The foundation of reverence is this perception, that the present holds within itself the complete sum of existence, backwards and forwards, that whol… - Alfred North Whitehead

It is the first step in sociological wisdom, to
recognize that the major advances in civilization
are processes which all but wreck the societies in
which they occur : — like unto an arrow in the
hand of a child.

What the learned world tends to offer is one second-hand scrap of information illustrating ideas derived from another second-hand scrap of information. The second-handedness of the learned world is the secret of its mediocrity.

In the first place for over two centuries religion has been on the defensive, and on a weak defensive.[…] The result of the repetition of this undignified retreat, during many generations, has at last almost entirely destroyed the intellectual authority of religious thinkers. Consider this contrast: when Darwin or Einstein proclaim theories which modify our ideas, it is a triumph for science. We do not go about saying that there is another defeat for science, because its old ideas have been abandoned. We know that another step of scientific insight has been gained.</p>Religion will not regain its old power until it can face change in the same spirit as does science. Its principles may be eternal, but the expression of those principles requires continual development.