God exists.

I'm god, so.. I guess I'll take a request to prove I exist.

The funny thing is, when you argue or dispute an assenign topic like the existence of God, you are actually ignoring something else. YOU. And by this origin of ignoring yourself, you invariably ignore everyone else around you hence, little or no friends, sore family tensions, constant disputes about things without meaning or reproach. BEWARE OF THE DISTRACTIONS OF THE MISERABLE. Misery loves company and the love for others to suffer in their misery as well; don't suffer fools. To do so is a fool's errand.

Make everyone believe in You. :)

>>39
You're missing the point: satire.

>>41
wut?  That makese no sense at all.

so surely you as god is an atheist, i thought you were supposed to create man in your image?

Here's the thing, if God is potential and we are made up of materials that all have and support potential, what CHOICE do we as humans have? Perhaps to PROMOTE potential or allow for the potential of decay and destruction through stagnation. Nothing every really stays the same it is always in motion, always moving always adapting, creating, destroying, or decaying to some degree of flexibility depending upon opportunity, material, time and place. It's just my IDEA though. I hope everyone understands that. Even though I am pretty blunt with RedCream, it's just to break the hold his Ego has on him so he will start respecting himself and begin respecting others; cause frankly, I'm tired of being beat down by ignorance thinking they are "RIGHT" when "Right and Wrong" is the choice of the person with the idea; and up to the individuals who are influenced to utilize, ignore or forget what is available. It's all choice, but what origin are the choices based upon? Emotions? Well emotions are reactions to an observed reaction so the observed reaction is the trigger point and therefore should be the focal point. Emotions to me are meant to be epiphany markers (shoots up red sparks into the night sky) sort of thing. Awareness, but what about shame? What about shock? What about Self-Preservation? Aren't these too epiphany markers (observed reactions to mark occassions and events as points of awareness). I hear people talking and saying everything's already been done, everything else is just copying. Well, I haven't had sex with a voluptuous woman and found out that she prefers I communicate with her and cooperate within the context and mood of the conversation and that is what is utilized within the context of intercourse. So, we are making love to an idea and each other, not just fucking. But still, I'm not getting any action on my end; conversation, cooperation, communication nor SEX. Damn it! And if you want me to use your obsurd comment against you >>44 ok, fine. "If I am God, and I am human through shape, nature, and thought, surely you as humans would be made in my image. The problem lies in the initial attack that's coming from the standpoint of me as god being atheist when I am more of an "I don't really know, I am human and fallible, but I would like to venture a guess and be granted the privilege and opportunity to promote the potential for my own growth. Does RedCream do that? Does the statement that I'm atheist do that? No, I refuse to stop my quest, but please waste your lives in attacking mine and my ideas; eventually you'll be on your deathbeds yelping for more TIME. Me, I'll be well on my way and comfortable along with my wife and children and their grandchildren. This is the potential I'm attempting to promote potential within. So far, I'm failing sorely, but perhaps given more study, practice, opportunity, and time some potential may come from. But, how can I scientifically project out and provide evidence to an as yet unoccuring reaction? So, please just take these words with as much salt and/or sugar as you want, or not. The choice whether I state it or not is your RIGHT, your life may have been given to you in privilege, but it is your RIGHT to protect, secure, and promote that life to greater potentialities. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. 
Oh yeah, has anyone every READ the constitution of the united states and the bill of rights and amendments? They make for some great light bed-time reading. Good night everyone, I'll check back tomorrow if I'm still alive. :)

Jeepers, what's all that black squiggles with grey background in >>45?

>>46
Yet another individual who profanes his/herself upon all supreme knowledge and therefore doesn't have to read or perform any reearch...hmm...waz up with that attitude? Oh, the ego doesn't want to be wrong? Ah Ha!

Ok, here goes my shot at it.
In order for God to exist let's put some scientific ideas on the table first:
For every action there is an equal AND opposing reaction. YES?
Who here understands kinetic and potential energy? Anyone?
Ok, if you have firm grasps on that and put together the next thing, YOU'LL shit your pants.
Everything has a duality, ie water can help or hinder, ie transference points are a means for potential influence, interaction, integration, or segregation depending upon the combined efforts of opposing elements.
Everything can influence everything contacted via transference.
So,
if you are aware of the reaction, and you are able to influence the action to take part and are able to cause the reaction, but ponder on other possibilities; you have discovered choice.
When you break down elements down to their finer units, say atoms for example:
Atoms aren't self-aware and able to divide and observe its actions, reactions, or those of an opposing element and thus has no choice to make; except to follow its nature.
Thus whatever an atom is attracted to it will move to find it and locate it and influence and merge with it via transference.
The reaction on the level of an atom will be significantly smaller reactions, but we as humans are able to observe these now on a computer screen.
So, with all of that information, whether the latter is true or not;
The definition of God, IMHO, is described below and brought into light.
Potential energy has not occured yet only from the point just before initial activity, and thus may have alternative outcomes depending upon opposing influential potential energies.
Basically; everything that exists has within it the ability of potential and kinetic energy, we can easily observe kinetic energy, but potential energy {{we must visualize using our imagination (God thinks of the future).
When we begin to forsee different outcomes based upon past events or experiences we are using reason (Satan reasons like a man). }} -duality
And thus you are now prevy to my limited yet profound loose understanding of how energy in everything works. And so everything in nature is of god and the devil, but god made the devil so god is "duality of transference of potential energy".
Everything has a natural state of balance, when that balance is tipped one way or the other, the nature of energy is to return to that natural state of balance, ie thermal induction, habits, addictions, etc ad infinitum.
But wait! There's more! Just wait till I start quoting the bible and quran and torah and the like. But I'll save the rest for next time. :)

