A modern philosopher once said: "Only a God can save us now." Yes, the only real hope of people today is probably a renewal of our certainty that we … - Václav Havel

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A modern philosopher once said: "Only a God can save us now." Yes, the only real hope of people today is probably a renewal of our certainty that we are rooted in the earth and, at the same time, in the cosmos. This awareness endows us with the capacity for self-transcendence. Politicians at international forums may reiterate a thousand times that the basis of the new world order must be universal respect for human rights, but it will mean nothing as long as this imperative does not derive from the respect of the miracle of Being, the miracle of the universe, the miracle of nature, the miracle of our own existence. Only someone who submits to the authority of the universal order and of creation, who values the right to be a part of it and a participant in it, can genuinely value himself and his neighbors, and thus honor their rights as well.

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About Václav Havel

Václav Havel (5 October 1936 – 18 December 2011) was a Czech writer and dramatist famous for his work in the Theatre of the Absurd, who became a politician and served as the last President of Czechoslovakia, and the first President of the Czech Republic.

Biography information from Wikiquote

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Alternative Names: Vaclav Havel
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Additional quotes by Václav Havel

The real question is whether the brighter future is really always so distant. What if, on the contrary, it has been here for a long time already, and only our own blindness and weakness has prevented us from seeing it around us and within us, and kept us from developing it?

….what else are parallel structures than an area where a different life can be lived, a life that is in harmony with its own aims and which in turn structures itself in harmony with those aims? . . .What else are those initial attempts at social self-organization than the efforts of a certain part of society…to rid itself of the self-sustaining aspects of totalitarianism and, thus, to extricate itself radically from its involvement in the…totalitarian system?

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"vysvětlovali tradičním antidogmatickým způsobem: boj za velké věci – celkovou liberalizaci poměrů – vyžaduje drobné ústupky ve věcech méně důležitých, nebylo by taktické riskovat rozchod s mocenským centrem kvůli Tváři, protože je rozehrána vyšší hra. (Mimo jiné: pamatuji, že přesně týmž způsobem zdůvodňoval v roce 1968 Smrkovský, proč hlasoval v roce 1967 pro likvidaci Literárek, a přesně tak zdůvodňoval později Husák, proč má Smrkovský odejít z politické scény. Je to téměř modelový příklad autodestrukční politiky.) Náš argument, že nejlepší cestou k celkové liberalizaci poměrů je být neústupní právě ve všech těch "drobných" a "nedůležitých" věcech, jako je vydání té či oné knížky nebo vycházení toho či onoho časopisu, nebyl vyslyšen."

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