Viewpoint Quotes

“The only truth is that we cannot speak the truth . The only acceptable viewpoint is that we cannot express a viewpoint.”

“I think we're raising whole generations who regard facts as more or less optional. We have kids in elementary school who are being urged to take stands on political issues, to write letters to congressmen and presidents about nuclear energy. They're not a decade old, and they're being thrown these kinds of questions that can absorb the lifetime of a very brilliant and learned man. And they're being taught that it's important to have views, and they're not being taught that it's important to know what you're talking about. It's important to hear the opposite viewpoint, and more important to learn how to distinguish why viewpoint A and viewpoint B are different, and which one has the most evidence or logic behind it. They disregard that. They hear something, they hear some rhetoric, and they run with it.”

“Wisdom is the thin conduit between two opposing viewpoints”

“You will love and admire the One who is honest and blunt in his views, as long as you're not his subject of viewpoint!”

“As far as we can tell from a purely scientific viewpoint, human life has absolutely no meaning. Humans are the outcome of blind evolutionary processes that operate without goal or purpose. Our actions are not part of some divine cosmic plan, and if planet earth were to blow up tomorrow morning, the universe would probably keep going about its business as usual. As far as we can tell at this point, human subjectivity would not be missed. Hence any meaning that people inscribe to their lives is just a delusion.”

“The one who can see all the viewpoints of the world is a savior (tarantaranhaar – one who has attained liberation and graces others with the same).”

“The thing [vastu, eternal element] itself is just one. But a ‘like’ and ‘dislike’ occurs due to illusion, because everyone’s viewpoint is different.”

“The whole world reacts negatively to loss. What wrong has loss done? If you ask God if he has any profit or loss, then God would tell you, 'You are looking at it from an illusory viewpoint, you are seeing ‘relative’ and that is why you see everything as a profit or loss. I see through Real knowledge’.”

“We naturally think from our own perspective, from a point of view which tends to privilege our position. Fairness implies the treating of all relevant viewpoints alike without reference to one's own feelings or interests. Because we tend to be biased in favor of our own viewpoint, it is important to keep the standard of fairness at the forefront of our thinking. This is especially important when the situation may call on us to see things we don't want to see, or give something up that we want to hold onto.”