THE WORLD'S RELIGIONS
Huston Smith
Chapters on Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity, plus chapters on primal religions such as native traditions of the Americas, Australia, Africa and Oceania, with expanded sections on the inner dimensions of these great religions.
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| 1 |
"Every human being, simply by virtue of his or her humanity, is a child of God and therefore in possession of rights that even kings must respect."
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| 2 |
"I saw my Lord with the eye of the Heart. I said: 'Who are you?' He answered: 'You.'" Al-Hallaj
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| 3 |
"Myths plumb depths that the intellect can see only obliquely. Parables and legends present ideals in ways that make hearers long to embody them."
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| 4 |
"Life being one,…our duty to our fellows is to understand them as extensions, other aspects, of ourselves – fellow facets of the same Reality." Christmas Humphreys, 'Buddhism'
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| 5 |
"All life down to its smallest element, can, if rightly approached, be seen as a reflection of the infinite source of holiness, which is God."
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| 6 |
"Everything is prepared for the good of human beings." Yi-Pao Mei, ancient Chinese philosopher, 'Motse'
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| 7 |
"All of us dwell on the brink of the infinite ocean of life's creative power. We carry it within us: supreme strength, the fullness of wisdom, unquenchable joy. It is never thwarted and cannot be destroyed."
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| 8 |
"One has lived from an endless past and will live into an endless future. At this very moment one partakes of Eternal Life – blissful, luminous, pure." Ruth Fuller Sasaki, 'Zen – A Religion'
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| 9 |
"Human bodies are of course separate, but on a deeper level we are joined like icebergs in a common floe."
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| 10 |
"Underlying the human self and animating it is a reservoir of being that never dies, is never exhausted, and is unrestricted in consciousness and bliss."
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| 11 |
"A typical feature of religion is grace, the belief - ..that Reality is ultimately on our side. In last resort the universe is friendly; we can feel at home in it."
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| 12 |
"The prerequisite of political stability is social justice, for it is in the nature of things that injustice will not endure."
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| 13 |
"God is being, awareness, and bliss. Utter reality, utter consciousness, and utterly beyond all possibility of frustration."
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| 14 |
"You can find God in the world of everyday affairs as readily as anywhere."
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| 15 |
"Value, virtue, and spiritual fulfillment come through realizing the potentialities that are uniquely one's own; in ways that are not inconsequential, those possibilities differ from those of every other soul that ever has lived, or ever will live in the future."
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| 16 |
"If we could really understand life, if we could really understand ourselves, we would find neither a problem. Humanistic psychology proceeds on the same assumption. When 'awareness of experience is fully operating', Carl Rogers writes, 'human behavior is to be trusted, for in these moments the human organism becomes aware of its delicacy and tenderness towards others.'"
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| 17 |
"Locked in every human being is a store of love that partakes of the divine – the 'imago dei', image of God, it is sometimes called."
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| 18 |
"The integrating principle of the whole – the Spirit, as it were, of the universe – instinct without contrivance, flows with purpose." George Romanes, Charles Darwin's colleague
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| 19 |
"The career of a soul as it threads its course…is guided by its choices, which are controlled by what the soul wants and wills at each stage of the journey."
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| 20 |
"There is but one reality, like a brimming ocean, boundless as the sky, indivisible, absolute."
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| 21 |
"Every religion mixes universal principles with local peculiarities. The former, when lifted out and made clear, speak to what is generically human in us all."
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| 22 |
"Reality is in fact one and perfect."
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| 23 |
"When a heart is illumined by true knowledge, it knows that above all these wars of sects and sectarians presides the one indivisible, eternal, all-knowing bliss." Ramakrishna
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| 24 |
"My heart has opened unto every form. It is a pasture for gazelles, a cloister for Christian monks, a temple for idols, the Ka'ba of the pilgrim, the tablets of the Torah and the book of the Koran. I practice the religion of Love; in whatsoever directions its caravans advance, the religion of Love shall be my religion and my faith." Ibn 'Arabi
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| 25 |
"In the context of wholeness, the opposites appear as no more than phases in an endless cycling process, for each turns incessantly into its opposite, exchanging places with it. Life…bends back upon itself to come, full circle, to the realization that all is one and all is well."
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We are gathering together the primary insights of spirituality and bringing them together into one place.
This archive contains 11,754 quotes, taken from 635 references,
organized in terms of 39 primary categories. Quotes are randomized and appear in a different way at every click.
Explore the navigation options to review these insights.
We include
- All major spiritual and religious traditions, from all cultures, and all historical epochs
- Major psychologists, philosophers, writers, scholars and leading religious personalities
- Sources in classical religion as well as voices from new consciousness, esotericism and mysticism
- Choices are guided by the spirit of oneness, love, kindness, inclusion and community
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