Quote of the Day: Becoming Less Human

 

“When human beings try to become more than human, they become less than human.” –Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Originally when I signed up for this date, I didn’t realize that it was Election Day. But then I realized that it was an apt quotation, given the state of our country. Will the people we elect honor our humanity, or will they degrade their own?

What does it mean to try to become more than human? I’d suggest it refers to those people who consider themselves “the elite”; they know better than the riff-raff of the country what the country needs. They know what is best for all of us as a people. They have no respect for America, describing our country as evil and decadent. They think they can transform people into “the right kind” of people, those who will give up everything that is important to them: the family unit, religion, American values, restraint in making changes, and that we will defer quietly to their decisions. They believe we are foolish enough to be tempted by bad ideas.

Those people are the leaders of the Left. They view us contemptuously, with scorn, and they believe the only thing we have to offer this country is obedience and manpower. We are merely cogs in their machine.

These people are human but they lack humanity.

We must take our country back.

[Please pray for Rabbi Sacks who is fighting cancer at this time.]

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  1. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    We riff-raff started the process of taking things back four years ago. Hopefully, the process continues.


    If you would like to participate in the Quote of the Day series, our sign-up sheet for November awaits.

    If, on the other hand, you want to share with Ricochet the thanks you have to give, you might consider Group Writing, for which the theme this month is: Cornucopia of Thanks.

    • #1
  2. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    I fear we will see demonstrations of their lack of humanity when the elite are silent as riots break out. One way or another there will be riots, abuses of other human beings and destruction of their businesses. The lack of empathy towards those with whom they disagree is heartbreaking.

    • #2
  3. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Orthodox Christian teachings are clear that part of the goal of the Christian life is to become fully human.  We are made in the image and likeness of GD, and while this has been marred through sin and death, the image is there, just obscured like through an extremely dirty window.  Being fully human means also embracing the corporeal and recognizing that our bodies are part of who we are, even if they have issues and wear out in time.

    The notion that one should somehow transcend or escape the body, or warp it beyond recognition, is utterly condemned as gnosticism – our entire beings have purpose and function, body and soul together.

    This is the danger of the Left’s recent surrender to trans-humanism – it serves a horrid fantasy that it is somehow our duty to rebuild and remake our bodies in our own warped sense of self-conception, and that we should enable and indulge others in doing so.

    • #3
  4. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    The lack of empathy towards those with whom they disagree is heartbreaking.

    It’s important to “other” one’s enemies. Haven’t you read Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals? 🙄

    • #4
  5. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Orthodox Christian teachings are clear that part of the goal of the Christian life is to become fully human. We are made in the image and likeness of GD, and while this has been marred through sin and death, the image is there, just obscured like through an extremely dirty window. Being fully human means also embracing the corporeal and recognizing that our bodies are part of who we are, even if they have issues and wear out in time.

    The notion that one should somehow transcend or escape the body, or warp it beyond recognition, is utterly condemned as gnosticism – our entire beings have purpose and function, body and soul together.

    This is the danger of the Left’s recent surrender to trans-humanism – it serves a horrid fantasy that it is somehow our duty to rebuild and remake our bodies in our own warped sense of self-conception, and that we should enable and indulge others in doing so.

    Thanks, @skipsul. The goal of becoming fully human completely resonates with me. How can we be our best selves, following in G-d’s path? Those are the answers we seek. And I agree with your assessment of the Left. It is horrible and essentially anti-G-d and anti-belief.

    • #5
  6. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):
    The lack of empathy towards those with whom they disagree is heartbreaking.

    It’s important to “other” one’s enemies. Haven’t you read Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals? 🙄

    Yes. I had nightmares afterward!

    • #6
  7. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3†but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4† But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5†For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
    -Genesis 3 (ESV)

    They have been selling us bad ideas for a long, long time. Our politicians identify our sins and sell them back to us. Adultery, intoxication, infanticide, arson, looting, murder, greed, bigotry, covetousness, apostasy, and so on. This is a nonpartisan problem, the sins are just rebalanced to suit different markets. The shock of the Trump presidency has not been the evils his opponents slander him with, but the virtues he has embraced and engendered. Sure, he said he was not corrupt. They all do. But on issue after issue on which conservatives have proven squish, he has delivered. On abortion, on judicial nominations, on opposition to the biggest slave master in human history, Xi Jinping, on refusing to bail out recklessly profligate governments at the expense of fiscally responsible governments, to weathering every slander and curse laid upon him by swamp creatures across the land. Trump has become anathema to the black mass of American politics. 