There, is that a little better? Not a wall of text :) I'll be sure and hit the <RETURN> key when I need to from now on. :)

>>49
Sorry but your post in >>48 got truncated, so I didn't get the revelation

>>50
Sorry but your post in >>50 referring to my post in >>48 being truncated doesn't mean I have to GAS, click the F-ing link and read the rest you La-Z :P*'n SOB.

lets see;
85 keystrokes asking for revelation in >>50
1 click to read the rest of my story.
GTFO, U DNT EVN KER WAT I ROT! STOP PICKING ON ME WITH YOUR CHILDISH ANTICS, NARFL'n :P*! SHIT!

|To make it simpler| GAINED?   LOST.
What is the price of awareness? Ignorance.
What is the price of ignorance? Happiness.
What is the price of happiness? Safety.
What is the price of safety? liberty.
What is the price of liberty? FREEDUM.
What is the price of FREEDUM? Awareness.

TRY ME XD

oops, forgot one;

What is the price of ignorance? Memories.
What is the price of memories? Happiness.
I guess you know which category I fall into, eh?

and i thought a science board would at least understand irony, it'd have to be a namefag that would make a point out of missing the point

And if you were more observant you would have realized the irony in forgetting about memories.

What is the price of awareness? Ignorance.
Correct.
What is the price of ignorance? Happiness.
Wrong.
What is the price of happiness? Safety.
Wrong.
What is the price of safety? liberty.
Wrong.
What is the price of liberty? FREEDUM.
Wut.
What is the price of FREEDUM? Awareness.
what the fuck is freedum

I take it you believe freedum is the American brand of freedom in which you are allowed to bear arms, drive an SUV and fly the confederate flag. Well I pity you for believing freedom allows people to do things you don't like and you feel the need to oppress them. Also you're not "smrt".

I pity you for hating freedom because it allows people to do things you don't like and you feel the need to oppress them.*

>>9
First argument, first premise:
>(1) If reason exists then God exists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begging_the_question
You are assuming that God exists and that Reason can only exist because of God.  You are starting with a premise that assumes the conclusion.  Your argument is illogical and therefore invalid.

Do I need to do this for every single one?  Because I can.  Maybe I will tomorrow night for fun and practice (it's been a while since my last formal logic class).

>>58
LOL, nevermind.  Actually skimming some of them, it's blindingly obvious you're actually making fun of theists and their retarded "proofs".  My bad.  I'm printing them out to read at work.  :)

Yes, ignorance is blissful, but due to what...IGNORANCE!!! So basically, if you perform an action that inevitably kills someone you love, ignorance would cause you to be shocked and unaware that it was you that directly caused the loss of a loved-one. What comes next is something that shocks us aware folks right out of our shorts; in order to "save face" denial, scapegoating, and the like sets in. A good understanding would be blaming the driver of a car for hitting a little girl and killing her after she ran out in the streets when the parents were neglectful, OH...but we shouldn't put responsibility on PARENTS of THEIR CHILD because of the loss. WTF!?!
>>57, as for you, if you would actually pull your head out of your goatse you just might know that our so-called freedoms are being taken away slowly and surely. You would also know that those freedoms aren't based off of real true-to-nature laws, they are ideals that were put to paper as a GOAL not as proof of PRE-EXISTING principles. ie, firstly our so-called rights aren't rights at all as they are bestowed upon us by an outside force and by that can be easily taken away by same or others; meaning, they aren't rights at all, they are privileges. But, I guess if you didn't realize that from the start how would you care if a great idea were just stripped from you. It was provided, and now is gone. If you don't know where you start, how do you know where you are? SO, in the ideals of the case I stated earlier, go be blissfully ignorant with pedo-bear and compare goatse's.

>>58, you're close, but not really.
First, the premise is that God is the all-creator.
Therefore,
If God exists then reason exists
If God exists then humans exists
If God exists then everything exists
It has to do with the position in occurence, beginning and end is god, the process is taken on faith that it works. So far it does.
The axiom is that god is the beginning and the end, alpha and omega
Axiom, Paradox, Axiom<see! Beginning and End!
Life is paradox, therefore paradox is between axiom (what we believe)
therefore, the paradox exists outside of us, and the axiom exists within us.
But this still exists as an axiom for me and you, it exists as a potential paradox in the real world outside of our conciousness. This is also an axiom (at least for me). What do you think?

Question
Which came first; the chicken or the egg?

Answer as an axiom -
GOD :)

Question the axiom -
How can God come before both?

Answer as an axiom -
God created the very elements that both the egg and chicken are comprised.

God is the axiom, the very sight of everything supports the existence of God (paradox), therefore God cannot be proven, only assumed and reinforced by the recombinative, adaptation, decay and final breakdown of everything in existence.
So, the next axiom comes as this;
Energy cannot be destroyed, it can only change form.

