The entire moderndeification of survival per se, survival returning to itself, survival naked and abstract, with the denial of any substantive excellence in what survives, except the capacity for more survival still, is surely the strangest intellectual stopping-place ever proposed by one man to another. ~William James
There walked a lonely man, silent, mute, the only man
Not knowing how, not knowing why was he the sole survivor
Why should he be alive, breathing still while others died
And the only question, why was he the sole survivor?
*Blue Oyster Cult,Sole Survivor, Fire of unknown origin, lyrics by Erik Bloom, John Trivers, and Liz Myers
Most people, it seems, think that Robinson Crusoe, when he landed on his Island, had nothing to keep him from starvation or anything else. As a matter of fact, he had twelve raft loads of supplies that he took off the wrecked ship. He had as much food and furniture as if he had had a delicatessen store and Fifth Avenue outside his hut.
Note: This quote is often cited as “Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival.
The entire modern deification of survival per se, survival returning to itself, survival naked and abstract, with the denial of any substantive excellence in what survives, except the capacity for more survival still, is surely the strangest intellectual stopping-place ever proposed by one man to another.
William James, review ofClifford's Lectures and Essays,Collected Essays and Reviews (1920), p. 143 (1879)
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
Those of us who stand outside the circle of this society’s definition of acceptable women; those of us who have been forged in the crucibles of difference — those of us who are poor, who are lesbians, who are Black, who are older — know thatsurvival is not an academic skill. It is learning how to stand alone, unpopular and sometimes reviled, and how to make common cause with those others identified as outside the structures in order to define and seek a world in which we can all flourish. It is learning how to take our differences and make them strengths.For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his own game, but they will never enable us to bring about genuine change.
Audre Lorde,The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House. 1984.Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Ed. Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press. 110-114. 2007
Humanity will ever seek but never attainperfection. Let us at least survive and go on trying.
Dora Russell, inThe Religion of the Machine Age (1983)
During the darkest days of theHIV/AIDS epidemic, when Republicans and religious conservatives controlled the federal government and were doing everything in their power to harm the sick and dying,queers organized and protested and volunteered and mourned. We also made music and theater and art. We took care of each other, and we danced and loved and fucked. Embracing joy and art and sex in the face of fear and uncertainty made us feel better—it kept us sane—and it had the added benefit of driving our enemies crazy. They couldn’t understand how we could be anything but miserable, given the challenges we faced—their greed, their indifference, their bigotry—but we created and experienced joy despite their hatred and despite this awful disease. We turned to each other—we turned to our lovers and friends and sometimes strangers—and said, "Fuck them. Now fuck me."
If survival calls for the bearing of arms, bear them you must. But the most important part of the challenge is for you to find another means that does not come with the killing of your fellow man.
Rod Serling, speech at Binghamton Community High School (1968)
Until now, human intelligence, which is no more than a minute aspect of universal intelligence, has been distorted and misused by theego. I call that “intelligence in the service ofmadness.” Splitting the atom requires great intelligence. Using that intelligence for building and stockpiling atom bombs isinsane or at best extremely unintelligent.Stupidity is relatively harmless, but intelligent stupidity is highly dangerous. This intelligent stupidity, for which one could find countless obvious examples, is threatening our survival as a species.
Eckhart Tolle inA New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, (2005)
Most humans are still in the grip of theegoic mode ofconsciousness: identified with their mind and run by theirmind. If they do not free themselves from their mind in time, they will be destroyed by it. They will experience increasing confusion, conflict, violence, illness, despair, madness. Egoic mind has become like a sinking ship. If you don't get off, you will go down with it. Thecollective egoic mind is the most dangerouslyinsane anddestructive entity ever to inhabit this planet.
Humanity is under great pressure toevolve because it is our only chance of survival as a race. This will affect every aspect of your life and closerelationships in particular. Never before have relationships been as problematic and conflict ridden as they are now. As you may have noticed, they are not here to make you happy or fulfilled. If you continue to pursue the goal ofsalvation through a relationship, you will be disillusioned again and again. But if you accept that the relationship is here to make youconscious instead of happy, then the relationship will offer you salvation, and you will be aligning yourself with the higherconsciousness that wants to be born into this world. For those who hold on to the old patterns, there will be increasing pain, violence, confusion, and madness.Most humans are still in the grip of the egoic mode of consciousness: identified with their mind and run by their mind. If they do not free themselves from their mind in time, they will be destroyed by it. They will experience increasing confusion, conflict, violence, illness, despair, madness. Egoic mind has become like a sinking ship. If you don't get off, you will go down with it.
Eckhart Tolle inA New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose, p. 101, (2005)