    Godspeed.

    • #7
  8. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Sisyphus (View Comment):

    2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3†but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4† But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5†For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
    -Genesis 3 (ESV)

    They have been selling us bad ideas for a long, long time. Our politicians identify our sins and sell them back to us. Adultery, intoxication, infanticide, arson, looting, murder, greed, bigotry, covetousness, apostasy, and so on. This is a nonpartisan problem, the sins are just rebalanced to suit different markets. The shock of the Trump presidency has not been the evils his opponents slander him with, but the virtues he has embraced and engendered. Sure, he said he was not corrupt. They all do. But on issue after issue on which conservatives have proven squish, he has delivered. On abortion, on judicial nominations, on opposition to the biggest slave master in human history, Xi Jinping, on refusing to bail out recklessly profligate governments at the expense of fiscally responsible governments, to weathering every slander and curse laid upon him by swamp creatures across the land. Trump has become anathema to the black mass of American politics.

    Godspeed.

    Beautifully said, @sisyphus. I’ve been reading a number of books recently that talk about the onslaught of attacks and the insidious and immoral actions of the Left. It baffles the mind. I don’t know how people will live with themselves. How will they look back at these times and the roles they played? Will they be proud of what they did? Will they ever recognize the destructive and selfish steps they took to take down a president, even before he was elected? We all need to pray for President Trump and for this country.

    • #8
  9. EODmom Coolidge
    EODmom
    @EODmom

    When we lived in Silicon Valley I thought of the pervasive point of view as the Smarter Than God outlook. Those 10 Commandments (maybe the original Constitution) were just suggestions and open to ongoing interpretation. And negotiation. Those engineers thought themselves – and still seem to – so clever. Just altogether Smarter Than God. 

    • #9
  10. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Susan Quinn: These people are human but they lack humanity.

    Great line!  However, some people on the left challenge this statement . . .

    • #10
  11. She Member
    She
    @She

    Here’s some humanity for you, from about 60 miles north of me:

    To pretend, as many would like to, and as so many have, that every one of these 60,000 or so folks is an inhuman, racist white supremacist is simply absurd.  I know this because some of them are my neighbors.

    Great QOTD and post.

     

    • #11
  12. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    She (View Comment):

    To pretend, as many would like to, and as so many have, that every one of these 60,000 or so folks is an inhuman, racist white supremacist is simply absurd. I know this because some of them are my neighbors.

    Great QOTD and post.

     

    So inspiring, @she. Thanks so much. And G-d bless them for showing up to salute him.

    • #12
  13. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Orthodox Christian teachings are clear that part of the goal of the Christian life is to become fully human. We are made in the image and likeness of GD, and while this has been marred through sin and death, the image is there, just obscured like through an extremely dirty window. Being fully human means also embracing the corporeal and recognizing that our bodies are part of who we are, even if they have issues and wear out in time.

    The notion that one should somehow transcend or escape the body, or warp it beyond recognition, is utterly condemned as gnosticism – our entire beings have purpose and function, body and soul together.

    This is the danger of the Left’s recent surrender to trans-humanism – it serves a horrid fantasy that it is somehow our duty to rebuild and remake our bodies in our own warped sense of self-conception, and that we should enable and indulge others in doing so.

    Thanks, @skipsul. The goal of becoming fully human completely resonates with me. How can we be our best selves, following in G-d’s path? Those are the answers we seek. And I agree with your assessment of the Left. It is horrible and essentially anti-G-d and anti-belief.

    I want to genetically engineer everyone to be attractive and intelligent with a minimum of physical and mental disabilities. Why should we be slaves to the mostly random mutations of our ancestors?

    Let us break out of the prison of our flesh. Glory to the new mankind.

    • #13
  14. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):
    Let us break out of the prison of our flesh. Glory to the new mankind.

    @henrycastaigne, I think you’re perfect the way you are.

    • #14
  15. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):
    Let us break out of the prison of our flesh. Glory to the new mankind.

    @henrycastaigne, I think you’re perfect the way you are.

    You see, and it’s exactly that sort of misperception we need to learn to rise above. Or something.

    • #15
  16. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):
    Let us break out of the prison of our flesh. Glory to the new mankind.

    @henrycastaigne, I think you’re perfect the way you are.

    That is the most morally bankrupt thing I have ever read from you.

    • #16
  17. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):
    Let us break out of the prison of our flesh. Glory to the new mankind.

    @henrycastaigne, I think you’re perfect the way you are.

    That is the most morally bankrupt thing I have ever read from you.

