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
Man's ultimate concern must be expressed symbolically, because symbolic language alone is able to express the ultimate.
Interpretation
Symbolic language is essential for expressing deep and ultimate concerns of humanity.
In this quote, Paul Tillich suggests that the most profound aspects of human existence, such as ultimate concerns or existential questions, cannot be fully articulated in straightforward language. Instead, they require symbolic representations that can convey deeper meanings and emotions, as symbols resonate with human experiences and beliefs in a way that conventional words may not.
In practice
In a presentation about the importance of art in expressing complex emotions.
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.
Cruelty towards others is always also cruelty towards ourselves.
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
Life is a system of half-truths and lies, Opportunistic, convenient evasion.
A war is not won if the defeated enemy has not been turned into a friend.
I am a socialist; of course I am a socialist. To hold a vision that society can be fundamentally different, to believe that all people can be equal - that is not a new idea.
He had fought back with every weapon in his arsenal, being alternatively obtuse, evasive and pedantic, for it was wonderful how you could obscure an emotional issue by appearing to seek precision.
Oppression thrives on distance - on not actually meeting or seeing the oppressed.
The real unforgivable acts are committed by calm men in beautiful green silk rooms, who deal death wholesale, by the shipload, without lust, without anger, or desire, or any redeeming emotion to excuse them but cold fear of some pretended future. But the crimes they hope to prevent in that future are imaginary. The ones they commit in the present - they are real.
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