A question from the previous axiom and the current might be this;
Is God energy?

the axiom would then be stated as so,
God is Energy, prove this to conclusive, recurrable actions (job of the scientist)

So, basically, in order to be less wrong, this statement is very flexible and changeable and contains a paradox, we know that energy exists, but we don't know that God exists, we can only assume.
Since my faith is that I don't know everything and everything already exists due to potential energy, it is up to me to discovery what already exists, whether it is naturally recurring or a process that can be altered to my advantage. Therefore, faith is everything, good and evil.
Therefore, GOD=GOOD & EVIL, DEVIL = EVIL & GOOD
Where God is assumed (axiom) good and devil is assumed evil
the scientific exploration is to find paradox to this that God is also evil and Devil is also good. But, too much defiance from the opposition comes from the revelation of this action,
So, (+A1-) = Axiom that God is also evil, and Devil is also good.
(-Ra1+) usually comes first as opposition
(+Ra2-) usually comes after performing experiment after experiment by numberous scientists where resistence slowly avails and paradox prevails. When the resistence is alleviated, then the (+Ra2-) becomes an axiom and thereby the process continues, hence time doesn't stop because the action of energy can't stop due to reaction, so it's a cycle.
This is an axiom, prove it or not, I don't care, I'm doing my own experiments, perhaps those that perform side-by-side with one another may find that this is a gracious miracle waiting to be cashed in! :)

Axiom = Potential Energies, occurs prior to and post perceived event
Paradox = Kinetic Energies, occurs as the perceived event

Using the Axiom = Visualizing as-yet-unseen potentiality
Using the Paradox = Remembering the experienced kinesis.

Axiom = Imagination
Paradox = Experience

Person 1:       
Transmitting Axiom literally to person 2

Person 2:
Recieves literal Axiom
Skepticizes literal Axiom (perceived truth, potential lie) as paradox (perceived lie, potential truth)
Questions Axiom, formulates own axiom from interpretation, and Transmits new poetic Axiom (appears as paradox [perceived lie, potential truth]) to person 1

Person 1:
Receives poetic Axiom (appears as paradox [perceived lie, potential truth]) from person 2
Unable to accept paradox (perceived lie, potential truth)as being right, person 1 sees person 2 as liar and ignorant.

Person 2:
"Judge not, lest ye be judged yourself."

Person 1:
"Stewpid!"

So, basically, by understanding the workings of this process, you have the ability to choose your conversation contextually while challenging your senses and your cleverness so that neither are accepted as truth, both are always questioned. There, finally got somewhere. :)

Order of occurence:
Choice, Action, Reaction
Past, Present, Future
Observation, Recollection, Imagination

Question this Axiom:
Past = Recollection = Action
Present = Observation = Reaction
Future = Imagination = Choice
This is from the POV of being present in the moment.

And you know this God in particular is a bearded old man who resembles a human who lived in a garden and made sure two people would fall for a trap that would doom humanity and cause pain and suffering as a test of his eternal love and spoke to the Hebrews and told them not to have foreskin or eat pork but killed them off because he wanted to start a new religion where he would become his own son and kill himself but then told someone he was lying about the last two religions and needed a new prophet to wipe them out until America was founded and he told a another prophet that all other religions were wrong because they allow niggers.  

No...that is the lie or axiom, the potential truth is that the bearded old man is the symbol for God (self-awareness), God therefore is something else. :) Just as the devil, unseeable, intangible, is therefore symbolized by a goat-headed man or fawn (self-preservation). What tempts? How are you vulnerable. What are your wants and needs for the moment, for the long term?
Here's my axiom to the story of the Garden of Eden.
God = Potential in everything, therefore, he placed and made aware to unaware man and woman that said temptation existed in the forest, man had potential for temptation and God was aware of his own designs. He also knew where those temptations arise, necessity and self-preservation would also play a part. But the whole thing depends upon choice from being aware of temptation.
"Lead me not to temptation, sayith the Lord."
What came out of eating the fruit? We were able to observe consequence before it passed, therefore we could see shame in something that was unshameful before, so, my axiom is that self-awareness arose out of eating the fruit, we gained a power before we knew how to use it. The next part is the kicker, what came next was our shame and hiding, upon being asked man passed-the-buck to woman, who took some blame, and woman passed-the-buck to the devil (which exists both within man and woman) which then God punished the Devil by sending both man and woman out of the Garden for their potentialities for consequential understanding before action makes them unpredictable and difficult to understand.

But even my explanation is still about a story in a garden, the garden is the lie, the garden is the earth before we changed it, not some small park in a desert.
God is self-awareness and potential energies within everything.
Devil is self-preservation and temptation of kinetic energies observed in everything.

therefore what is God and what is the Devil?
I'm taking the Faith that they both exist, to find out WHY that people believe they exist and question this not to dismiss it, but to know WHY.
So far, this is what I have.
God = Self-Awareness, Potential Harmony, choice within the future, imagination.
Devil = Self-Preservation, Kinetic Harmony, Safety, security, peace, solice, fulfillment, emotions, sensations, pride, experience.

So, if both exist within us, why not use both? Why not communicate and cooperate with both? We can not extinguish one or the other. They seem pretty complimentary to me. I would like to have pride in promoting choice and exploring imagined peace, and I would really like to imagine experience and experience imagination. Both seem just as enjoyable and exciting as living. But I guess that depends on your point of view, after all everything is relative to location upon perception.

To decipher between what good and evil are relative to perceiver and relative to transmitter we'll take in some of the prior examples.

person 1: has ability to tell truth and lie, kill or save, be master or slave.
Person 2: has ability to tell truth and lie, kill or save, be master or slave.

So both person 2 and person 1 are similar in nature.

When person 1 exhibits personally detestible attributes of person 2, person 2 may exhibit repressed detestible attributes of person 1. Therefore, because of our nature we are destined to be alone.

