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Takeaways
MODE:
~
6 minutes
Religion.
10 random takeaways.
1.
Modern historians prefer “Middle Ages” because “Dark Ages” over-centers Europe and oversimplifies history. Still, the adjective dark points to something real: a period when tolerance narrowed and knowledge was lost. Language should evolve—but we shouldn’t lose the philosophical insight older labels were trying to express.
2.
Quote:
- William Kingdon Clifford.
- 1877.
From History:
Belief is not just private. What you believe shapes you and the world around you. Although his suggestion is stricter than most like, I think he wants you to treat belief as a responsibility: seek evidence where you can, stay humble where you cannot, and do not let wishful thinking do the work of truth.
3.
From History: 1644
The main philosophical idea taught by Williams, Locke, and Montesquieu was that power needed to be checked, which in turn protects individual liberties. Williams split state and church. Locke established natural rights and split King and Parliament. Montesquieu came along and said let’s split government into three branches of checks and balances.
4.
TST sees value in religious ideas about self and non-self, including themes like illusion, imposed identity, and inner transformation. It agrees that people often live through false overlays. Where it differs is in grounding: TST places such teachings in personal or group belief unless they connect directly to the material world.
5.
Quote:
- Thomas Aquinas.
- circa 1265.
From History:
Life does not always give us peaceful people or clean choices. Sometimes you must respond. But living well means resisting the urge to escalate. Situational ethics reminds us that a proportionate response protects dignity, limits damage, and keeps pain from multiplying. Even when you must push back, do not let someone else’s wrong turn you into more of the same.
6.
From History: Spirituality is exploration.
New Look
Spiritual ideas have an agnostic, non-theistic, or theistic posture. They can also be calibrated to reality as empirically true, rationally true, speculative, or disproven. Speculative ideas remain open but unsupported; disproven ideas have failed against reality and should be released as truth.
7.
Article summary:
If you use the modern definition of separatist that includes intolerance of others, then Roger Williams was not a separatist. Furthermore, he supported all people living, and working together in the same community for the common good. Sometimes people forget the context of the time and conflate his desire to separate from the Church of England run by the government with the separatist movement based on races. I think some with a desire to promote white supremacy do this on purpose.
8.
Quote:
- Roger Williams.
- May 6, 1682..
The exact birth and death dates of Roger Williams has been lost to history…so far at least. We think he was born around 1602, give or take a few years. We know he passed in 1683, and by April 1st. We also know he was alive on January 15th. We also believe he was about 80 or 81 when he passed. It’s interesting how much is lost to time for even the famous just a few hundred years ago.
9.
From History: 76,000 BCE
The burial of Mtoto suggests more than care for the dead—it hints at shared meaning. Preparing a child for burial implies intention, ritual, and perhaps a growing sense of “us.” This may mark an early moment when humans began aligning around a common story about life, death, and belonging.
10.
From Aristotle to Spinoza to Einstein, the thinkers behind determinism are heavy weights. However, believe in determinism or indeterminism is a believe and this is a good example of how belief influenced philosophy and science. Einstein was solidly in the God does not play dice with the universe camp.
The End. Refresh for another set.
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(c) 2025-2026 TouchstoneTruth.
Writing and coding by Michael Alan Prestwood.
(c) 2025-2026 TouchstoneTruth.
Writing and coding by Michael Alan Prestwood.
