I grew up Presbyterian. Presbyterians thought the Methodists were wrong. Catholics thought all Protestants were wrong. The Jews thought the Christians were wrong. So, what I'm financing is humility. I want people to realize that you shouldn't think you know it all.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of humility and the acknowledgment that no one has a monopoly on truth.
John Templeton reflects on the divisions among various religious groups, each believing their own views to be correct while viewing others as misguided. He advocates for humility and the understanding that knowledge is not absolute, urging individuals to appreciate differing perspectives rather than clinging rigidly to their own beliefs.
In practice
This quote could be used in a discussion about tolerance in diverse communities.
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 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.
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.
We swallow with one gulp the lie that flatters us, and drink drop by drop the truth which is bitter to us.
There is an unseen sweetness in the stomach’s emptiness. We are lutes. When the sound box is filled, no music can come forth. When the brain and the belly burn from fasting, every moment a new song rises out of the fire. The mists clear, and a new vitality makes you spring up the steps before you . . .
Truth is the baby of the world. It never gets old.
One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.
With age, you see people fail more. You see yourself fail more. How do you keep that fearlessness of a kid? You keep going. Luckily, I'm not afraid to make a fool of myself.
She regarded books as the emblems of secret brotherhood. A man with this sort of library couldn't possibly hurt her.
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