The difference between us is that the Professor [X] sees the ‘World’ purely in terms of those threats and those allurements which depend on money. I do not.The most ‘worldly’ society I have ever lived in is that of schoolboys: most worldly in the cruelty and arrogance of the strong, the toadyism and mutual treachery of the weak, and the unqualified snobbery of both. Nothing was so base that most members of the school proletariat would not do it, or suffer it, to win the favour of the school aristocracy: hardly any injustice too bad for the aristocracy to practise. But the class system did not in the least depend on the amount of pocket money.Who needs to care about money if most of the things he wants will be offered by cringing servility and the remainder can be taken by force?This lesson has remained with me all my life. That is one of the reasons why I cannot share [X's] exaltation at the banishment of Mammon from ‘a sixth of our planet’s surface’ [i.e. from the Soviet Union]. I have already lived in a world from which Mammon was banished: it was the most wicked and miserable I have yet known. If Mammon were the only devil, it would be another matter. But where Mammon vacates the throne, how if Moloch takes his place?As Aristotle said, ‘Men do not become tyrants in order to keep warm’. All men, of course, desire pleasure and safety. But all men also desire power and all men desire the mere sense of being ‘in the know’ or the ‘inner ring’, of not being ‘outsiders’: a passion insufficiently studied and the chief theme of my story. When the state of society is such that money is the passport to all these prizes, then of course money will be the prime temptation. But when the passport changes, the desires will remain.
And here, just for good measure (pun), is a video that impresses me every time I see it - the size of earth in context:
"In the beginning, God Created the Heavens and the Earth" --Genesis 1:1
"O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me... You both precede and follow me... If I go up to heaven, you are there... To you the night shines as bright as day..." --from Psalm 139
1. Trimming of the nails should be done on a regular and consistent basis, preferably twice a week. This will keep the quick of the nail pushed back so that the nails do not ... .2. The recommended nail length is 1/16" beyond the quick of the nail. Please note, however, that the nails should never be cut so short as to cause pain or discomfort!3. Sculpted nails, glued-on nails and the like are not allowed. Artificial nails can get caught in the ... , so they are expressly forbidden.4. The ... student has up to one week after receiving notice of this fingernail length policy to trim his or her nails according to the above guidelines. Profesional manicures are at the student's own expense.5. Failure to trim the nails may cause a student to lose up to ten points per lesson grade.
