Don's report archive
Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)
A REAL Wellness Promoter You May Not Have Heard Of - Until Now: Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899)
"While I am opposed to all orthodox creeds, I have a creed myself:
- Happiness is the only good.
- The way to be happy is to make others so.Â
- The place to be happy is here.
- The time to be happy is now.
- 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."Â ~Robert G. Ingersoll
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833 - 1899) is often called "the most remarkable American most people never heard of."Â 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: The website of The 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 spoke before a crowd of 50,000. At his museum, the remarkable claim is made that he was seen and heard by more Americans than any other American prior to the advent of radio and television.
His 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 and just about all the reformers of his day. Many Americans, however, were shocked by his religious skepticism. 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." The best way to develop an appreciation for this remarkable man and to judge for yourself if he might be accepted as an honorary REAL wellness pioneer (we do so need great role models for quality of life wellness) is to read his books and speeches. Here are a few excerpts:
- 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)
- 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"
- 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. From the book Ingersoll the Magnificent, edited by Joseph Lewis
- 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 Redwater, these two entries are among the chronology of key dates in 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:
Domain: mental"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."
Subdomain: mental health
Search other reports in the Don Ardell report archive.
Read about our
Featured Products
my shopping cart
Read Don's latest report or search his report archive to find commentary on what you're interested in.
 |
This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here. |
