Bertrand Russell - 'What I Have Lived For' (1967)

A short clip of Bertrand Russell.

#philosophy #bertrandrussell

[dear_ndugu]

This removed the breath from my lungs. An incredible human being who experienced feelings identical to mine a century ago.

Thank you for posting. I will read all of his writings. Cheers.

[philosophicast]

One of the most beautiful testimonies that I have had the privilege of hearing. Thank you.

[jahanishopnaeva]

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my
life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity
for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown
me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great ocean of anguish,
reaching to the very verge of despair.
I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy — ecstasy so great
that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this
joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness — that terrible
loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the
world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it finally,
because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the pre-
figuring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is
what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is
what — at last — I have found.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to under-
stand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And
I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds
sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward
the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of
pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by op-
pressors, helpless old people a burden to their sons, and the whole world
of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should
be. I long to alleviate this evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.
This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly
live it again if the chance were offered me.

[christopherwood]

Good old Berty!!! Always good to hear his voice, and his wise choice of words

[alexplotkin]

Cold, unfathomable lifeless abyss. Great words.

[yonathanasefaw]

Solitude can be a beautiful thing sometimes.

[nanov]

Spouses

Alys Pearsall Smith
​(m. 1894; div. 1921)​

Dora Black
​(m. 1921; div. 1935)​

Patricia Spence
​(m. 1936; div. 1952)​

Edith Finch ​
(m. 1952)

[dukeallen]

Trump, all his followers and those that espouse their religious righteousness manifests in my same despair.
Watching wildlife and plants brings some relief.

[dorianphilotheates]

I don’t wish to appear over-optimistic, but I think this young chap shows promise.

[paulbreen]

Why would he have not gone after the Divine love rather than seeking out unsatisfactory fleeting trysts with imperfect humans?

[CarloPlotegher]

Youtube video Bertrand Russel Speech to the future
Sir Karl Popper
Biologist Conrad Hale Waddington, Jaq Monod, Ernst Mayr, Nils Eldrege
Psychanalist Erich Fromm
Writer Amos Oz
Theologist Hans Kueng
Islamist Nasr Abu Zayd
Indian Poet Kabir
UNO Hymne (music and wordsmeaning youtube video)

[Robinson]

He was mostly searching love with his Ding-Dong I believe

[sciagurrato]

Bertrand Russell was one of the most morally reprehensible of the so-called “great philosophers”. Start with a search on Russell and eugenics…then proceed to Russell and China then Russell and nuclear weapons. Russell used his “intellectual prestige” to serve British aristocratic interests and above all, the British government.