I found this quote in the book I am reading, On The Shoulders of Giants: Learning Leadership Skills from Great Americans, by Richard L. Godfrey et al. I really like it (the quote, and the book) it supports well my conviction that in order to comprehend natural law, you must understand nature and eschew occult and mystical thinking. Civilization and enlightenment have come when men, using the experimental method, have begun to test the correctness of their beliefs. The highway to truth is paved with such rigid tests. On the contrary, the black cloud of superstition and confusion, twin enemies of progress, has obscured human vision when untested opinions or unverified claims or personal guesses have ruled human actions, or when assumed authority has claimed precedence over patient inquiry. The blind acceptance of unsupported statements, or placing theories on a pedestal for human worship, has always been a source of sorrow. Whenever men have set up devices or experiments to test the validity of their opinions, whenever men have demanded proofs of the verity of offered teachings, the world has moved forward. To test [then] current beliefs, Galileo dropped stones of unequal weights from a height; Lavoisier weighed mercury before and after heating; Pasteur filtered air through tufts of cotton; Lister washed wounds with a solution of carbolic acid - and each destroyed a false belief and revealed a new truth: stones of all sizes fall through the air with equal velocity; mercury becomes heavier when heated in air; microscopic living things, in the air, are often capable of injury to man; in wounds are germs which if not destroyed may delay healing. Out of each of these experiments a vast volume of truth has grown.... The same principle appears in the field of living things... The complex relationships of social living must be tested for their value, if the path of safety is to be found. Though experimentation in this field is somewhat difficult because of the human will (the power to accept or reject) yet, for example, the desirability of organization, cooperation, and democracy, and the ill effects of autocracy, tyranny, and dictatorships, have been demonstrated by actual trial. John A. Widtsoe of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles 1921 - 1952.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 05:26:33 +0000