The Rule of Law

Happy 250th America

Source unknown.

---

Overview - Rule of Law

What is the Rule of Law?

Good Question!

Anonymous

"Anonymous often ends its announcements with: “We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”

Blinding Ignorance

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us. 'O' wretched mortals, open your eyes!."

Leonardo da Vinci ¹

---

AI Overview

¹This quote is contributed to Leonardo da Vinci and is often found in his notebooks, reflecting his frustrations with human ignorance and inaction. It is a call to use observation, science, and intellect to overcome biases and superficial understanding.

Key Contextual Points:

Source: The phrase appears in Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, specifically referencing the tendency for human ignorance to lead to poor decisions, often cited in discussions of the artist's scientific and philosophical thought.

Interpretation: It is a plea for critical thinking and observation, encouraging people to look beyond surface-level reality to see the true nature of things.

Theatricality: The phrase "O! Wretched mortals" is noted as a passionate, almost despairing cry from Leonardo regarding the prevalence of human folly.

Broader Thought: It connects to his broader philosophies that experience and study (theory) are essential, rather than relying on unthinking practice, as seen in his collected thoughts on Goodreads.

¹ The quote emphasizes the importance of gaining knowledge through observation and intellectual effort rather than staying in the dark.

Aramaic Mysticism

Avrah KaDabra = "I create as I speak."

---

The Aramaic Heart of Jesus

The Da Vinci Code - Quotes

"Many have made a trade of delusions and false miracles deceiving the stupid mulitude."

"Blinding ignorance does mislead us, O' wretched mortals, open your eyes!."

Leonardo Da Vinci

The most merciful thing in the world…

“The most merciful thing in the world… is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on an island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far…”

The Shadow of of Space, H. P. Lovecraft & August Derleth

Who will guard the guards?

"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes."

Ekumenical School Saying

“As they say in Ekumenical School, when action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable sleep.”

The Mad King, The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. LeGuin

---

<--The Left Hand of Darkness

The Tleilax Theorem

“Every civilization must contend with an unconscious force which can block, betray or countermand almost any conscious intention of the collectivity.”

Tleilax Theorem (unproven)

Dune Messiah, Frank Herbert

A Proverb of Muad’ Dib, A Host of Characters

“There exists no separation between gods and men; one blends softly and casually into the other.”

Muad’ Dib

Dune Messiah, Frank Herbert

Fingles Laws

“The universe is hostile. The perversity of the universe tends toward a maximum.” Ringworld, Larry Niven, 1970

A Dream, or so it may Seem?

Screenshot of image was found here.

“Confucius and you are both dreams, and I who say you are dreams am a dream myself. This is a paradox. Tomorrow a wise man may explain it; that tomorrow will not be for ten thousand generations.”

Chuang Tse: II

The Lathe of Heaven

“Those whom heaven helps we call the sons of heaven. They do not learn this by learning. They do not work it by working. They do not reason it by using reason. To let understanding stop at what cannot be understood is a high attainment. Those who cannot do it will be destroyed on the lathe of heaven.”

Chuang Tae: XXIII

The Lathe of Heaven, Ursula K. Leguin, 1971

Taedium Vitae

Life was so oppressive that even Oberon the King of the Faeries
become weary of life

Taedium vitae

Fingle’s First and Second Laws

I.	The perversity of the universe tends to a maximum
II.	If something can go wrong, it will

Vandervecken, Protector, Larry Niven

A Teaching of the Bene Gesserit

“When religion and politics ride the same cart, when the cart is driven by a living holy man (Baraka) nothing can stand in their path.”

From the Teaching of the Bene Gesserit

Alternative ending of Dune

A Persian Allegory

Three men, one under the effects of alcohol, one under the effects of opium, and the last under the effects of hemp, arrived one night at the closed gates of a city. “Let us break down the gates,” said the alcohol drinker in a fury of rage, “I can do it with my sword!” “Nay,” said the opium eater, “We can rest here outside in comfort till the morning, when the gates will be opened, and we may enter.” “Why all this foolish talk?” whined the one under the effects of hemp. “Let us creep in through the key-hole. We can make ourselves small enough!”

Drug Smuggling and Taking in India and Burma by Roy K. Anderson

The Dilemmas of Roverandom

“Unawares, the two dogs had wandered too near to the shadows edge of the dark side, where all sorts of half-forgotten things linger, and paths and memories get confused.”

Roverandom, J. R. R. Tolkien

If the Shoe Fits, Wear it

“Ours is a world crippled by ignorance, and superstition, its technological and social development held back by deluded nostalgia for outdated aesthetic and ethical philosophies. Always looking backward, never forward into the future.”

Steam Girl, Dylan Horrocks

Steam Girl is a short story that was found in an anthology titled “Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories”

The Verse of John Collup

---

Lord, let the faithless see
Miracles ceased, revive in me.
The leper cleaned, the blind healed,
the dead raised by Thee.

---

Dull souls aspire;
Thou are not the Earth,
Mount higher!
Heaven gave the spark;
to it return fire.

---

John Collup

Riverworld: Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip José Farmer