The objective of our religious foundations is to teach people that they are hurting themselves when they say they believe something. What we should realize is we know almost nothing about God and therefore we should be eager to search and to learn.
Interpretation
Believing without questioning can lead to self-inflicted pain; embracing curiosity about God can bring growth.
John Templeton suggests that rigid beliefs can be detrimental to individuals, as they may prevent true understanding and personal growth. Instead, he advocates for a humble approach to spirituality that encourages inquiry and learning, emphasizing that our knowledge about God is limited and recognizing the value in the pursuit of understanding.
In practice
During a discussion on religious beliefs, one might reference this quote to encourage a more open-minded view.
The correct description is that we try every day to become more humble when we talk about divinity, we try to realize how little we know and how open minded we should be. It's self centered to think that human beings, as limited as we are, can describe divinity.
Life is made up not necessarily of great sacrifices or high-level duties but of little things. The smiles, the kindnesses, the commitments and obligations and responsibilities that are given habitually and lovingly are the blessings that win and preserve the heart and bring comfort to one's self as we as to others. This is the ministry of service performed by every useful life.
The correct description is that we try every day to become more humble when we talk about divinity, we try to realize how little we know and how open minded we should be.
The idea that an individual can find God is terribly self-centered. It is like a wave thinking it can find the sea.
Three of my children are medical doctors; they know at least a hundred times as much about your body as my grandfather knew, but they don't know much more about soul than he did.
I focus on spiritual wealth now, and I'm busier, more enthusiastic, and more joyful than I have ever been.
He was so full of wrath against grown-ups, who as usual, were spoiling everything, that as soon as he got inside his tree he breathed intentionally quick short breaths at the rate of about five to a second. He did this because there is a saying in the Neverland, that everytime you breathe, a grown-up dies; and Peter was killing them of vindictively as fast as possible.
The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.
There is something noble in hearing myself ill spoken of, when I am doing well.
We are material beings for but a moment in time, but we are spiritual beings forever.
Astounded—and indifferent—for he was a man who, in effect, had no ‘day before’.
In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.
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