If one believed in angels one would feel that they must love us best when we are asleep and cannot hurt each other; and what a mercy it is that once in every twenty-four hours we are too utterly weary to go on being unkind.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that true kindness comes during moments of vulnerability, such as sleep, when we cannot inflict harm on each other.
Elizabeth Von Arnim reflects on the notion that if angels existed, they would appreciate humanity in its peaceful, unguarded state during sleep. This emphasizes the beauty of human nature when it is free from the conflict and unkindness that often occurs in waking hours. The quote highlights a mercy in our daily lives—a natural respite from hostility when we are too exhausted to continue our unkind behaviors.
In practice
During a meditation session, one might reflect on the importance of kindness illustrated by this quote.
[Walking] is the perfect way of moving if you want to see into the life of things. It is the one way of freedom. If you go to a place on anything but your own feet you are taken there too fast, and miss a thousand delicate joys that were waiting for you by the wayside.
On wet days I will go into the thickest parts of the forest, where the pine needles are everlastingly dry, and when the sun shines I'll lie on the heath and see how the broom flares against the clouds. I shall be perpetually happy, because there will be no one to worry me.
I want to be as idle as I can, so that my soul may have time to grow.
The principles which men profess on any controverted subject are usually a very incomplete exponent of the opinions they really hold.
When you choose whether to make or keep a covenant with God, you choose whether you will leave an inheritance of hope to those who might follow your example.
The great gift of 'Incarceration Nations' is that, by introducing a wide range of approaches to crime, punishment, and questions of justice in diverse countries - Rwanda, South Africa, Brazil, Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, Australia and Norway - it forces us to face the reality that American-style punishment has been chosen.
In the 21st century, we can't create security by building walls.
To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring.
The theological virtue of hope is the patient and trustful willingness to live without closure, without resolution, and still be content and even happy because our Satisfaction is now at another level, and our Source is beyond ourselves.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.