“Two fixed ideas can no more exist together in the moral world than two bodies can occupy one and the same place in the physical world.”

— Aleksandr Pushkin , book The Queen of Spades

VI.
The Queen of Spades (1833)

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Aleksandr Pushkin 33

Russian poet 1799–1837

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This all relates to assent, a very important Judeo-Christian concept. "Thy will be done" is a God-kind of assent. "God works in mysterious ways," and you're supposed to give assent even if you don't like it. As a religious naturalist, I think of assent differently. Assent is saying, "Okay, for whatever reason, this is the way life works. It's an acceptance of what is. After that fundamental acceptance, I can live my life to minimize suffering and promote as much as good as I can, and try through whatever work I do to help others." We can't get around death, but we can get around poverty. We can try to avoid women being brutalized. We can curb environmental degradation.
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“Two fixed ideas can no more exist together in the moral world than two bodies can occupy one and the same place in the physical world.”

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Aleksandr Pushkin 33

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