Religion survives because it answers three questions that every reflective person must ask. Who am I? Why am I here? How then shall I live?
Interpretation
This quote highlights the fundamental questions of existence that religion addresses for individuals seeking meaning in life.
Jonathan Sacks emphasizes that religion plays a crucial role in providing answers to three profound questions that challenge every thoughtful person: the nature of one's identity, the purpose of existence, and guidance on how to live. These questions delve into the essence of being and morality, suggesting that religion forms a foundation for understanding life's complexities and human behavior.
In practice
During a philosophical discussion group, this quote could be used to initiate a conversation about the intersection of religion and personal identity.
Stabilizing the euro is one thing, healing the culture that surrounds it is another. A world in which material values are everything and spiritual values nothing is neither a stable state nor a good society. The time has come for us to recover the Judeo-Christian ethic of human dignity in the image of God.
Governments cannot make marriages or turn feckless individuals into responsible citizens. That needs another kind of change agent.
Jews read the books of Moses not just as history but as divine command. The question to which they are an answer is not, 'What happened?' but rather, 'How then shall I live?' And it's only with the exodus that the life of the commands really begins.
Why did God create mankind? Because God likes stories.
Find people not to envy but to admire. Do not the profitable but the admirable deed. Live by ideals.
Some years ago there was a study to discover the most stressful occupation. It turned out not to be the head of a large business, football manager or prime minister, but rather: bus driver.
Debt is a prolific mother of folly and of crime.
A man builds a fine house; and now he has a master, and a task for life.
Boredom is just the reverse side of fascination.
Truly generous men are always ready to become sympathetic when their enemyβs misfortune surpasses the limits of their hatred.
The idea is to remain in a state of constant departure, while always arriving.
The terror of the atom age is not the violence of the new power but the speed of man's adjustment to it, the speed of his acceptance.
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