By Donald
B. Ardell - June 14, 2009
“While I
am opposed to all orthodox creeds, I have a creed myself:
1.
Happiness is the only good.
2. The way
to be happy is to make others so.
3. The
place to be happy is here.
4. The
time to be happy is now.
5. Help
(is) for the living. Hope (is) for
the dead.
This creed
is somewhat short, but it is long enough for this life, strong enough for this
world. If there is another world, when we get there we can make another creed.
But this creed certainly will do for this life.”
Robert G.
Ingersoll
Robert
Green Ingersoll (1833 - 1899) is often called the most remarkable American most
people never heard of. Yet, he is
acclaimed as the premier orator and political speechmaker of post-Civil War
America...(who) criss-crossed the nation lecturing from memory to packed houses
for 30 years. (Source: Robert
Green Ingersoll Birthplace Museum.)
I recently
read Orvin Larson's biography entitled, American Infidel: Robert G. Ingersoll
(The Citadel Press, NY, 1962.) In
many important regards, Ingersoll was as much a REAL wellness promoter as
anyone before, during or since his time. He is credited with 1500 speeches, almost always to SRO audiences. He spoke without notes (or a
teleprompter, not that there's anything wrong with that). In Chicago in 1876, he addressed a
crowd of 50,000. Museum scholars
concluded that he was seen and heard by more of his fellow citizens than any
other American prior to the advent of radio and television.
Ingersoll's
philosophy focused on reason, exuberance and liberty with a repertoire that
included Shakespeare, Robert Burns, famous patriots, science, religion and much
more. In an age when public
lectures were the dominant form of general entertainment, Ingersoll was the
unchallenged king orator. Among
his best-known speeches were The Gods, Ghosts, Humboldt, Shakespeare and What
Must We Do To Be Saved?
Ingersoll
was a friend of presidents (Hayes, Garfield, Arthur and Grant), literary giants
(including Mark Twain), captains of industry (Thomas Edison, Andrew Carnegie)
and leading figures in the arts (Walt Whitman). He was a confidante of
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the preacher Henry Ward Beecher, Clarence Darrow,
Eugene Debs, Robert La Follette and just about all the reformers of his
day. Many Americans, however, were
shocked by his religious skepticism. Yet, when he died in 1899, even most of
those whose beliefs he skewered were lavish in tributes. The Reverend J.T. Sunderland, wrote
that Ingersoll . . . pained the hearts not only of the ignorant and the narrow,
but of many of the most intelligent and broad minded...he also set tens of
thousands to thinking for themselves on religious subjects. He had pricked the bubbles of many
ecclesiastical and theological shams, hypocrises, pretenses,
make-believers...he was in part responsible for the new awakening of thought
and inquiry...that involved the testing of theological premises, a
re-examination of the bible and the refining of conceptions of God.
In remarks
at the unveiling of the Robert Green Ingersoll bust at the birthplace museum on
July 6, 2001, the founder of the Council for Secular Humanism, Paul Kurtz,
described Ingersoll as an agnostic and a freethinker. But more than that, he
was a secularist. And I think for
the twenty-first century, the great battle in the world is secularism -
separation of church and state and the recognition that you can lead the good
life here and now without need of an afterlife...
Ingersoll
said that happiness is the only good, reason the only torch, justice the only
worship, humanity the only religion and love the only priest.
A
recommended way to appreciate this remarkable man and to judge for yourself if
he warrants enshrinement as an honorary wellness pioneer is to read his books
and speeches. Here is a sampling
(varied sources):
* If there be an infinite Being, he does
not need our help -- we need not waste our energies in his defense. God in the Constitution (1870)
* We need men with moral courage to speak
and write their real thoughts, and to stand by their convictions, even to the
very death. Thomas Paine (1870)
* The man who does not do his own
thinking is a slave, and is a traitor to himself and to his fellow men. The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child
* The doctrine of eternal punishment is
in perfect harmony with the savagery of the men who made the orthodox creeds.
It is in harmony with torture, with flaying alive, and with burnings. The men,
who burned their fellow men for a moment, believed that God would burn his
enemies forever. Crumbling Creeds
* Who can overestimate the progress of
the world if all the money wasted in superstition could be used to enlighten,
elevate and civilize mankind? Some
Mistakes of Moses
* (Compare) the benefits of theology and
science. When the theologian governed the world, it was covered with huts and
hovels for the many, palaces and cathedrals for the few. To nearly all the
children of men, reading and writing were unknown arts. The poor were clad in
rags and skins -- they devoured crusts, and gnawed bones. The day of science
dawned, and the luxuries of a century ago are the necessities of today. Men in
the middle ranks of life have more of the conveniences and elegancies than the
princes and kings of the theological times. But above and over all this, is the
development of mind. There is more of value in the brain of an average man of
today -- of a master-mechanic, of a chemist, of a naturalist, of an inventor,
than there was in the brain of the world four hundred years ago.
