Love Is Wise; Hatred Is Foolish
If we had to name the most intelligent person who ever walked this planet, mathematician, logician, philosopher and social critic Bertrand Russell would be within the top five of our list. Here’s a video of an interview he gave to the BBC in 1959, including this excerpt, in response to a question about ideas that he would like to pass along to future generations: I should say: love is wise, hatred is foolish. In this world, which is getting more and more closely interconnected, we have to learn to tolerate each other; we have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don’t like. We can only live together in that way — and if we are to live together and not die together, we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance, which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet.
Now, I could make some sort of horrible remark about how humankind is a million miles–and growing even more distant–from this “charity and tolerance,” but would that be any way to start a year? Of course not. Let’s just absorb this as the wonderful message it is.
Bertrand Russell is right about love, but that is nothing new. About 2000 years ago, when Jesus was asked which is the most important law, the second part of his reply, which was actually a quotation from the Old Testament, was to love one’s neighbor as oneself. To expand the definition of neighbor and define what he meant by love, he gave the parable of the Good Samaritan. Of course that is a good law for everyone to follow regardless of religion. The problem is that it is not followed with sufficient frequency and commitment, even by people who claim to follow Jesus. Of course it would not be reasonable to expect perfection in following that law, but some things, such as slavery, selfishly getting as much money as possible regardless of whom one hurts in the process, etc. etc., fall far short.
Happy and Best Wishes to All for New Year
@ Frank
Yes Frank you said and spoke to the issue well take care