    Oh thank you, Henry. I just burst out laughing hysterically. Thank you, thank you.

    • #17
  18. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Orthodox Christian teachings are clear that part of the goal of the Christian life is to become fully human. We are made in the image and likeness of GD, and while this has been marred through sin and death, the image is there, just obscured like through an extremely dirty window. Being fully human means also embracing the corporeal and recognizing that our bodies are part of who we are, even if they have issues and wear out in time.

    The notion that one should somehow transcend or escape the body, or warp it beyond recognition, is utterly condemned as gnosticism – our entire beings have purpose and function, body and soul together.

    This is the danger of the Left’s recent surrender to trans-humanism – it serves a horrid fantasy that it is somehow our duty to rebuild and remake our bodies in our own warped sense of self-conception, and that we should enable and indulge others in doing so.

    Thanks, @skipsul. The goal of becoming fully human completely resonates with me. How can we be our best selves, following in G-d’s path? Those are the answers we seek. And I agree with your assessment of the Left. It is horrible and essentially anti-G-d and anti-belief.

    I want to genetically engineer everyone to be attractive and intelligent with a minimum of physical and mental disabilities. Why should we be slaves to the mostly random mutations of our ancestors?

    Let us break out of the prison of our flesh. Glory to the new mankind.

    “Attractive” is a relative term, and intelligence is no guarantee of also being humane, kind, sensible, or practical.  Moreover, you would freeze us within the narrow bounds to which you confine “perfection”, not foreseeing in the slightest the needs that other mutations and variety might serve, which you would engineer out (perhaps resistances to diseases, perhaps abilities to digest different foods, perhaps other ways of seeing the world).

    The enthusiasm with which we attempt to purge our society of defects, moreover, strips us of our empathy and compassion for others, and denies the humanity of those you see as unworthy.  Such a race as you dream of would happily turn to extermination of “lesser” examples, killing them off with no more compunction than a breeder might drown a runt puppy.

    This abhorrent concept would turn the human race into primate versions of elite dog breeds, where each generation is more and more “attractive” but useless, fragile, and inbred.

    What you dream of is not freedom, it is slavery and butchery.

    • #18
  19. Sisyphus Member
    Sisyphus
    @Sisyphus

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    This abhorrent concept would turn the human race into primate versions of elite dog breeds, where each generation is more and more “attractive” but useless, fragile, and inbred.

    What you dream of is not freedom, it is slavery and butchery.

    Well, maybe. But the females will all have big bazooms.

    • #19
  20. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    The enthusiasm with which we attempt to purge our society of defects, moreover, strips us of our empathy and compassion for others, and denies the humanity of those you see as unworthy.

    So true. The folks we see as lacking, yes, even the Leftists all have something to teach us. Many things, in fact. I know it helps me grow–when they don’t drive me crazy. Thanks, Skip.

    • #20
  21. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Sisyphus (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    This abhorrent concept would turn the human race into primate versions of elite dog breeds, where each generation is more and more “attractive” but useless, fragile, and inbred.

    What you dream of is not freedom, it is slavery and butchery.

    Well, maybe. But the females will all have big bazooms.

    And terrible back pain.

    I have 4 daughters, trust me I hear about this.

    • #21
  22. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    Such a race as you dream of would happily turn to extermination of “lesser” examples, killing them off with no more compunction than a breeder might drown a runt puppy.

    Actually, the race I want to make isn’t inclined towards sociopathy and lacks the perfectly human trait for bigotry. Bigotry has let the strong humans societies dominate the weak human societies since back when we were monkeys. 

    • #22
  23. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Sisyphus (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    This abhorrent concept would turn the human race into primate versions of elite dog breeds, where each generation is more and more “attractive” but useless, fragile, and inbred.

    What you dream of is not freedom, it is slavery and butchery.

    Well, maybe. But the females will all have big bazooms.

    And terrible back pain.

    I have 4 daughters, trust me I hear about this.

    We should genetically engineer stronger backs or maybe be make us less attracted to large breasts. Unless we cure breast cancer, I vote for the latter.

    • #23
  24. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Sisyphus (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    This abhorrent concept would turn the human race into primate versions of elite dog breeds, where each generation is more and more “attractive” but useless, fragile, and inbred.

    What you dream of is not freedom, it is slavery and butchery.

    Well, maybe. But the females will all have big bazooms.

    And terrible back pain.

    I have 4 daughters, trust me I hear about this.

    We should genetically engineer stronger backs or maybe be make us less attracted to large breasts. Unless we cure breast cancer, I vote for the latter.

