Who was Voltaire and why do I turn to him now? Because he was smart, wise and a visionary;
one that understood things about life and living and perhaps on scale of King Solomon.
First, and as a precondition, even caveat, he was critical of the church, organized religion, as with this remark,
There may be some good in religion, but an intelligent man does not need it as a support to morality; too often, in history, it has been used by priests to bemuse the public mind while kings picked the public pocket.
On the downside, he may have been too sharp, quick to judge but on the upside, may
have witnessed corruption in the church not the least of which was (and is) its fidelity to
(or infidelity with) the state.
Why I like some of his ideas, opinions and observations, is primarily because of his
described and expressed wittiness—and that is it! I do not like or appreciate his lofty
and lusty aspects because it seems his choice, claimed as counter to religion, is in fact
his own religion—what he believes…. For the rest, much of this man’s works, I arrive
with a blank slate, purposely ready and possibly able to understand something(s) of this
great figure of his time and since.
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