Learning to be silent is far more difficult and far more important than learning to recite prayers.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I Of ConstantinopleRead
Arrogance and fanaticism cause the hardening of positions taken and entrenchment can only lead to a dead end.
Interpretation
Arrogance and extreme beliefs can lead to inflexible thinking, resulting in unresolvable conflicts.
The quote warns against the dangers of arrogance and fanaticism, suggesting that such traits lead individuals and groups to become entrenched in their beliefs. This hardening of positions not only obstructs constructive dialogue but also ultimately results in a dead end where no resolution can be achieved, highlighting the importance of humility and open-mindedness in discussions and relationships.
In practice
In a debate about climate change, one could use this quote to emphasize the need for open dialogue rather than stubbornly holding to one view.
Learning to be silent is far more difficult and far more important than learning to recite prayers.
... the ecological problem of our times demands a radical reevaluation of how we see the entire world; it demands a different interpretation of matter and the world, a new attitude of humankind toward nature, and a new understanding of how we acquire and make use of our material goods.
I'm simply saying that there is a way to be sane. I'm saying that you can get rid of all this insanity created by the past in you. Just by being a simple witness of your thought processes. It is simply sitting silently, witnessing the thoughts, passing before you. Just witnessing, not interfering not even judging, because the moment you judge you have lost the pure witness.
Lose what? A man only has a soul to be won or lost; apart from his life, he has nothing. Past or future lives do not matter - at the moment you are living this one, and you should do so with silent comprehension, joy and enthusiasm. What you must not lose is your enthusiasm.
I sort of understood that when I first started: that you shouldn't repeat a success. Very often you're going to, and maybe the first time you do, it works. And you love it. But then you're trapped.
I wanted to lie hour after hour on a couch, pouring out the dark, secret places of my heart--do this feeling that over my shoulder sat humanity and wisdom and generosity, a munificent heart--do this until that incredibly lovely day when the great man would say to me, his voice grave and dramatic with discovery: "This is you, Exley. Rise and go back into the world a whole man.
Speed is irrelevant if you are going in the wrong direction.
My experience is what I agree to attend to.
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