Natural Knowledge
“Natural knowledge is that which the soul can acquire through the use of its natural faculties and powers when investigating creation and the cause of creation — in so far, of course, as this is possible for a soul bound to matter…
Supranatural knowledge, on the other hand, is that which enters the intellect in a manner transcending its own means and power; that is to say, the intelligible objects that constitute such knowledge surpass the capacity of an intellect joined to a body, so that a knowledge of them pertains naturally only to an intellect which is free from the body.
Such knowledge is infused by God alone when He finds an intellect purified of all material attachment and inspired by divine love.”
–St. Theodoros, the Great Ascetic (a.k.a. Theodore of Edessa, Monk in the Monastery of St. Sabas near Jerusalem and Bishop of Edessa in Syria, Ninth Century)
Theoretikon: “Philokalia Vol. 2”, pp. 39-40
“The Philokalia Vol 2: 002” (G.E.H. Palmer, Kallistos Timothy Ware, Philip Sherrard)
Awakening Through Adversity
“Trials, difficulties, and challenges bring us to our senses about our lives. They can serve as vehicles of realization, helping us to understand why we are here and how necessary the spiritual journey is for us.
They awaken us to the serious purpose of life and inspire us not to waste this opportunity on a halfhearted existence.”
–Wayne Teasdale (American Catholic Monk and Proponent of Interfaith Dialogue, 1945-2004)
The Mystic Hours, A Daybook of Inspirational Wisdom & Devotion
Staying in the Light
“Quite unexpectedly, it can happen that you suddenly feel flooded with light, that all of a sudden you are being projected upward, all the way to your higher self. You are dazzled by this beauty and immensity, and it feels as though from this moment on nothing could bring you down from these heights.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t last. You have to pick up the threads of your everyday life, with its same worries, its same temptations, its same weaknesses. You feel cut off from your higher self, like a fragment cast aside, rejected. Some time later, you again feel enlightened, illumined, but once again it doesn’t last long, and you begin to feel discouraged. No, you must not allow yourself to be discouraged by the fluctuations in your consciousness.
If you persevere in your spiritual work, one day, after all the highs and lows, the light that comes to visit you will no longer leave you. You will have crossed to the other shore, and you will be saved forever.”
–Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov (Bulgarian Spiritual Master, 1900-1986)
Rekindling Your Light
“Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into a flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.”
–Albert Schweitzer (Alsatian-born Theologian, Philosopher, Mission Doctor and, in 1952, Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, 1875-1965)
Energy of Inspiration
“Inspiration is the richest nation I know, the most powerful on earth. Sexual energy Freud calls it; the capital of desire I call it; it pays for both mental and physical expenditure.”
–Sylvia Ashton-Warner (New Zealand-born British Writer and Educator, 1905-1984)
Creative Inspiration
“Inspiration may be a form of super-consciousness, or perhaps of subconciousness––I wouldn’t know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness..”
–Aaron Copland (American Pulitzer Prize-winning Composer, 1900-1990)
Walking in the Clouds
“When I do not walk in the clouds I walk as though I were lost.”
–Antonio Porchia (Italian-born Argentinean Poet, 1886-1968)
An Extraordinary New Book
Regular readers will know that I sometimes review books at Amazon.
I only review around 10% of the books that I read, and they are ones that I think are consistent with my aims of improving the quality and quantity of our lives. I belong to the “If you cannot say something nice, say nothing” school, so I don’t review a book unless it is special and brings something new to the table. Unless somebody has written something that is just plain wrong!
A few months ago I was at a meeting in New York and met a man named Kurek Ashley. I have met more than my fair share of people from every continent, and it is not often than someone impresses me: Kurek did. Not because he was a larger than life person, but because of his heart and soul. I asked to have a look at his book, which at that stage was not published. It really surprised me, and I read it twice in once weekend while shuffling to and from the West Coast.
The book is published today as How Would Love Respond?: Imagine If You Were Given a Gift So Powerful That You Knew You Had to Share It with the World, and I was so impressed that I helped with the launch.
Here is what I had to say in my review,
“When I was first asked to examine this book several months ago, I was not sure what to expect.
I had been told that Kurek Ashley was a kind of antipodean Tony Robbins. Nothing wrong with that: I have a great deal of respect for Tony’s work. I then heard that Kurek had been in movies, held a record for fire walking and had helped a volleyball team to an Olympic gold medal, as well as propelling forward the lives of countless other people in all walks of life.
