Religions do a useful thing: they narrow God to the limits of man. Philosophy replies by doing a necessary thing: it elevates man to the plane of God.
When it comes to Chinese food I have always operated under the policy that the less known about the preparation the better. A wise diner who is invited to visit the kitchen replies by saying as politely as possible that he has a pressing engagement elsewhere.
Gold and silver like other commodities have an intrinsic value which is not arbitrary but is dependent on their scarcity the quantity of labour bestowed in procuring them and the value of the capital employed in the mines which produce them.