    We are not dogs or livestock.

    • #24
  25. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    We are not dogs or livestock.

    But we are still animals shaped by selective evolutionary pressures. Evolution has shaped us in some bad ways. Why not choose to shape ourselves into something more beautiful and more ethical that brings us less pain?

    • #25
  26. SkipSul Inactive
    SkipSul
    @skipsul

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    We are not dogs or livestock.

    But we are still animals shaped by selective evolutionary pressures. Evolution has shaped us in some bad ways. Why not choose to shape ourselves into something more beautiful and more ethical that brings us less pain?

    You assume this is even possible, that the “right” beauty and the “right” ethics can somehow be fixed forever in the genes. 

    Just touching on beauty alone, you assume that there is some universal and ultimately superficial standard that can be cemented, where the interior life and beauty of people is to be discounted.  This is utter nonsense, unless you also plan to breed in universal tastes, in which case you are no more than one more dictator among many prior ones.

    Anyone who approaches such a project can have little to say on the possibilities of somehow breeding in ethics.

    You want life to be a video game, gorgeous but flat and numb.

    • #26
  27. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    SkipSul (View Comment):
    You assume this is even possible, that the “right” beauty and the “right” ethics can somehow be fixed forever in the genes.

    Just touching on beauty alone, you assume that there is some universal and ultimately superficial standard that can be cemented, where the interior life and beauty of people is to be discounted.

    What in the fruit of the tree of knowledge are you talking about? I am for improving humanity through genes that create beauty and intelligence. I have no desire to discount anyone’s interior life. It is far more important to genetically treat schizophrenia, psychopathy and epilepsy.

    • #27
  28. Ray Kujawa Coolidge
    Ray Kujawa
    @RayKujawa

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    SkipSul (View Comment):

    Orthodox Christian teachings are clear that part of the goal of the Christian life is to become fully human. We are made in the image and likeness of GD, and while this has been marred through sin and death, the image is there, just obscured like through an extremely dirty window. Being fully human means also embracing the corporeal and recognizing that our bodies are part of who we are, even if they have issues and wear out in time.

    The notion that one should somehow transcend or escape the body, or warp it beyond recognition, is utterly condemned as gnosticism – our entire beings have purpose and function, body and soul together.

    This is the danger of the Left’s recent surrender to trans-humanism – it serves a horrid fantasy that it is somehow our duty to rebuild and remake our bodies in our own warped sense of self-conception, and that we should enable and indulge others in doing so.

    Thanks, @skipsul. The goal of becoming fully human completely resonates with me. How can we be our best selves, following in G-d’s path? Those are the answers we seek. And I agree with your assessment of the Left. It is horrible and essentially anti-G-d and anti-belief.

    I want to genetically engineer everyone to be attractive and intelligent with a minimum of physical and mental disabilities. Why should we be slaves to the mostly random mutations of our ancestors?

    Let us break out of the prison of our flesh. Glory to the new mankind.

    “Attractive” is a relative term, and intelligence is no guarantee of also being humane, kind, sensible, or practical. Moreover, you would freeze us within the narrow bounds to which you confine “perfection”, not foreseeing in the slightest the needs that other mutations and variety might serve, which you would engineer out (perhaps resistances to diseases, perhaps abilities to digest different foods, perhaps other ways of seeing the world).

    The enthusiasm with which we attempt to purge our society of defects, moreover, strips us of our empathy and compassion for others, and denies the humanity of those you see as unworthy. Such a race as you dream of would happily turn to extermination of “lesser” examples, killing them off with no more compunction than a breeder might drown a runt puppy.

    This abhorrent concept would turn the human race into primate versions of elite dog breeds, where each generation is more and more “attractive” but useless, fragile, and inbred.

    What you dream of is not freedom, it is slavery and butchery.

    In the elite way of looking at things, any ill-considered choice you might make to take yourself out of the gene pool (including making yourself unable to procreate by transgendering yourself) makes you less of a threat to their security. They know enough than to do this to themselves.

    • #28
  29. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    EODmom (View Comment):
    Those 10 Commandments (maybe the original Constitution) were just suggestions and open to ongoing interpretation.

    Yes, and even the Ten Commandments were subject to revision and interpretation 2,000 years ago, when Jesus said: Moses said Honor your father and your mother,

    But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban”—’ (that is, a gift to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

    • #29
  30. 666 Inactive
    666
    @Pseudodionysius

    You clearly haven’t kept up with the latest headlines. We are headed for a Transhumanist future.

    • #30
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