So I thought that I knew what I was getting: some sort of high-energy motivator. Then I met the author and discovered something very different. Certainly he is passionate, highly energetic and always positive. But there was another quality to him as well: he had a completely unexpected humility and clarity about what he wants to do for other people. I don’t often meet someone with such evident integrity. He told an amazing story of being involved in the most terrible tragedy in which his best friend was killed. But then the dead friend reappeared to him and asked for his help. I had wondered whether he might have had some kind of breakdown. Instead I found a man who is remarkably level headed, and who has absolutely no reason to tell a story that could have damaged his reputation. Far from having had a breakdown, he had experienced a breakthrough. So for all these reasons I was eager to read this book and discover more of the story and Kurek’s message.
I only review a small number of the books that I read, and I am not given to hyperbole, but Kurek’s book is magnificent! The fact that I read it twice is unusual enough in itself. The book begins with an amazingly candid story of hardship and tragedy, and of the incredible series of experiences that ultimately transformed Kurek into someone very different. He becomes a shining example of what can happen to someone who opens his or her heart and mind. Though he became known as a motivator, as you read the book it becomes clear that he now inspires people to transform themselves in the most extraordinary way. This is a not just another feel good book. It presents a precise map for creating a different kind of life, and one that is in the reach of most of us. I really do believe that it will change many lives.”
I would also suggest that you have a look here.
As part of the celebration of the launch, experts from all over the world who have read and been moved by the book have contributed gifts and bonuses. They are all interesting, and many will likely to of value to anyone reading this. I have offered two eBooks and a set of audios.
This is a bit of blurb that was written about my piece:
A Cutting-edge Course in Integrated Health
First there was “folk” medicine. Then there was “alternative”, then “complementary” and finally “integrative” medicine. What comes next? The answer is Integrated Health.
Robert Stuberg – the well-known expert in personal development – had this to say about Integrated Health, “It’s not every day that a new program comes along that covers new and uncharted territory. If you have enjoyed any of Deepak Chopra’s material, you are going to love this. It’s the next step.”
Richard G. Petty, MD is a world-renowned physician who has spent more than 35 years working with thousands of experts throughout the world who are creating a scientifically credible blend of the best of modern medicine with traditional and natural methods of healing to create a new science of health and well-being.
Professor Richard Petty is a biochemist, endocrinologist, neurologist, psychiatrist and advisor to the Prince of Wales’ Foundation for Integrated Health. He is also a recognized expert on nutrition, acupuncture, homeopathy and herbal medicine who has taught at many major universities on five continents.
During the thirty years that he was in full time clinical practice, people in all walks of life, including royalty, politicians, captains of industry and many famous musicians, dancers and artists – as well as other healthcare professionals – sought his opinion. After watching a popular show on television, a grateful patient recently described Dr. Petty as “The real Dr. House!”
For this launch Dr. Petty is – for the first and only time – making available a very special Course in Integrated Health. It contains a completely revised special deluxe version of his latest sixty thousand-word masterpiece, Healing, Meaning and Purpose. It also includes a full study guide with session summaries, questions and answers. In addition, the Course contains a set of full color illustrations; over eight hundred references, scores of carefully selected websites and over an hour of specially recorded audio files that have been described as “incredibly powerful” and “mind blowing.” The Course is complemented by a collection of five hundred extraordinarily profound and inspirational messages to illustrate and amplify the core material. Dr. Petty has carefully selected them from his personal collection of over 48,000.
Until today, this entire Course has only been available to Professor Petty’s private students. This will be the only time that this whole package will be offered to members of the public. It is hard to calculate its value, but if sold separately it would be priced at $297.
In addition, the first 100 people who take advantage of this very special offer will also be given free access to participate in one of his group coaching sessions. These last for one and a half to two hours. Though most sessions are accompanied by a set of handouts, this time together is a great deal more than an information download: many people describe them as unique and even life-changing experiences. Students normally pay $97 for each session, and many people have waited for more than a year to study with Dr. Petty.
Feel free to have a look and see what you think.
Martin Luther King Day
In the United States, today is Martin Luther King day, and we are hearing numerous glowing tributes as well as commentary about what still needs to be done.
I was only a child when Dr. King was assassinated and living thousands of miles away in a part of the country and a school that was largely color blind, I knew little of the terrible discrimination which was still a fact of life in the United States. And in some places still is.
But what I remember was the extraordinary oratory that still sends chills down my spine.
His insights and his statements are timeless, and like Mahatma Gandhi before him, he was more than a social reformer, he was a World Teacher.
When we are hearing Truth, it can usually be applied in more than one setting: many of Dr. King’s principles about harmony, brotherhood and equality can also be applied in to the health and harmony of the body and our interpersonal relationships.
This is a good day to ponder on what he said, and here are a few quotations from my collection. I hope that you will find some of them as inspirational as I have.
