[deleted] comments on Rationality Quotes: November 2010

[deleted] 2 Nov 2010 22:07 UTC
1 point
Not a quote about rationalism, but probably relevant to Less Wrong:

Pure Death

We looked, we loved, and therewith instantly

Death became terrible to you and me.

By love we disenthralled our natural terror

From every comfortable philosopher

Or tall, grey doctor of divinity:

Death stood at last in his true rank and order.

It happened soon, so wild of heart were we,

Exchange of gifts grew to a malady:

Their worth rose always higher on each side

Till there seemed nothing but ungivable pride

That yet remained ungiven, and this degree

Called a conclusion not to be denied.

Then we at last bethought ourselves, made shift

And simultaneously this final gift

Gave: each with shaking hands unlocks

The sinister, long, brass-bound coffin-box,

Unwraps pure death, with such bewilderment

As greeted our love’s first accomplishment.

--Robert Graves
- gwern 26 Nov 2010 20:16 UTC
  2 points
  Parent
  I read this one last week:
```
 "When human beings found out about death
 They sent the dog to Chukwu with a message:
 They wanted to be let back to the house of life.
 They didn't want to end up lost forever
 Like burnt wood disappearing into smoke
 And ashes that get blown away to nothing.
 Instead, they saw their souls in a flock at twilight
 Cawing and headed back for the same old roosts
 (The dog was meant to tell all this to Chukwu)..."
```
  --”A Dog Was Crying Tonight in Wicklow Also”, Seamus Heaney, pg 66, The Spirit Level (1996)