201216 What I learned in my studies this morning

Tao for Today:

From The Daily Stoic: 

Reason is there for you at all times . . . if you choose to use it. 

From Eric Hoffer, Part III, Factors Promoting Self-Sacrifice, Make-Believe:

The movement must make dying and killing — death itself — part of a pageant, a story, a theatrical piece bent on deceiving the people into believing that it's all make-believe.

"It is one of the main tasks of a real leader to mask the grim reality of dying and killing by evoking in his followers the illusion that they are participating in a grandiose spectacle, a solemn or light-hearted dramatic performance."

(The True Believer, XIII-47)