Imagine Quotes

“I have come to appreciate the pivotal distinction between Plato’s concept of Eternal Truths versus Aristotle’s experience-based understanding. I also now realize the crucial role played by Plotinus and the Neoplatonists in transforming Greek philosophical thought into the supernaturalism of modern-day western religions. Philosophy and spirituality are engaged in perpetual disagreement as to whether knowledge is best derived from human observation and introspection, or from a non-human source of information whether it be a god, a universal order, or the sanctity of mathematics.”
― Ken Elmgren, Imagine: An Inquiry into Spirituality, Political Economics, and Personal Autonomy in a Modern World

“We’ve progressed so far, we understand most things,
we can measure and collide particles in a ring.
But the concerns of humanity don’t seem to progress,
we still feel hate, love, dissatisfaction, and stress.”
― Ken Elmgren, Imagine: An Inquiry into Spirituality, Political Economics, and Personal Autonomy in a Modern World

“The distinction between the Unverifiable and the Unknowable became blurred with the advent of the subatomic world of quantum physics, which dwells in the non-perceptible world of math and probabilities. Our confidence in a math and science defined world is dependent on a grounding in physical matter, tangible, testable, and measurable. In quantum physics and, as we will see, in probability theory that grounding has been lost.”
― Ken Elmgren, Imagine: An Inquiry into Spirituality, Political Economics, and Personal Autonomy in a Modern World

“Unverifiable concepts are those that are beyond the world of physical matter, untestable by any currently available empirical analysis of tangible or measurable substance. Unknowable Fundamental Questions are not only beyond empirical analysis, the concepts developed to address them are incapable of being falsified (proven incorrect). The inability to refute someone’s claim as to the existence of unicorns or angels doesn’t make them true. Unknowable Concepts fall into the realm of consciousness, fantasy, or the divine.”
― Ken Elmgren, Imagine: An Inquiry into Spirituality, Political Economics, and Personal Autonomy in a Modern World

“The reliance on the coziness of fellowship, religious forgiveness, and confidence in miracles, has relieved most of us from the urgency, and ability, to ask questions of ourselves and others. We turn to time-worn religious texts which frighten, mystify, and anesthetize.”
― Ken Elmgren, Imagine: An Inquiry into Spirituality, Political Economics, and Personal Autonomy in a Modern World

“Paths provide a source of comfort and protection,
they deliver us from evil and lead us away from temptation.
But if the walls are so high, we can’t see where we’ve been,
we won’t know where we are when we get to the end.”
― Ken Elmgren, Imagine: An Inquiry into Spirituality, Political Economics, and Personal Autonomy in a Modern World

“People seek to live within a natural harmonious order but become fatigued and disillusioned by the rigors and seeming absence of reason and logic in daily life. They readily fallback on the convenience of the comforting certainty provided by faith and ideologies. Given a choice between believing in a world confined to the workings of natural phenomenon or one that enjoys the supernaturalism of deities, the majority will (and has) chosen to believe in the supernatural.”
― Ken Elmgren, Imagine: An Inquiry into Spirituality, Political Economics, and Personal Autonomy in a Modern World

“We all want certainty, we all want purpose,
we want to find meaning in this man-made circus.
We want to believe in miracles in case we get in a bind,
we want a guardian angel to protect our bodies and corral our minds.”
― Ken Elmgren, Imagine: An Inquiry into Spirituality, Political Economics, and Personal Autonomy in a Modern World

“People need to feel significant and have a sense of Purpose despite each of us being one of 7.9 billion humans and having an average lifespan of a mere 0.025% of the 300,000 years since the first homo sapient roamed the earth. Achieving significance is increasingly difficult. Jesus, at birth, was one of 200 million people. I was one of 2.7 billion. When my kids are my age, they will each be one of 10 billion.”
― Ken Elmgren, Imagine: An Inquiry into Spirituality, Political Economics, and Personal Autonomy in a Modern World

“People’s need for certainty is greatest when certainty is most scarce. During periods of overwhelming complexity, even the most implausible sources of certainty will be embraced if they are able to provide psychological closure. Verification and universality become casualties of expediency.”
― Ken Elmgren, Imagine: An Inquiry into Spirituality, Political Economics, and Personal Autonomy in a Modern World

“Certainty may be found in the belief in a Supernatural god, in Dharmic Celestial Laws, in the scientific Laws of Nature, or through Introspection. Introspection is the most difficult, the most uncertain, and the one least pursued.”
― Ken Elmgren, Imagine: An Inquiry into Spirituality, Political Economics, and Personal Autonomy in a Modern World

“People value certainty over truth, which is convenient because certainty, a state of mind, is easily attainable, truth is more elusive. Certainty is merely being certain about what you choose to believe, truth requires verification and universality.”
― Ken Elmgren, Imagine: An Inquiry into Spirituality, Political Economics, and Personal Autonomy in a Modern World