda (1922)
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