In music, in the sea, in a flower, in a leaf, in an act of kindness... I see what people call God in all these things.
Interpretation
The quote expresses the idea that divinity can be found in the beauty and kindness present in the world around us.
Pablo Casals highlights the notion that the presence of God can be perceived in various aspects of life, such as music, nature, and acts of kindness. Instead of seeking divinity in abstract concepts or dogmas, he emphasizes that one can experience and connect with the divine through the beauty and love that surround us in everyday experiences.
In practice
This quote can be used in a reflection on spirituality during a community gathering.
Bach is the supreme genius of music... This man, who knows everything and feels everything, cannot write one note, however unimportant it may appear, which is anything but transcendent. He has reached the heart of every noble thought, and has done it in the most perfect way.
The love of one's country is a splendid thing. But why should love stop at the border?
The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.
I am an old man but in many senses a very young man. And this is what I want you to be, young, young all your life.
To the whole world you might be just one person, but to one person you might just be the whole world.
How could anybody think of Bach as 'cold' when these [cello] suites seem to shine with the most glittering kind of poetry," Casals said. "As I got on with the study I discovered a new world of space and beauty... the feelings I experienced were among the purest and most intense in my artistic life!
Were it only to learn benevolence to humankind, we should be merciful to other creatures.
They would have to sing better songs for me to learn to have faith in their Redeemer; and his disciples would have to look more redeemed!
Love animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Do not trouble their joy, don't harrass them, don't deprive them of their happiness, don't work against God's intent. Man, do not pride yourself on superiority to animals; they are without sin, and you, with your greatness, defile the earth by your appearance on it, and leave the traces of your foulness after you - alas, it is true of almost every one of us!
I believe in a religion that believes in freedom. Any time I have to accept a religion that won't let me fight a battle for my people, I say to hell with that religion.
To insult someone we call him 'bestial. For deliberate cruelty and nature, 'human' might be the greater insult.
When everything is subject to money, then the scarcity of money makes everything scarce, including the basis of human life and happiness. Such is the life of the slaveβone whose actions are compelled by threat to survival. Perhaps the deepest indication of our slavery is the monetization of time.
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