these replies, they have missed the point completely at what i was trying to broach to you, my trusting friends.

is it a crime in this society to FEEL? i assure you, what i posted was arrogant, it was snotty, it was self righteous, but it was TRUE! i regret nothing.

it reminds me of the two mindsets we who are elevated above the rabble have as compared to those in Plato's cave of shadows.

those who perceive society's shadows as reality, unwilling to step out into the burning light of the real world have a worldview inline with that of john milton as he wrote paradise lost. in paradise lost, satan's greatest crime of unrepentant pride is punished by an eternity in hell. those who share the judeo christian viewpoint invariably seek to punish pride whenever they feel it is a threat to their god who does nothing for them.

those, such as i, who have unlocked the powers of our own intellects through literature see the world in a mutually exclusive light: we reach the depths of our souls through pride and we are not ashamed, for it is pride that puts the very stars within our reach.
an example is Goethe's Faust (NOT Marlowe's!). when Faust sells his soul to Mephistopheles, he wagers that he can never be satisfied and that his infinite pride could encompass infinity. Faust travels the world, returns to Greece in the classical era, marries helen ot troy, and founds his own kingdom by the sea. in his old age, Faust is overwhelmed by all of his accomplishments, becomes satisfied, and loses the deal.
as the devils drag him down to hell, the angles of God intervene and bring him up to heaven, proclaiming that only through his pride could he have bettered his soul such as he did.

say what you will, my friends, but I for one will go the way of pride and see where it takes me! and i shall never be ashamed...

exeunt