Leituras

"We exercise our freedom in the midst of values and powers we have not chosen but to which we are bound. Before we choose to live we have been chosen into existence, and have been determined to love life as a value. We have not chosen human existence, but have been elected members of humanity. We did not choose to be rational rather than instinctive beings; we reason because we must. We have not chosen the time and place of our present, but have been selected to stand at this post at this hour of watch or of battle. We have not chosen to be social beings, immeasurably dependent on our fellows, nor have we chosen our culture; we have come to consciousness in a society and among established human works. Of these, life, humanity, reason, society, and culture are not only powers but also values, goods to which we have been attached by a necessary love."

H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture