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Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt.
Paul Tillich
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Being religious involves a deep quest for existential meaning and accepting uncomfortable truths.

This quote by Paul Tillich suggests that true religiosity is characterized by a fervent inquiry into the purpose of life and existence. It emphasizes the importance of not only seeking answers to profound questions but also being open to receiving those answers, even when they may challenge our beliefs or cause discomfort. It highlights the serious commitment to understanding life's deeper meanings and the courage required to confront potentially painful truths.

Themes

ReligionMeaningExistenceQuestionsTruth

In practice

Example use cases

During a philosophy class, discussing the nature of existence and faith.

More from Paul Tillich

Faith consists in being vitally concerned with that ultimate reality to which I give the symbolical name of God. Whoever reflects earnestly on the meaning of life is on the verge of an act of faith.
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He who risks and fails can be forgiven. He who never risks and never fails is a failure in his whole being.
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The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself, in spite of being unacceptable.
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Quote by Paul Tillich | QuoteProject