More company increases happiness, but does not lighten or diminish misery.
Thomas TraherneRead
To think well is to serve God in the interior court.
Interpretation
Thinking deeply and wisely is a way to serve a higher purpose or divine presence.
This quote by Thomas Traherne suggests that the act of profound and thoughtful contemplation is not only a personal endeavor but also a spiritual duty. It emphasizes the value of intellectual and spiritual engagement as a means of connecting with and serving a higher power within oneself and the universe.
In practice
During a meditation retreat, I shared this quote to emphasize the importance of deep thinking.
More company increases happiness, but does not lighten or diminish misery.
We do not ignore maturity. Maturity consists in not losing the past while fully living in the present with a prudent awareness of the possibilities of the future.
Happiness was not made to be boasted, but enjoyed. Therefore tho others count me miserable, I will not believe them if I know and feel myself to be happy; nor fear them.
To love one person with a private love is poor and miserable: to love all is glorious.
You never know yourself till you know more than your body.
Certainly Adam in Paradise had not more sweet and curious apprehensions of the world, than I when I was a child.
They laughed. Things were funny. They weren't afraid to care. There was no sense to life, to the structure of things.
You canβt put the past behind you. Itβs buried in you; itβs turned your flesh into its own cupboard. Not everything remembered is useful but it all comes from the world to be stored in you.
If the human intellect functions, it is actually in order to solve the problems which the man's inner destiny sets it.
Whether humanity is to comprehensively prosper...depends entirely on the integrity of the human individuals and not on the political and economic systems. The cosmic question has been asked: are humans worthwhile to universe invention?
In emerging democracies like Russia, in authoritarian states like Iran or even Yugoslavia, journalists play a vital role in civil society. In fact, they form the very basis of those new democracies and civil societies.
All of the true things I am about to tell you are shameless lies.
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