Celebration is a confrontation, giving attention to the transcendent meaning of one's actions.
Abraham Joshua HeschelRead
Normal consciousness is a state of stupor, in which the sensibility to the wholly real and responsiveness to the stimuli of the spirit are reduced. The mystics, knowing that man is involved in a hidden history of the cosmos, endeavor to awake from the drowsiness and apathy and to regain the state of wakefulness for their enchanted souls.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the unconscious state of ordinary awareness and the mystical pursuit of deeper spiritual consciousness.
Abraham Joshua Heschel suggests that most people live in a state of unawareness, where their spiritual sensitivity is dulled, likening it to a stupor. Mystics, in contrast, seek to awaken from this slumber by reconnecting with the deeper truths of existence and the cosmos, aiming to revive their souls and achieve a heightened awareness of reality.
Themes
ConsciousnessSpiritualityMysticismAwakeningAwareness
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of mindfulness and self-awareness.
More from Abraham Joshua Heschel
All quotes →Prayer cannot bring water to parched fields, or mend a broken bridge, or rebuild a ruined city; but prayer can water an arid soul, mend a broken heart, and rebuild a weakened will.
Abraham Joshua HeschelRead
The worship of reason is arrogance and betrays a lack of intelligence. The rejection of reason is cowardice and betrays a lack of faith.
Abraham Joshua HeschelRead
We worship God through our questions.
Abraham Joshua HeschelRead
When religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion, its message becomes meaningless.
Abraham Joshua HeschelRead
The true meaning of existence is disclosed in moments of living in the presence of God
Abraham Joshua HeschelRead
Similar quotes
Every morning our newspapers could read, 'More than 20,000 people perished yesterday of extreme poverty.' How? The poor die in hospital wards that lack drugs, in villages that lack antimalarial bed nets, in houses that lack safe drinking water. They die namelessly, without public comment. Sadly, sad stories rarely get written.
Jeffrey SachsRead
The Fondness we have for Self, and the Relation which other Persons and Things have to ourselves, furnish us with another long Rank of Prejudices.
Isaac WattsRead
It's been interesting to see how similar audiences in the East and West are, actually, and how it makes you realize that when politicians emphasize the differences between our cultures, it's usually because it benefits them more so than us.
Asghar FarhadiRead
I punish myself for my whole life, my whole life I punish.
Fyodor DostoevskyRead
When all actions are mathematically calculated, they also take on a stupid quality.
Theodor AdornoRead
Drunkenness does not create vice; it merely brings it into view.
Seneca The YoungerRead