Humankind stands at a crossroads. We must choose wisely, lest we, as desperate individuals living in desperate times, tear apart the fabric of Humanity which sustains us all. The notion of "The Greater Good," does not have to be at conflict with the maximum benefit to the individual person. It is our blindness to this simple, but persistently elusive possibility that causes history to repeat itself, with more entropy and deterioration at every societal reincarnation.
If we permit this to persist, the tenuous bonds which hold us together as a civilization and as a collaborative living creature will stretch to the extent of irreparable brokenness, after which our chapter in the Book Of Eternity will become reduced to a questionable legend -- a mythology for some other sentient species to contemplate in the distant future.
In this particular sermon, he spoke of the engineered interconnectedness of every Human Creature (something that we too often fail to realize until a great catastrophe, like a grand and forceful messenger of the Collective Consciousness, makes it abundantly clear to us that we must learn to live together and to help one another). This is not to the detriment of each of us, as individuals – on the contrary, what benefits the whole of Humanity may truly be to the advantage of each individual constituent of the grand and diverse multicellular organism to which we, each of us, undeniably belongs.
Douglas E. Castle
John Donne's profoundly insightful and visionary sermon (which he called a 'meditation,' and which has been translated to reflect Modern English spelling) follows:
Meditation XVII, John Donne
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” – Meditation XVII, John Donne
ABOUT JOHN DONNE, Courtesy Of Wikipedia:
John Donne (21 January 1572 – 31 March 1631), English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest, is now considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are notable for their strong and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness of metaphor, especially as compared to that of his contemporaries. John Donne's style is characterised by abrupt openings, various paradoxes, ironies, dislocations. These features in combination with his frequent dramatic or everyday speech rhythms, his tense syntax, and his tough eloquence were both a reaction against the smoothness of conventional Elizabethan poetry and an adaptation into English of European baroque and mannerist techniques. His early career was marked by poetry that bore immense knowledge of British society and he met that knowledge with sharp criticism. Another important theme in Donne’s poetry was the idea of true religion, which was something that he spent a lot of time considering and theorising about. He wrote secular poems as well as erotic poems and love poems. Donne is particularly famous for his mastery of metaphysical conceits.[2]
Despite his great education and poetic talents, he lived in poverty for several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. He spent much of the money he inherited during and after his education on womanising, literature, pastimes and travel. In 1601 Donne secretly married Anne Moore with whom he had 12 children.[3] In 1615 he became an Anglican priest although he did not want to take Anglican orders. He did so because King James I persistently ordered it. In 1621, he was appointed the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London. He also served as a member of parliament in 1601 and again in 1614.
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