The Arc of the Universe . . .

 

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Martin Luther King's use of the famous quote:
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,”


is best understood by considering his source material.

"It is King’s clever paraphrasing of a portion of a sermon delivered in 1853 by the abolitionist minister
Theodore Parker. Born in Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1810, Parker studied at Harvard Divinity School
and eventually became an influential transcendentalist and minister in the Unitarian church."


In that sermon, Parker apparently said: -

“I do not pretend to understand the moral universe.
The arc is a long one. My eye reaches but little ways.

I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by experience of sight.
I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends toward justice.

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It is why we are here and we wouldn't be here without it . . . .
The arc of the universe bends towards Phi . . .