THE CHOICE IS ALWAYS OURS
Dorothy B. Phillips, Chief Editor
An anthology about the spiritual Way, chosen from psychological, religious, philosophical, poetical and biographical sources
|
|
| 1 |
"He who would in his own person test the fact of God's presence can do so by a living faith. Exercise of faith will be the safest where there is a clear determination summarily to reject all that is contrary to Truth and Love." Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869-1848), Hindu statesman and mystic, 'Gandhi's Ideas'
|
|
| 2 |
"Prayer is not escape from reality and from action; it is the source of strength and insight for action. It is the only preparation for sound action." Rose Terlin, American editor and writer, 'Prayer and Christian Living'
|
|
| 3 |
"There is nothing real where the One Sole Good is not." Francois Fenelon (1651-1715), French Archbishop of Cambray, 'Spiritual Letters of Archbishop Fenelon'
|
|
| 4 |
"Love is the result of an identification – the identifying of our wills with the will of God, and our fate with that of all men, however obscure, fallen and needy." Rose Terlin, contemporary American editor and writer, 'Christian Faith and Social Action'
|
|
| 5 |
"We have no reason to mistrust our world, for it is not against us." Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), German poet, 'Letters to a Young Poet'
|
|
| 6 |
"Who are you who go about to save them that are lost? Are you saved yourself?.... Be sure, very sure, that each one of these can teach you as much as, probably more than, you can teach them. Have you then sat humbly at their feet, and waited on their lips that they should be the first to speak – and been reverent before these children – whom you so little understand? Have you dropped into the bottomless pit from between yourself and them all hallucination of superiority, all flatulence of knowledge, every shred of abhorrence and loathing? Is it equal, is it free as the wind between you? Could you be happy receiving favors from one of the most despised of these?.....Arise, then, and become a savior." Edward Carpenter (1844-1929), English author, poet, 'Towards Democracy'
|
|
| 7 |
"The freedom of the individual might be defined as the preparedness to be formed by his own eidos, his inner image of wholeness which exists a priori in him. The more the individual becomes sensitive and receptive to his inner image, the more he becomes whole and 'healed'." Gerhard Adler (B. 1904), English Jungian analyst, 'Studies in Analytical Psychology'
|
|
| 8 |
"The world lives by its incarnation of God in itself." Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), English mathematician and philosopher, 'Religion in the Making'
|
|
| 9 |
"Whatever the approach, and however complicated the philosophical, psychological or theological superstructure erected upon it, the essentials of the Way whereby the suprapersonal reality becomes transformingly effective in the individual life are found to be virtually identical and universal."
|
|
| 10 |
"We are inescapably all members of one another." Rose Terlin, contemporary American editor and writer, 'Christian Faith and Social Action'
|
|
| 11 |
"God can show Himself as He really is only to real people. And that means not simply to people who are individually good, but to people who are united together in a body, loving one another, helping one another, showing Him to one another. For that is what God meant humanity to be like; like players in one band, or organs in one body." C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), English professor, author, 'Beyond Personality'
|
|
| 12 |
"All souls of all things do but compose the body of God." D. H. Lawrence (1885-1940), English novelist and poet, from a letter to Lady Ottoline Morrell, February, 1915
|
|
| 13 |
"The invisible replies and materializes in the form in which it is summoned and imagined." Gerald Heard (1889-1971), English author and philosopher, 'The Third Morality'
|
|
| 14 |
"Prayer is a pure act of the will, seeking an integral understanding of and union with the Whole, the One." Gerald Heard (1889-197), English author and philosopher, 'A Preface to Prayer'
|
|
| 15 |
"Oh, who will give me a voice that I may cry aloud to the whole world that God, the all highest, is in the deepest abyss within us and is waiting for us to return to Him." Hans Denck (1495-1527), German mystic, 'On the Law of God'
|
|
| 16 |
"The miracle of rebirth seems to be a natural element in human life….we feel behind the sunrise of the new life a higher Living Power who brings it about." Fritz Kunkel, M.D. (1889-1956), American psychiatrist, 'How Character Develops'
|
|
| 17 |
"The only name for the faculty by which we can discern that element of Beauty which is present in every Fact, which we must discern in every Fact before it becomes Truth for us, is Love." John Middleton Murry (1889-1957), English author, 'Studies in Keats'
|
|
| 18 |
"When any community is devoted to the vitality of the Center of and beyond each individual, there will be no danger of damaging consensus, for the particular 'color' of the Center as it expresses itself through each personality will contribute richness to the whole. This will bring relatedness and cooperation." Elizabeth Boyden Howes, Jungian analyst, written for this anthology
|
|
| 19 |
"There are facets of failure in every person's makeup and there are elements of success. Both must be accepted while we try to emphasize the latter through self-knowledge." Joshua Loth Liebman (1907-1948), American rabbi, 'Peace of Mind', quoted in 'The Choice Is Always Ours', edited by Dorothy B. Phillips, Re-Quest Books 1975, p. 199
|
|
| 20 |
"This Form of the good must be seen by whosoever would act wisely in public or in private." Plato, 'The Republic'
|
|
| 21 |
"The ability and willingness to enter into experience, honestly appraising it, finding its value in outer life and courageously exploring its inner meaning to us, is the attitude that sets free creative energy and makes life move within us." Frances G. Wickes (1875-1970), American psychotherapist, 'The Creative Process'
|
|
| 22 |
"The relation of each to all, through God, is real, objective, existential. It is an eternal relationship which is shared in by every stick and stone and bird and beast and saint and sinner of the universe." Thomas R. Kelly (1893-1941), American philosopher, 'A Testament of Devotion'
|
|
| 23 |
"The whole gist of the matter lies in the will, and this is what our Dear Lord meant by saying, 'The Kingdom of God is within you.' It is not a question of how much we know, how clever we are…. it all depends upon the heart's love. External actions are the results of love, the fruit it bears; but the source, the root, is in the deep of the heart." Francois Fenelon (1651-1715), French Archbishop of Cambray
|
|
| 24 |
"In the final good designed by Him not a cell of Being will be found missing or unfulfilled." R. H. J. Steuart, S.J. (1874-1948), English priest, 'The Inward Vision'
|
|
| 25 |
"The integrated personality does not merely express the individual totality, for in the actualization of his own a priori wholeness the individual also discovers his relatedness to a super-individual centre. This centre is the self which is paradoxically the quintessence of the individuum and at the same time of the collectivum. In other words: the experience of wholeness coincides with the experience of a centre of the personality and a meaning of life which transcends the individual. This is expressed for instance in the words of Nicolaus of Cusa who makes God say to man: 'Be thou thyself, and I shall be thine.'" Gerhard Adler (b. 1904), English Jungian analyst, 'Studies in Analytical Psychology'
|
|
|
|
Randomize this reference |
New random category
Add a comment
Reference and bibliography |
All quotes, by category
We are gathering together the primary insights of spirituality and bringing them together into one place.
This archive contains 11,754 quotes, taken from 635 references,
organized in terms of 39 primary categories. Quotes are randomized and appear in a different way at every click.
Explore the navigation options to review these insights.
We include
- All major spiritual and religious traditions, from all cultures, and all historical epochs
- Major psychologists, philosophers, writers, scholars and leading religious personalities
- Sources in classical religion as well as voices from new consciousness, esotericism and mysticism
- Choices are guided by the spirit of oneness, love, kindness, inclusion and community
|
|
|