However, if person 1 and person 2 both observe, recall, and speculate about themselves and the other, then choice becomes one factor, potential was already present for either unification or segregation, but without communication and cooperation self-preservation of both sets in, as opposed to using self-awareness, patience, understanding that neither of us have the answers we're looking for, we just like to tell people what we found. Perhaps, if the other person finds that interesting and perhaps that person may go looking themselves for their own answers, perhaps one day that person too may like to tell other people what they found.

So, I'm here just telling people what I've found. Maybe someone may find these ideas interesting and perhaps they'll take up their own investigation and be back to tell the tale. Perhaps the people that wrote the bible were such people, perhaps they were storytellers and poets...perhaps.

person 1: has ability to tell truth and lie, kill or save, be master or slave.
Person 2: has ability to tell truth and lie, kill or save, be master or slave.

You are just like Saint Thomas Aquinas.  And by that I mean you like to build a self made continuum of theoretical hypothesis based on your personal philosophy achieved through hours of sitting in a room.

actually, 23 years in a 6'x6'x7' room. And yes, while all my tortuous statements are bold and controversial, especially the ones about religious philosophies and theologies, there is still very valid information awaiting within the arbitrary and oblivious statements that I speak, when you see all of them as true, then you will know from which position I speak.

Put this through your mind, if you have the capacity to do so;
If I say that a thing that I can speculate which bares no tangibility to it whatsoever has the name of GOD, how ridiculous is it to assume that the person asking for evidence of such exists outside of their own body? Aren't they the ignorant ones? I'm not talking about something outside of us, I'm talking about EVERYTHING as a whole.

What are the cycles of everything? What is the entire cycle of scientific method? What is the cycle of a human life? What cycles are encompassed within a human life cycle? What cycle are we encompassed within? Can we quantify all of them together without definition? Can we define them without dividing them?
In the words of Shakespeare, "To be or not to be, that is the question".
1 or 0, make your choice.
BTW, the make-believe equation for god vs devil is this:
God = 100%
Devil = 50%
? = the other 50%
...us? I don't know? But should we dismiss or accept a statement even if we can't provide adequate definition to it due to lack of observable evidence? Not necessarily, just put it on the back burner, use what you know to find out what you don't know, and have a great life. :)

You should hang out with Descartes. 

So what you're saying is I die. Jee, thanks.

Descartes had a great set of standards, I definitely enjoy his attitude towards life. You see, much of science and math is derived from relgion and philosophy, but most only go as far back as the people who actually practiced and derived theorems and such. It's a big waste of historical tie-ins that make the learning process more fulfilling.
Shoot! Just last night I learned how to make meat-balls and spagetti with my uncle. He was teaching me how to make the meat-balls and explaining how chefs do it, and then he told me stories about how ingredients like rosemary are just as common as salt and pepper to chefs. He showed me the times settings and such and showed me the mathematics involved, shortly after that we discussed differences in temperature compared to time exposure in a convection environment. It's really much more fulfilling than just nuking soup in a microwave. Well, for me religion is a big part of our history, not in the literal sense, but in the contextual sense. Some people don't look for opportunity, the sit around like a plant or tree and wait for it to come to them. Well, how do you look for opportunities?
Take the game of golf for instance:
Golf is a game about recovery, make a move, observe where it goes and then decide how to get it closer to your goal. The more you do this in the game the better your game gets. You'll find that you are actually playing the game of life, but on a smaller scale with fewer distractions. But everything about life is there, but why don't we see it everwhere?
Here is how I see it:
If you are expecting a situation, the situation will not arise.
If you are waiting for something, it will not come.
If you are awake, you can not wake up.
If you can see, than you can't miss appearances.
These things are what an ignorant person believes.
They think that they have rights when they have privileges disguised as rights. They think they are self-aware because they are alive. They think they are smart because they are human. They think they are gods cause they are smart. They think they are invulnerable to attack, yet feel a very human chill crawl up their spine when the phone rings.
WTF? Isn't this a little too childish? Well, yes. Some people just don't wake up at all to the possibilities, so they think that waiting for them is better. Well, it's like a picture of an old skeleton on a couch holding a can of beer with the saying, "My chance will come some day".
Here is what I have been doing. Doing everything wrong so I can talk about it later, where do you think I got all this info from, a book? a teacher? a parent? NO! This is my personal experience, DO NOT BE LIKE ME if you want a life! So, that's my experience. BEWARE!!! 30 years living at home with mom....:|

ETHEREAL

Swift shimmering shadow steps silently; saddened, still softly severing serenities, slicing sympathy staggering sturdily; suffering sarcastic solace. Never noticing naïve naiads nor narrows nor necrotic nethers nestled nearby; naughty neutral nocturnal nexus nevertheless normally nostalgic notions; noteworthy nemesis neo neurotic neuralgia. Exceptional effervescing elemental ephemeral entity experiencing euphoria everlasting eternally eschew evermore, Ethereal

READCRAM, cum out an pley-ay. *reaches into pocket* I have some canned-D for U. *rubs plastic wrapper* Cum on Re-DCreme I'm lookin for a little shota-tran-loli-kon play-time wif u. Pweeeeaaaase. Mwy wittl hawt is bweakin' you always hide'n. Cum on and play. Pwitty pweease....? *testing, testing, 1, 2, 3, taps microphone*

