The Dominion of Fear

Dogmatism and Scepticism

[Only] while under the dominion of fear, do men fall … prey to superstition …

— Baruch Spinoza (1632 – 77), Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, 1677.


The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge …

— Proverbs, 1:7, King James Bible, 1611.


Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful.

— Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger (c 4 BCE – 65 CE) (Disputed).


And in these four things,

• opinion of ghosts,
• ignorance of second causes,
• devotion towards what men fear, and
• taking things casual for prognostics,

consisteth the natural seed of religion …
So easy are men drawn to believe any thing, from such men as have gotten credit with them; and can with gentleness, and dexterity, take hold of their fear, and ignorance.

— Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679), Of Religion, Leviathan, Chapter 12, 1651.


The articles of Christian faith … should be accepted as such.
They cannot be proved by reason; nor can they be basis of knowledge.
Science and theology are essentially different and must not be confused.

— Francesco Landini (c1325 – 97)


That's the thing about faith.
If you don't have it, you can't understand it.
And if you do, no explanation is necessary.

— Accession, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Episode 16, Season 4, 1996.


NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Our CHIEF weapon is Surprise …
Surprise and Fear. …

Our TWO weapons are Fear and Surprise …
And Ruthless Efficiency. …

Our THREE weapons are Fear, Surprise, and Ruthless Efficiency …
And An Almost Fanatical Devotion To The Pope. …

Our FOUR …
AMONGST our weaponry are such diverse elements as:

• Fear,
• Surprise,
• Ruthless Efficiency, [AND …]
• An Almost Fanatical Devotion To The Pope …

(Monty Python's Flying Circus, BBC, 22 September, 1970)

Ideology and Fanaticism

Dogmatism and Scepticism

Freedom is obedience to leaders
Virtue is violence
Manhood is domination

— A Woman's Liberation, 1995.


Love of god and country is like fire:

• a wonderful friend,
• a terrible enemy.

Only children play with fire.

— Ursula Le Guin (1929 – 2018), Forgiveness Day, Asimov's Science Fiction, 1994.


Nothing emboldens sin so much as mercy.

— William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616), Timon of Athens, Act 3, Scene 5, 1605-6.


[One] cannot accomplish a great work without doing some evil.

— Leopold Victor (1835 – 1909), King of the Belgians (1865 – 1909)


War … proves

• some to be gods, and
• others to be mere men,

by turning

• the latter into slaves, and
• the former into masters …

— Heraclitus (c535 – c475 BCE)


The power of Marxist-Leninist theory lies in the fact that it enables the Party

• to find the right orientation in any situation,
• to understand the inner connection of current events,
• to foresee their course, and
• to perceive not only
  • how and in what direction they are developing in the present, but
  • how and in what direction they are bound to develop in the future.

— History of the Communist Party, Moscow, 1945.

Stage and Screen

Peace and Long Life

The world is an amazing place.

— SBS Television


Fiery the angels fell
Deep thunder rolled around their shores
Burning with the fires of Orc

— Ridley Scott (1937), Bladerunner, 1982.


Fiery the angels rose, and as they rose deep thunder roll'd
Around their shores: indignant burning with the fires of Orc.

— William Blake (1757 – 1827), America a Prophecy, 1793.


Life is pain …
Anyone who says differently is selling something.

— Rob Reiner (1947), The Princess Bride, 1987.


Shoot straight you bastards:
Don't make a mess of it!

— Bruce Beresford (1940), Breaker Morant, 1980.


Come on you apes!
You wanna live forever?

— Unknown Platoon Sergeant, 1918.


Can anyone be truly free, who only serves himself?

— The Elixir, Episode 11, Season 2, 1973.


If a man dwells on the past, then he robs the present.
But if a man ignores the past, he may rob the future.
The seeds of our destiny are nurtured by the roots of our past.

— Blood of the Dragon, Episode 1.


[A man] does the only thing he can do.
He lives each day from its start to its end.
And hopes there may be another to follow.

— Jerry Thorpe (1926), The Vanishing Image, Episode 13, Season 3, Kung Fu, 1974.

Love is a Word

[Love is just] a word
What matters is the connection the word implies …

Karma is a word
Like "love"
A way of saying:

What I am here to do

I do not resent my karma — I'm grateful for it …

Everything that has a beginning
Has an end

(The Matrix Revolutions, 2003)


You've had your time
The future is our world …
The future is our time …

Free your mind!

(Lilly & Lana Wachowski, The Matrix, 1999)

The Good Earth

And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck,
a merry Christmas, and God bless all of you.
All of you, on the good earth.

— Frank Boorman (1928), Commander, Apollo 8, December 1968.

(David Fairhead, Mission Control, 2018)

Poetry and Song

Peace and Long Life

Wilfred Owen (1893 – 1918)

(Original manuscript of "Anthem for Doomed Youth", showing Sassoon's revisions, 1917)

William Blake (1757 – 1827)

(Songs of Experience, 1794)

Janis Joplin (1943 – 70)

Oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends
So, Oh Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz

— Pearl, 1971.

(Amy Berg, Janis: Little Girl Blue, 2015)

Robert Stevenson (1850 – 94):
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.
(Requiem, 1887)

William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939):
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
(The Second Coming, 1919)

Thomas Macaulay (1800 – 59):
To every man upon the earth
Death cometh soon or late
And how can [a] man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers
And the temples of his Gods
(Horatius, Lays of Ancient Rome, 1842)

Aeschylus (c 525/524 – c 456/455 BCE):
[He] who learns must suffer.
And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
and in our own despite, against our will,
comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.
(Agamemnon, Oresteia, 458 BCE)

Euripides (480 – 406 BCE):
To the dear lone lands untroubled of men,
Where no voice sounds, and amid the shadowy green
The little things of the woodland live unseen.
(Bacchae, 405 BCE)

Bhagavad Gita:
Now I am become Death,
The Destroyer of Worlds.
(400 BCE)

Laurie Anderson (1947):
I don't know about your brain — but mine is really bossy …
(Babydoll, Strange Angels, 1989)

Martin Luther (1483 – 1546):
A might fortress is our God, a trusty shield and weapon;
He helps us free from every need that hath us now o'ertaken.
The old evil Foe now means deadly woe; deep guile and great might
Are his dread arms in fight; on earth is not his equal
(A Might Fortress, c1528)

Aeschylus (c 525/524 – c 456/455 BCE):
[He] who learns must suffer.
And even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
and in our own despite, against our will,
comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God.
(Agamemnon, Oresteia, 458 BCE)

Jewel (1974):
In the end, only kindness matters …