A Hierarchy of Wholes
“The harmonious cooperation of all beings arose, not from the orders of a superior authority external to themselves, but from the fact that they were all parts in a hierarchy of wholes forming a cosmic pattern, and what they obeyed were the internal dictates of their own natures. Modern science and the philosophy of organism, with its integrative levels, have come back to this wisdom, fortified by new understanding of cosmic, biological, and social evolution.”
–Joseph Needham (English Biochemist, Embryologist, and Historian of Science who wrote and edited Science and Civilization in China, 1900-1995)
“Science and Civilisation in China. Volume 1: Introductory Orientations” (Joseph Needham)
The Highest Condition of Excellence
“The central secret is to know that the various human passions and feelings and emotions in the human heart are not wrong in themselves; only they have to be carefully controlled and given a higher and higher direction, until they attain the very highest condition of excellence.”
–Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Mystic and Spiritual Teacher, 1863-1902)
Integrating The Masculine and The Feminine
“The evolution of the Western mind has been founded on the repression of the feminine – on the repression of undifferentiated unitary consciousness, of the participation mystique with nature; a progressive denial on the anima mundi, of the soul of the world, of the community of being, of the all-pervading, of mystery and ambiguity, of imagination, instinct, body, nature, woman – all of which the masculine has projectively identified as “Other.””
–Richard Tarnas (American Philosopher, Cultural Historian and Professor of Philosophy and Psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies, 1950-)
Freeing Each Other
“Real love exists between people who are able to free each other.”
–Sri Swami Chidananda Saraswati (Indian Yogi, Jnani, Spiritual Leader, Author, and, from 1963-2008, President of the Divine Life Society, 1916-2008)
Bringing Back Balance
“If I had to live my life again I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once a week; for perhaps the parts of my brain now atrophied could thus have been kept active through use.”
–Charles Darwin (English Naturalist, 1809-1882)
Harnessing the Power of Love
“Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of Love, and then, for the second time in the history of the world, humans will discover fire.”
–Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (French Jesuit Priest, Mystic, Paleontologist and Author, 1881-1955)
We Are All More Than We Realize
“We are more than what we do..much more than what we accomplish..far more than what we possess.”
–William Arthur Ward (American Writer, Pastor and Teacher, 1921-1994)
A Wonderful Blessing!
“May our lives be filled with the ongoing truth in which we are saturated with love, caring and kindness. And may we serve the world from this level of awareness.”
–Rabbi David A. Cooper (American Rabbi and Writer, 1939-)
Transcending Mankind
“It is peculiar to mankind to transcend mankind.”
–Karl Wilhelm Fredric von Schlegel (German Philosopher, Writer, Critic and a Founder of German Romanticism, 1772-1829)
You Are What You Think and Do
It’s not too original to say that your thoughts and actions have dramatic effects on your life, but medicine had largely forgotten about the link until the 1950s. I was looking to create a pithy sentence to summarize the interaction. But I could dono better than this one, from almost two thousand years ago.
“This body, full of faults, has yet one great quality: Whatever it encounters in this temporal life depends upon one’s actions.”
–Siddha Nagarjuna (Indian Philosopher and Founder of the Mahayana School of Buddhism, c.A.D.150-c.A.D.250)