* These blessings did not fall from the
skies. These benefits did not drop from the outstretched hands of priests. They
were not found in cathedrals or behind altars -- neither were they searched for
with holy candles. They were not discovered by the closed eyes of prayer, nor
did they come in answer to superstitious supplication. They are the children of
freedom, the gifts of reason, observation and experience -- and for them all,
man is indebted to man. God In The
Constitution
* An infinite God ought to be able to
protect himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures.
Certainly he ought not so to act that laws become necessary to keep him from
being laughed at. No one thinks of protecting Shakespeare from ridicule, by the
threat of fine and imprisonment. Some Mistakes of Moses
* Churches are becoming political
organizations...It probably will not be long until the churches will divide as
sharply upon political, as upon theological questions; and when that day comes,
if there are not liberals enough to hold the balance of power, this Government
will be destroyed. The liberty of man is not safe in the hands of any church.
Wherever the Bible and sword are in partnership, man is a slave.
* Only a few years ago there was no
person too ignorant to successfully answer Charles Darwin; and the more
ignorant he was the more cheerfully he undertook the task. Orthodoxy (1884)
* Only the very ignorant are perfectly
satisfied that they know. To the common man the great problems are easy. He has
no trouble in accounting for the universe. He can tell you the origin and
destiny of man and the why and wherefore of things. Liberty In Literature (1890)
* But honest men do not pretend to know;
they are candid and sincere; they love the truth; they admit their ignorance,
and they say, We do not know.
Superstition
(1898)
* Labor is the only prayer that Nature
answers; it is the only prayer that deserves an answer -- good, honest, noble
work. Closing arguments, The Trial
of C. B. Reynolds (for blasphemy)
* No man with a sense of humor ever
founded a religion. Jonathon
Green, The Cassell Dictionary of Insulting Quotations
* Is there an intelligent man or woman
now in the world who believes in the Garden of Eden story? If you find any man
who believes it, strike his forehead and you will hear an echo. Something is
for rent. Orthodoxy (1884)
* I cannot see why we should expect an
infinite God to do better in another world than he does in this. Reply To The
Indianapolis Clergy, The Iconoclast, Indianapolis, Indiana (1882)
* The doctrine that future happiness
depends upon belief is monstrous. It is the infamy of infamies. The notion that
faith in Christ is to be rewarded by an eternity of bliss, while a dependence
upon reason, observation and experience merits everlasting pain, is too absurd
for refutation, and can be relieved only by that unhappy mixture of insanity
and ignorance, called faith. The
Gods
Believe it
or not, a town in Texas was named in honor of Robert Ingersoll. At the official website of what
is now Redwater, Texas, these two entries are among the chronology of
watersheds of the town's history:
* 1875 - Town of Ingersoll established as
a sawmill community and named Ingersoll after a famous atheist at the time,
Robert Ingersoll.
* December 13, 1894 - The town name of
Ingersoll was officially changed to Redwater as the result of a revival. They chose the name because nearly all
of the springs and shallow wells in the area had a reddish color.
Well,
there you have it - a library of material on reason, exuberance and
liberty. To ponder happiness,
meaning, purposes, ethical living, the common good and all manner of REAL
wellness, read Ingersoll.
The book I
just enjoyed, Orvin Larson's American Infidel, contains 300-plus pages, almost
all with memorable examples of Ingersoll's eloquence and brilliance. Among my favorites were remarks uttered
on March 30, 1892 at Harleigh Cemetery in Camden, New Jersey at the funeral of
Walt Whitman. Ingersoll was the
last speaker to address 3000 mourners on that afternoon. Larson described the scene:
“There was
intense silence when Colonel Ingersoll arose, and in those glowing periods for
which he is world famous, scattered flowers of speech over the ashes of his
friend. These were the final words of Ingersoll's speech:
'Today we
give back to Mother nature, to her clasp and kiss, one of the bravest, sweetest
souls that ever lived in human clay...He has lived, he has died, and death is
less terrible than it was before. Thousands and millions will walk down into
the dark valley of the shadow holding Walt Whitman by the hand. Long after we
are dead the brave words he has spoken will sound like trumpets to the dying.'”
Be well.
Don Ardell
is the Well Infidel. He favors
evidence over faith, reason over revelation and meaning and purpose over
spirituality. His enthusiasm for
reason, exuberance and liberty are reflected in his books (14), newsletter (490
editions of a weekly report) and lectures across North America and a dozen
other countries. He is very old
(over 40) but very fast (national and world triathlon champion). 