RichardKennaway comments on Rationality Quotes Thread February 2016 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: elharo 02 February 2016 06:17PM

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Comment author: Lumifer 07 February 2016 07:05:45PM 0 points [-]

Translation: it's better to be drunk.

Not sure this qualifies as a rationality quote.

Comment author: RichardKennaway 08 February 2016 04:52:03PM 0 points [-]

Orthodox Islamic apologists rescue Khayyam by interpreting "wine" as spiritual intoxication. (How well this really fits is another matter. And the Song of Solomon is about Christ's love for His Church.) But one can as easily interpret the verse in a rationalist way. Channelling Fitzgerald for a moment...

The sot knows nothing but the tavern's wine
Rumi and Shams but ecstacy divine
The Way of Eli is not here nor there
But in the pursuit of a Fun sublime!

Great literature has as many versions as there are readers.

Comment author: Lumifer 08 February 2016 05:01:31PM *  2 points [-]

But one can as easily interpret the verse in a rationalist way.

That's true of most everything if you squint in just the right way :-)

In any case, great literature relies on context and a multilayered web of meanings -- it doesn't work well as an isolated quote stuck into the middle of PUA discussions...