Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Individuality From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'
    Individuality From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'
    Individuality From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'
    Ebook51 pages37 minutes

    Individuality From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'

    By Robert Green Ingersoll

    ()

    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 26, 2013
    Individuality From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'

    Read more from Robert Green Ingersoll

    Related to Individuality From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'

    Related ebooks

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      ‘What Seek Ye?’

      Jul 31, 2020

      ‘What Seek Ye?’
      8 min read

    • Article

      Questing Times

      Aug 30, 2021

      Questing Times
      3 min read

    • Article

      Is Knowledge Power?

      Jul 30, 2018

      Is Knowledge Power?
      4 min read

    • Article

      Jamie Wheal Meaning 3.0

      Jul 17, 2022

      Jamie Wheal Meaning 3.0
      18 min read

    • Article

      Think Yourself Better: 10 Rules Of Philosophy To Live By

      Feb 4, 2023

      The thing that separates human beings from other animals is our extraordinary capacity for complex, abstract thought. This is what has given rise to our diverse cultures, our scientific achievements, our ability to envisage the future and, hopefully,

      9 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Jul 14, 2022

      CONTACT US BY POST: PO BOX 1200, WHITSTABLE CT1 9RH, OR E-MAIL SIEVEKING@FORTEANTIMES.COM PLEASE PROVIDE US WITH YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS Simon Young’s account of the Wollaton Gnomes [FT417:29] brought to mind an account of “The Fairies of The Burn of Eat

      14 min read

    • Article

      Grappling With Evil

      Oct 28, 2021

      Grappling With Evil
      6 min read

    • Article

      Humans Are Wired for Goodness

      Aug 22, 2019

      Nicholas Christakis and I are on the same page: We would definitely sacrifice our lives to save a billion strangers, perhaps even several hundred million, plucked at random from Earth’s population. But, for sure, not a thousand strangers, or a millio

      15 min read

    • Article

      Lost In Tradition

      Feb 26, 2019

      Lost In Tradition
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Dark Side of Awe

      Jan 29, 2024

      The Dark Side of Awe
      10 min read

    • Article

      Enduring Message Of Nonviolence Reaches New Audiences

      Feb 29, 2024

      Clarence B. Jones is preaching nonviolence.  At 93, this civil rights pioneer, who helped the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. write his “I Have a Dream” speech, is still combating hate. But these days, instead of leading protest meetings, Mr. Jones is re

      3 min read

    • Article

      Kalahari CLOSET

      Jun 15, 2022

      Kalahari CLOSET
      4 min read

    • Article

      B.J. Hollars Explores the Midwest’s Strangest Corners

      Aug 27, 2019

      Mysteries aren’t something to be solved, but something to be embraced. We don’t need to conquer; we just need to be curious. For me, that’s where the revelation lives—in the not-knowing. The post B.J. Hollars Explores the Midwest’s Strangest Corners

      10 min read

    • Article

      Giving Back

      Jan 8, 2024

      The reading revolution (“Reading the room”, December 23) is thoroughly admirable but I believe those most in need of reading therapy are our children. The US Department of Statistics reveals two out of three students who fail to achieve proficiency i

      4 min read

    • Article

      Your Liberation Is On the Line

      Sep 27, 2022

      Your Liberation Is On the Line
      5 min read

    • Article

      I Reserve The Right To Upset You

      Sep 29, 2022

      WHEN I WAS A child there were seven educational and pedagogic establishments in Salisbury Cathedral Close, all of them contaminated by Anglicanism which was in those days bellicose, harsh, punitive. As I dawdled on my way to school I would pass ordin

      3 min read

    • Article

      Speaking Freely

      Jul 14, 2019

      wins a wonderfully warm unisex Weka Woo hat and a Wyld Hug scarf, together valued at $160, from Naturally Wyld. Both use Pilana yarn that comes from organically and ethically farmed sheep. Pilana’s lightweight blend encapsulates the best attributes o

      9 min read

    Reviews for Individuality From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Individuality From 'The Gods and Other Lectures' - Robert Green Ingersoll

      The Project Gutenberg EBook of Individuality, by Robert G. Ingersoll

      This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

      almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or

      re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

      with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

      Title: Individuality

             From 'The Gods and Other Lectures'

      Author: Robert G. Ingersoll

      Release Date: November 22, 2011 [EBook #38098]

      Last Updated: January 25, 2013

      Language: English

      *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK INDIVIDUALITY ***

      Produced by David Widger

      INDIVIDUALITY

      By Robert G. Ingersoll

      INDIVIDUALITY

      HIS SOUL WAS LIKE A STAR AND DWELT APART.

      ON every hand are the enemies of individuality and mental freedom. Custom meets us at the cradle and leaves us only at the tomb. Our first questions are answered by ignorance, and our last by superstition. We are pushed and dragged by countless hands along the beaten track, and our entire training can be summed up in the word—suppression. Our desire to have a thing or to do a thing is considered as conclusive evidence that we ought not to have it, and ought not to do it. At every turn we run against cherubim and a flaming sword guarding some entrance to the Eden of our desire. We are allowed to investigate all subjects in which we feel no particular interest, and to express the opinions of the majority with the utmost freedom. We are taught that liberty of speech should never be carried to the extent of contradicting the dead witnesses of a popular superstition. Society offers continual rewards for self-betrayal, and they are nearly all earned and claimed, and some are paid.

      We have all read accounts of Christian gentlemen remarking, when about to be hanged, how much better it would have been for them if they had only followed a mother's advice. But after all, how fortunate it is for the world that the maternal advice has not always been followed. How fortunate it is for us all that it is somewhat unnatural for a human being to obey. Universal obedience is universal stagnation; disobedience is one of the conditions of progress. Select any age of the world and tell me what would have been the effect of implicit obedience. Suppose the Church had had absolute control of the human mind at any time, would not the words liberty and progress have been blotted from human speech? In defiance of advice, the world has advanced.

      Suppose the astronomers had controlled the science of astronomy; suppose the doctors had controlled the science of medicine; suppose kings had been left to fix the forms of government; suppose our fathers had taken the advice of Paul, who said, be subject to the powers that be, because they are ordained of God; suppose the Church could control the world to-day, we would go back to chaos and old night. Philosophy would be branded as infamous; Science would again press its pale and thoughtful face against the prison bars, and round the limbs of liberty would climb the bigot's flame.

      It is a blessed thing that in every age some one has had individuality enough

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1