On Fri, 30 Apr 1999 19:06:00 Spike Jones wrote:
>Spike Jones wrote:
>If I may presume to reply to my own post, I think I can state much more
>succinctly, my point: We moderns already spend waaaay too much time
>and effort, searching searching searching ancient texts for answers to today's
>dilemmas. I really mean that. If we could somehow resurrect the most
>famous wise guys of the past, Confucius, Moses, Solomon, Socrates, Jesus,
>Maimonides, Nostradamus, etc, these guys would be *just as clueless as
>we are* to solve some of today's questions. We need to find the answers
>ourselves! Not look back. They can't help. Look forward, not back. spike
I agree it is very benificial to look forward, to see things with entirely new perspective and insights. Afterall, isn't that what evolution is always about, exploring new avenues of pontential and possibility? Yet, previous knowledge is just as useful. It can help guide you to places that no else has been. Perhaps the ancients have already traveled down back alleys that terminated in dead ends. Would it be wise to ignorantly repeat their folly? Not to be trite, but "know history so as not to repeat it".
BTW, their is a guy on public radio, usually on Monday evenings, buy the name of Clay Jenkinson. He *is* Thomas Jefferson in nearly every respect. He is a Jeffersonian scholar with Ph.d's in History and literature. This guy knows so much about Jefferson and how he thinks, that he becomes Jefferson for the entire hour of his show. From that vantage he answers any question posed to him by the call-in audience. His answers and the perspective he provides are deeply refreshing and powerful. I believe if Jefferson were alive today and in a powerful position in Washington, he would be making very positive and lasting effects on American society. Perhaps we would not be currently enduring the tryannical assault on our liberties currently going on in the name of safety and the Drug War.
John
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