“A lie cannot live.”
“A man who won’t die for something is not fit to live."
“A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.”
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.”
“A right delayed is a right denied.”
“A riot is the language of the unheard.”
“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence."
“Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.”
“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law."
“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.”
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness, in a descending spiral of destruction. The chain reaction of evil must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”
“Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.”
“Don’t hate, it’s too big a burden to bear”
“Each of us is something of a schizophrenic personality, tragically divided against ourselves.”
“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
“Every man is someone because he is a child of God.”
“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness."
“Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve.”
“Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.”
“Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.”
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”
“Goodness defeated is stronger than evil triumphant”
“Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.”
“Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies – or else? The chain reaction of evil – hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars – must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”
“He (Jesus) knew that the old eye-for-eye philosophy would leave everyone blind. He did not seek to overcome evil with evil. He overcame evil with good. Although crucified by hate, he responded with aggressive love.”
“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."
“Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”
“Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted”
"I am not interested in power for power’s sake, but I’m interested in power that is moral, that is right and that is good."
“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”
“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal." … I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”
“I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land."
“I look forward confidently to the day when all who work for a living will be one with no thought to their separateness as Negroes, Jews, Italians or any other distinctions. This will be the day when we bring into full realization the American dream; a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few; a dream of a land where men will not argue that the color of a man’s skin determines the content of his character; a dream of a nation where all our gifts and resources are held not for ourselves alone, but as instruments of service for the rest of humanity; the dream of a country where every man will respect the dignity and worth of the human personality.”
“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
"I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."
"I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law."
“If a man is called to be street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the host of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his j
ob well.”
"If man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.”
"If physical death is the price that I must pay to free my white brothers and sisters from a permanent death of the spirit, then nothing can be more redemptive."
"If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values – that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control."
“If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.”
“If you succumb to the temptation of using violence in the struggle, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolute night of bitterness, and your chief legacy to the future will be an endless reign of meaningless chaos."
"If you will protest courageously, and yet with dignity and Christian love, when the history books are written in future generations, the historians will have to pause and say, "There lived a great people – a black people – who injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization."
"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”
“Law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress.”
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: what are you doing for others?”
“Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man’s sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.”
“Lives begin to end the day we become silent on the things that matter.”
“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”
“Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”
“My faith in man is, at bottom, a faith in God.”
“My place is in the sunshine of opportunity.”
“Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal."
“Never succumb to the temptation of bitterness.”
“Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.”
"Nonviolence means avoiding not only external physical violence but also internal violence of spirit. You not only refuse to shoot a man, but you refuse to hate him."
"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
“Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart.”
"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”
“Oh, the worst of tragedies is not to die young, but to live until
I am seventy-five and yet not ever truly to have lived.”
"One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.”
“One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.”
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
“Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”
“Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.”
“Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.”
“Put yourself in a state of mind where you say to yourself, "Here is an opportunity for me to celebrate like never before, my own power, my own ability to get myself to do whatever is necessary."
"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think."
“Real peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the presence of justice.”
"Science investigates religion interprets. Science gives man knowledge which is power religion gives man wisdom which is control."
"Seeing is not always believing."
"Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will."
"So I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”
“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”
"The art of acceptance is the art of making someone who has just done you a small favor wish that he might have done you a greater one.”
“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But… the good Samaritan reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”
“The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood.”
“The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.”
“The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility."
“The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.”
“The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.”
“The old law about an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.”
"The quality, not the longevity, of one’s life is what is important.”
"The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be.”
“The strong man is the man who can stand up for his rights and not hit back.”
“The time is always right to do what is right.”
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
"There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.”
"Through our scientific genius, we have made this world a neighborhood; now through our moral and spiritual development, we must make of it a brotherhood."
"We are not makers of history. We are made by history."
"We are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobile rather than
by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.”
"We have flown the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers.”
"We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now."
"We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.”
"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."
“We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
“We must use time creatively and forever realize that the time is ripe to do what’s right."
"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.”
"We will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. "
"We will speed the day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing …Free at last, Free at last, Thank God Almighty, I’m free at last.”
“What does not destroy me, makes me strong.” (Paraphrasing Nietzsche)
“Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”
"….when we let it ring from every village, and every hamlet, from every state and every city , we will be able to speed up the day when all of god children…will be able to join hands and sing in the words of that old Negro spiritual, ‘free at last! free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at last!”
"Without justice, there can be no peace. He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it.”
"Without love, benevolence becomes egotism.”
Albert Schweitzer
Today is the birthday of Albert Schweitzer who was born in Kaysersberg, Alsace-Lorraine, Germany. It is one of those parts of the world that has often changed hands and is now in Haut-Rhin, Alsace, France.