RedCream's a chicken shit, he'll never bust a move on us, all he ever does is give us channer's a healthy dose of verbal Ketamine, which to us really fucks our perception terribly and to what end? So he's the big cahoona, BFW. He doesn't have a respectful bone left in his body, he just needs to be left to his own self-immolative thoughts and what we channer's might have a chance to do is bring some chocolate, graham crackers, and 'mellows to the party. At least that way we can all enjoy ourselves making 'smores instead of being so drugged out on ignorance we find our toes tasty. W    T     F....:|
BTW, RedSnak, FTW, GTFO of 4chan, while you still have the ability to maneauver using body parts. Just, do what your faith tells you to do...to die, and please do try to get this accomplished before my 3 o'clock...I have a date with a couple of female doctors. :)

Good sense is, of all things among men, the most equally distributed; for
every one thinks himself so abundantly provided with it, that those even
who are the most difficult to satisfy in everything else, do not usually
desire a larger measure of this quality than they already possess.  And in
this it is not likely that all are mistaken the conviction is rather to be
held as testifying that the power of judging aright and of distinguishing
truth from error, which is properly what is called  good sense or reason,
is by nature equal in all men; and that the diversity of our opinions,
consequently, does not arise from some being endowed with a larger share
of reason than others, but solely from this, that we conduct our thoughts
along different ways, and do not fix our attention on the same objects.
For to be possessed of a vigorous mind is not enough; the prime requisite
is rightly to apply it.  The greatest minds, as they are capable of the
highest excellences, are open likewise to the greatest aberrations; and
those who travel very slowly may yet make far greater progress, provided
they keep always to the straight road, than those who, while they run,
forsake it.

For myself, I have never fancied my mind to be in any respect more perfect
than those of the generality; on the contrary, I have often wished that I
were equal to some others in promptitude of thought, or in clearness and
distinctness of imagination, or in fullness and readiness of memory.  And
besides these, I know of no other qualities that contribute to the
perfection of the mind; for as to the reason or sense, inasmuch as it is
that alone which constitutes us men, and distinguishes us from the brutes,
I am disposed to believe that it is to be found complete in each
individual; and on this point to adopt the common opinion of philosophers,
who say that the difference of greater and less holds only among the
accidents, and not among the forms or natures of individuals of the same
species.

I will not hesitate, however, to avow my belief that it has been my
singular good  fortune to have very early in life fallen in with certain
tracks which have conducted me to considerations and maxims, of which I
have formed a method that gives me the means, as I think, of gradually
augmenting my knowledge, and of raising it by little and little to the
highest point which the mediocrity of my talents and the brief duration of
my life will permit me to reach.  For I have already reaped from it such
fruits that, although I have been accustomed to think lowly enough of
myself, and although when I look with the eye of a philosopher at the
varied courses and pursuits of mankind at large, I find scarcely one which
does not appear in vain and useless, I nevertheless derive the highest
satisfaction from the progress I conceive myself to have already made in
the search after truth, and cannot help entertaining such expectations of
the future as to believe that if, among the occupations of men as men, there
is any one really excellent and important, it is that which I have chosen.

After all, it is possible I may be mistaken; and it is but a little
copper and glass, perhaps, that I take for gold and diamonds.  I know how
very liable we are to delusion in what relates to ourselves, and also how
much the judgments of our friends are to be suspected when given in our
favor.  But I shall endeavor in this discourse to describe the paths I
have followed, and to delineate my life as in a picture, in order that
each one may also be able to judge of them for himself, and that in the
general opinion entertained of them, as gathered from current report, I
myself may have a new help towards instruction to be added to those I have
been in the habit of employing.

My present design, then, is not to teach the method which each ought to
follow for the right conduct of his reason, but solely to describe the way
in which I have endeavored to conduct my own.  They who set themselves to
give precepts must of course regard themselves as possessed of greater skill
than those to whom they prescribe; and if they err in the slightest particular,
they subject themselves to censure.  But as this tract is put forth merely
as a history, or, if you will, as a tale, in which, amid some examples worthy
of imitation, there will be found, perhaps, as many more which it were
advisable not to follow, I hope it will prove useful to some without being
hurtful to any, and that my openness will find some favor with all.

From my childhood, I have been familiar with letters; and as I was given
to believe that by their help a clear and certain knowledge of all that is
useful in life might be acquired, I was ardently desirous of instruction.
But as soon as I had finished the entire course of study, at the close of
which it is customary to be admitted into the order of the learned, I
completely changed my opinion.  For I found myself involved in so many
doubts and errors, that I was convinced I had advanced no farther in all
my attempts at learning, than the discovery at every turn of my own
ignorance.  And yet I was studying in one of the most celebrated schools in
Europe, in which I thought there must be learned men,  if such were
anywhere to be found.  I had been taught all that others learned there;
and not contented with the sciences actually taught us, I had, in
addition, read all the books that had fallen into my hands, treating of
such branches as are esteemed the most curious and rare.  I knew the
judgment which others had formed of me; and I did not find that I was
considered inferior to my fellows, although there were among them some who
were already marked out to fill the places of our instructors.  And, in
fine, our age appeared to me as flourishing, and as fertile in powerful
minds as any preceding one.  I was thus led to take the liberty of judging
of all other men by myself, and of concluding that there was no science in
existence that was of such a nature as I had previously been given to believe.

