Faith consists in being vitally concerned with that ultimate reality to which I give the symbolical name of God. Whoever reflects earnestly on the meaning of life is on the verge of an act of faith.
Paul TillichRead
Cruelty towards others is always also cruelty towards ourselves.
Interpretation
Being cruel to others ultimately harms oneself, reflecting a shared human experience.
This quote by Paul Tillich emphasizes the interconnectedness of humanity, suggesting that acts of cruelty do not only hurt the victim but also diminish the perpetrator. The idea is rooted in the understanding that our actions towards others are reflective of our own inner state, and that cruelty degrades our own humanity and well-being.
In practice
In a speech about kindness and empathy, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of treating others well.
Faith consists in being vitally concerned with that ultimate reality to which I give the symbolical name of God. Whoever reflects earnestly on the meaning of life is on the verge of an act of faith.
He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.
The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable.
The citizens of a city are not guilty of the crimes committed in their city; but they are guilty as participants in the destiny of [humanity] as a whole and in the destiny of their city in particular; for their acts in which freedom was united with destiny have contributed to the destiny in which they participate. They are guilty, not of committing the crimes of which their group is accused, but of contributing to the destiny in which these crimes happened.
Wine is like the incarnation--it is both divine and human
Man is able to decide for or against reason, he is able to create beyond reason or to destroy below reason
Thinking of the stars night after night I begin to realize 'The stars are words' and all the innumerable worlds in the Milky Way are words, and so is this world too. And I realize that no matter where I am, whether in a little room full of thought, or in this endless universe of stars and mountains, itβs all in my mind.
The point is not that Jesus was a good guy who accepted everybody, and thus we should do the same (though that would be good). Rather, his teachings and behaviour reflect an alternative social vision. Jesus was not talking about how to be good and how to behave within the framework of a domination system. He was a critic of the domination system itself.
It's tragic how few people ever 'possess their souls' before they die. 'Nothing is more rare in any man', says Emerson, 'than an act of his own.' It is quite true. Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their life is a mimicry, their passions a quotation.
The more I think about it, the more there is to be said for the sloth. He sleeps fifteen to eighteen hours a day and is known to have taken forty-eight days to travel four miles. He hangs in the trees after he's dead. But he lives longer than the cheetah.
Masonry is not a religion._x000D_ He who makes of it a religious belief, falsifies and denaturalizes it.
The Life of the intellect is the best and pleasantest for man, because the intellect more than anything else is the man. Thus it will be the happiest life as well.
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