He was a remarkable man: as a youngster he was a famous organist and was highly interested in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, whom he regarded as a religious mystic.
He decided that after the age of 30 he would dedicate himself to the service of humanity and became both a theologian and physician. He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 for his philosophy of "reverence for life" expressed in many ways but most famously in founding and sustaining the Lambaréné Hospital in Gabon, west central Africa.
I have heard some people be very critical of Schweitzer, describing him as patronizing toward Africa. I don’t think that is right. If you look at his actions and his writings, it is clear that he had an extraordinary compassion and vision.
Here are a few of his writings from my own collection. I hope that you find some of them as inspirational as I have.
“A great secret of success is to go through life as a man who never gets used up.”
“A heavy guilt rests upon us for what the whites of all nations have done to the colored peoples. When we do good to them, it is not benevolence it is atonement.”
“A man can do only what he can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again the next day.”
“A man does not have to be an angel to be a saint.”
"All the kindness which a man puts out into the world
works on the heart and thoughts of mankind.”
“All work that is worth anything is done in faith.”
“An idea is, in the end, always stronger than circumstances.”
“Anyone who proposes to do good must not expect people to roll stones out of their way, but must accept their lot calmly, even if people roll a few stones upon it.”
“As soon as man does not take his existence for granted, but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious, thought begins.”
“As we acquire more knowledge, things do not become more comprehensible, but more mysterious.”
“At that point in life where your talent meets the needs of the world, that is where God wants you to be.”
“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”
“Be faithful to your love and you will be recompensed beyond measure.”
“Because I have confidence in the power of Truth and of the spirit, I believe in the future of mankind.”
“By having reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world.”
“Do something wonderful, people may imitate it.”
“Ethical existence is the highest manifestation of spirituality.”
“Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. That is what gives me the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and limiting life are evil.”
“Every man has to seek his own way to make himself more noble and to realize his own true worth”
“Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.”
“Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.”
“I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.”
“I have always held firmly to the thought that each one of us can do a little to bring some portion of misery to an end.”
"If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."
“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.”
“In the same way as the tree bears the same fruit year after year, but each time new fruit, all lastingly valuable ideas in thinking must always be reborn.”
“It seemed to me a matter of course that we should all take our share of the burden of pain which lies upon the world.”
“Knowing all truth is less than doing a little bit of good.”
“Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the earth.”
“Man is a clever animal who behaves like an imbecile.”
“Medicine is not only a science, but also the art of letting our own individuality interact with the individuality of the patient.”
“Natural and super-natural, temporal and eternal – continuums, not absolutes.”
“No ray of sunshine is ever lost, but the green which it awakens into existence needs time to sprout, and it is not always granted for the sower to see the harvest. All work that is worth anything is done in faith.”
“One thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve.”
“One truth stands firm. All that happens in world history rests on something spiritual. If the spiritual is strong, it creates world history. If it is weak, it suffers world history.”
“One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity.”
“Only those who respect the personality of others can be of real use to them.”
“Reverence for life affords me my fundamental principle of morality, namely that good consists in maintaining, assisting, and enhancing life, and that to destroy, to harm, or to hinder life is evil.”
“Success is not the key to happiness; Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”
“The awareness that we are all human beings together has become lost in war and through politics.”
“The first step in the evolution of ethics is an enlargement of the sense of solidarity with other human beings.”
“The greatest discovery of any generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.” (He is here reiterating something said by the great psychologist and philosopher William James)
“The human spirit is not dead. It lives on in secret…. It has come to believe that compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind.”
“The man who h
as become a thinking being feels a compulsion to give to every will-to-live the same reverence for life that he gives to his own.”
“The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives.”
“The true worth of a man is not to be found in man himself, but in the colors and textures that come alive in others.”
“There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.”
“There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed.”
“There is so much coldness in the world because we are afraid to be as cordial as we really are.”
“To educate yourself for gratitude means to take nothing for granted but to seek out and value the kindness that lies behind the action.”
“Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.”
“Very little of the great cruelty shown by men can really be attributed to cruel instinct. Most of it comes from thoughtlessness or inherited habit. The roots of cruelty, therefore, are not so much strong as widespread. But the time must come when inhumanity protected by custom and thoughtlessness will succumb before humanity championed by thought. Let us work that this time may come.”
“We cannot possibly let ourselves get frozen into regarding everyone we do not know as an absolute stranger.”
“Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.”
“Your life is something opaque, not transparent, as long as you look at it in an ordinary human way. But if you hold it up against the light of God’s goodness, it shines and turns transparent, radiant and bright. And then you ask yourself in amazement: Is this really my own life I see before me?”