I still continued, however, to hold in esteem the studies of the schools.
I was aware that the languages taught in them are necessary to the
understanding of the writings of the ancients; that the grace of fable
stirs the mind; that the memorable deeds of history elevate it; and, if
read with discretion, aid in forming the judgment; that the perusal of all
excellent books is,  as it were, to interview with the noblest men of past
ages, who have written them, and even a studied interview, in which are
discovered to us only their choicest thoughts; that eloquence has
incomparable force and beauty; that poesy has its ravishing graces and
delights; that in the mathematics there are many refined discoveries
eminently suited to gratify the inquisitive, as well as further all the
arts an lessen the labour of man; that numerous highly useful precepts and
exhortations to virtue are contained in treatises on morals; that theology
points out the path to heaven; that philosophy affords the means of
discoursing with an appearance of truth on all matters, and commands the
admiration of the more simple; that jurisprudence, medicine, and the other
sciences, secure for their cultivators honors and riches; and, in fine,
that it is useful to bestow some attention upon all, even upon those
abounding the most in superstition and error, that we may be in a position
to determine their real value, and guard against being deceived.

But I believed that I had already given sufficient time to languages, and
likewise to the reading of the writings of the ancients, to their
histories and fables.   For to hold converse with those of other ages and
to travel, are almost the same thing.  It is useful to know something of
the manners of different nations, that we may be enabled  to form a more
correct judgment regarding our own, and be prevented from thinking that
everything contrary to our customs is ridiculous and irrational, a
conclusion usually come to by those whose experience has been limited to
their own country.  On the other hand, when too much time is occupied in
traveling, we become strangers to our native country; and the over
curious in the customs of the past are generally ignorant of those of the
present.  Besides, fictitious narratives lead us to imagine the possibility
of many events that are impossible; and even the most faithful histories,
if they do not wholly misrepresent matters, or exaggerate their importance
to render the account of them more worthy of perusal, omit, at least, almost
always the meanest and least striking of the attendant circumstances; hence
it happens that the remainder does not represent the truth, and that such as
regulate their conduct by examples drawn from this source, are apt to fall
into the extravagances of the knight-errants of romance, and to entertain
projects that exceed their powers.

I esteemed eloquence highly, and was in raptures with poesy; but I thought
that both were gifts of nature rather than fruits of study.  Those in whom
the faculty of reason is predominant, and who most skillfully dispose their
thoughts with a view to render them clear and intelligible, are always the
best able to persuade others of the truth of what they lay down, though
they should speak only in the language of Lower Brittany, and be wholly
ignorant of the rules of rhetoric; and those whose minds are stored with
the most agreeable fancies, and who can give expression to them with the
greatest embellishment and harmony, are still the best poets, though
unacquainted with the art of poetry.

I was especially delighted with the mathematics, on account of the
certitude and evidence of their reasonings;  but I had not as yet a
precise knowledge of their true use; and thinking that they but
contributed to the advancement of the mechanical arts, I was astonished
that foundations, so strong and solid, should have had no loftier
superstructure reared on them.  On the other hand, I compared the
disquisitions of the ancient moralists to very towering and magnificent
palaces with no better foundation than sand and mud:  they laud the virtues
very highly, and exhibit them as estimable far above anything on earth;
but they give us no adequate criterion of virtue, and frequently that
which they designate with so fine a name is but apathy, or pride,
or despair, or parricide.

I revered our theology, and aspired as much as any one to reach heaven:
but being given assuredly to understand that the way is not less open to
the most ignorant than to the most learned, and that the revealed truths
which lead to heaven are above our comprehension, I did not presume to
subject them to the impotency of my reason; and I thought that in order
competently to undertake their examination, there was need of some special
help from heaven, and of being more than man.

Of philosophy I will say nothing, except that when I saw that it had been
cultivated for many ages by the most distinguished men, and that yet there
is not a single matter within its sphere which is not still in dispute,
and nothing, therefore, which is above doubt, I did not presume to
anticipate that my success would be greater in it than that of others; and
further, when I considered the number of conflicting opinions touching a
single matter that may be upheld by learned men, while there can be but
one true, I reckoned as well-nigh false all that was only probable.

As to the other sciences, inasmuch as these borrow their principles from
philosophy, I judged that no solid superstructures could be reared on
foundations so infirm; and neither the honor nor the gain held out by them
was sufficient to determine me to their cultivation:  for I was not, thank
Heaven, in a condition which compelled me to make merchandise of science
for the bettering of my fortune; and though I might not profess to scorn
glory as a cynic, I yet made very slight account of that honor which I
hoped to acquire only through fictitious titles.  And, in fine, of false
sciences I thought I knew the worth sufficiently to escape being deceived
by the professions of an alchemist, the predictions of an astrologer, the
impostures of a magician, or by the artifices and boasting of any of those
who profess to know things of which they are ignorant.

For these reasons, as soon as my age permitted me to pass from under the
control of my instructors, I entirely abandoned the study of letters, and
resolved no longer to seek any other science than the knowledge of myself,
or of the great book of the world.  I spent the remainder of my youth in
traveling, in visiting courts and armies, in holding intercourse with men
of different dispositions and ranks, in collecting varied experience, in
proving myself in the different situations into which fortune threw me,
and, above all, in making such reflection on the matter of my experience
as to secure my improvement.  For it occurred to me that I should find
much more truth in the reasonings of each individual with reference to the
affairs in which he is personally interested, and the issue of which must
presently punish him if he has judged amiss, than in those conducted by a
man of letters in his study, regarding speculative matters that are of no
practical moment, and followed by no consequences to himself, farther,
perhaps, than that they foster his vanity the better the more remote they
are from common sense; requiring, as they must in this case, the exercise
of greater ingenuity and art to render them probable.  In addition, I had
always a most earnest desire to know how to distinguish the true from the
false, in order that I might be able clearly to discriminate the right
path in life, and proceed in it with confidence.

It is true that, while busied only in considering the manners of other
men, I found here, too, scarce any ground for settled conviction, and
remarked hardly less contradiction among them than in the opinions of the
philosophers.  So that the greatest advantage I derived from the study
consisted in this, that, observing many things which, however extravagant
and ridiculous to our apprehension, are yet by common consent received and
approved by other great nations, I learned to entertain too decided a
belief in regard to nothing of the truth of which I had been persuaded
merely by example and custom; and thus I gradually extricated myself from
many errors powerful enough to darken our natural intelligence, and
incapacitate us in great measure from listening to reason.  But after I had
been occupied several years in thus studying the book of the world, and in
essaying to gather some experience, I at length resolved to make myself an
object of study, and to employ all the powers of my mind in choosing the
paths I ought to follow, an undertaking which was accompanied with greater
success than it would have been had I never quitted my country or my books.

I was then in Germany, attracted thither by the wars in that country,
which have not yet been brought to a termination; and as I was returning
to the army from the coronation of the emperor, the setting in of winter
arrested me in a locality where, as I found no society to interest me, and
was besides fortunately undisturbed by any cares or passions, I remained
the whole day in seclusion, with full opportunity to occupy my attention
with my own thoughts.  Of these one of the very first that occurred to me
was, that there is seldom so much perfection in works composed of many
separate parts, upon which different hands had been employed, as in those
completed by a single master.   Thus it is observable that the buildings
which a single architect has planned and executed, are generally more
elegant and commodious than those which several have attempted to improve,
by making old walls serve for purposes for which they were not originally
built.  Thus also, those ancient cities which, from being at first only
villages, have become, in course of time, large towns, are usually but ill
laid out compared with the regularity constructed towns which a
professional architect has freely planned on an open plain; so that
although the several buildings of the former may often equal or surpass in
beauty those of the latter, yet when one observes their indiscriminate
juxtaposition, there a large one and here a small, and the consequent
crookedness and irregularity of the streets, one is disposed to allege
that chance rather than any human will guided by reason must have led to
such an arrangement.  And if we consider that nevertheless there have been
at all times certain officers whose duty it was to see that private
buildings contributed to public ornament, the difficulty of reaching high
perfection with but the materials of others to operate on, will be readily
acknowledged.  In the same way I fancied that those nations which, starting
from a semi-barbarous state and advancing to civilization by slow degrees,
have had their laws successively determined, and, as it were, forced upon
them simply by experience of the hurtfulness of particular crimes and
disputes, would by this process come to be possessed of less perfect
institutions than those which, from the commencement of their association
as communities, have followed the appointments of some wise legislator.  It
is thus quite certain that the constitution of the true religion, the
ordinances of which are derived from God, must be incomparably superior to
that of every other.  And, to speak of human affairs, I believe that the
pre-eminence of Sparta was due not to the goodness of each of its laws in
particular, for many of these were very strange, and even opposed to good
morals, but to the circumstance that, originated by a single individual,
they all tended to a single end.  In the same way I thought that the
sciences contained in books (such of them at least as are made up of
probable reasonings, without demonstrations), composed as they are of the
opinions of many different individuals massed together, are farther
removed from truth than the simple inferences which a man of good sense
using his natural and unprejudiced judgment draws respecting the matters
of his experience.  And because we have all to pass through a state of
infancy to manhood, and have been of necessity, for a length of time,
governed by our desires and preceptors (whose dictates were frequently
conflicting, while neither perhaps always counseled us for the best), I
farther concluded that it is almost impossible that our judgments can be
so correct or solid as they would have been, had our reason been mature
from the moment of our birth, and had we always been guided by it alone.

It is true, however, that it is not customary to pull down all the houses
of a town with the single design of rebuilding them differently, and
thereby rendering the streets more handsome; but it often happens that a
private individual takes down his own with the view of erecting it anew,
and that people are even sometimes constrained to this when their houses
are in danger of falling from age, or when the foundations are insecure.
With this before me by way of example, I was persuaded that it would
indeed be preposterous for a private individual to think of reforming a
state by fundamentally changing it throughout, and overturning it in order
to set it up amended; and the same I thought was true of any similar
project for reforming the body of the sciences, or the order of teaching
them established in the schools:  but as for the opinions which up to that
time I had embraced, I thought that I could not do better than resolve at
once to sweep them wholly away, that I might afterwards be in a position
to admit either others more correct, or even perhaps the same when they
had undergone the scrutiny of reason.  I firmly believed that in this way I
should much better succeed in the conduct of my life, than if I built only
upon old foundations, and leaned upon principles which, in my youth, I had
taken upon trust.  For although I recognized various difficulties in this
undertaking, these were not, however, without remedy, nor once to be
compared with such as attend the slightest reformation in public affairs.
Large bodies, if once overthrown, are with great difficulty set up again,
or even kept erect when once seriously shaken, and the fall of such is
always disastrous.  Then if there are any imperfections in the
constitutions of states (and that many such exist the diversity of
constitutions is alone sufficient to assure us), custom has without doubt
materially smoothed their inconveniences, and has even managed to steer
altogether clear of, or insensibly corrected a number which sagacity could
not have provided against with equal effect; and, in fine, the defects are
almost always more tolerable than the change necessary for their removal;
in the same manner that highways which wind among mountains, by being much
frequented, become gradually so smooth and commodious, that it is much
better to follow them than to seek a straighter path by climbing over the
tops of rocks and descending to the bottoms of precipices.

Hence it is that I cannot in any degree approve of those restless and busy
meddlers who, called neither by birth nor fortune to take part in the
management of public affairs, are yet always projecting reforms; and if I
thought that this tract contained aught which might justify the suspicion
that I was a victim of such folly, I would by no means permit its
publication.  I have never contemplated anything higher than the
reformation of my own opinions, and basing them on a foundation wholly my
own.  And although my own satisfaction with my work has led me to present
here a draft of it, I do not by any means therefore recommend to every one
else to make a similar attempt.  Those whom God has endowed with a larger
measure of genius will entertain, perhaps, designs still more exalted; but
for the many I am much afraid lest even the present undertaking be more
than they can safely venture to imitate.  The single design to strip one's
self of all past beliefs is one that ought not to be taken by every one.
The majority of men is composed of two classes, for neither of which would
this be at all a befitting resolution:  in the first place, of those who
with more than a due confidence in their own powers, are precipitate in
their judgments and want the patience requisite for orderly and
circumspect thinking; whence it happens, that if men of this class once
take the liberty to doubt of their accustomed opinions, and quit the
beaten highway, they will never be able to thread the byway that would
lead them by a shorter course, and will lose themselves and continue to
wander for life; in the second place, of those who, possessed of
sufficient sense or modesty to determine that there are others who excel
them in the power of discriminating between truth and error, and by whom
they may be instructed, ought rather to content themselves with the
opinions of such than trust for more correct to their own reason.

For my own part, I should doubtless have belonged to the latter class, had
I received instruction from but one master, or had I never known the
diversities of opinion that from time immemorial have prevailed among men
of the greatest learning.  But I had become aware, even so early as during
my college life, that no opinion, however absurd and incredible, can be
imagined, which has not been maintained by some on of the philosophers;
and afterwards in the course of my travels I remarked that all those whose
opinions are decidedly repugnant to ours are not in that account
barbarians and savages, but on the contrary that many of these nations
make an equally good, if not better, use of their reason than we do.  I
took into account also the very different character which a person brought
up from infancy in France or Germany exhibits, from that which, with the
same mind originally, this individual would have possessed had he lived
always among the Chinese or with savages, and the circumstance that in
dress itself the fashion which pleased us ten years ago, and which may
again, perhaps, be received into favor before ten years have gone,
appears to us at this moment extravagant and ridiculous.  I was thus led
to infer that the ground of our opinions is far more custom and example
than any certain knowledge.  And, finally, although such be the ground of
our opinions, I remarked that a plurality of suffrages is no guarantee of
truth where it is at all of difficult discovery, as in such cases it is
much more likely that it will be found by one than by many.  I could,
however, select from the crowd no one whose opinions seemed worthy of
preference, and thus I found myself constrained, as it were, to use my own
reason in the conduct of my life.

But like one walking alone and in the dark, I resolved to proceed so
slowly and with such circumspection, that if I did not advance far, I
would at least guard against falling.  I did not even choose to dismiss
summarily any of the opinions that had crept into my belief without having
been introduced by reason, but first of all took sufficient time carefully
to satisfy myself of the general nature of the task I was setting myself,
and ascertain the true method by which to arrive at the knowledge of
whatever lay within the compass of my powers.

Among the branches of philosophy, I had, at an earlier period, given some
attention to logic, and among those of the mathematics to geometrical
analysis and algebra, -- three arts or sciences which ought, as I
conceived, to contribute something to my design.  But, on examination, I
found that, as for logic, its syllogisms and the majority of its other
precepts are of avail- rather in the communication of what we already
know, or even as the art of Lully, in speaking without judgment of things
of which we are ignorant, than in the investigation of the unknown; and
although this science contains indeed a number of correct and very
excellent precepts, there are, nevertheless, so many others, and these
either injurious or superfluous, mingled with the former, that it is
almost quite as difficult to effect a severance of the true from the false
as it is to extract a Diana or a Minerva from a rough block of marble.
Then as to the analysis of the ancients and the algebra of the moderns,
besides that they embrace only matters highly abstract, and, to
appearance, of no use, the former is so exclusively restricted to the
consideration of figures, that it can exercise the understanding only on
condition of greatly fatiguing the imagination; and, in the latter, there
is so complete a subjection to certain rules and formulas, that there
results an art full of confusion and obscurity calculated to embarrass,
instead of a science fitted to cultivate the mind.  By these considerations
I was induced to seek some other method which would comprise the
advantages of the three and be exempt from their defects.  And as a
multitude of laws often only hampers justice, so that a state is best
governed when, with few laws, these are rigidly administered; in like
manner, instead of the great number of precepts of which logic is
composed, I believed that the four following would prove perfectly
sufficient for me, provided I took the firm and unwavering resolution
never in a single instance to fail in observing them.

The first was never to accept anything for true which I did not clearly know
to be such; that is to say, carefully to avoid precipitancy and prejudice,
and to comprise nothing more in my judgement than what was presented to
my mind so clearly and distinctly as to exclude all ground of doubt.

The second, to divide each of the difficulties under examination into as many
parts as possible, and as might be necessary for its adequate solution.

The third, to conduct my thoughts in such order that, by commencing with
objects the simplest and easiest to know, I might ascend by little and
little, and, as it were, step by step, to the knowledge of the more complex;
assigning in thought a certain order even to those objects which in their
own nature do not stand in a relation of antecedence and sequence.

And the last, in every case to make enumerations so complete, and reviews
so general, that I might be assured that nothing was omitted.