THE CHOICE IS ALWAYS OURS
Dorothy B. Phillips, Chief Editor
An anthology about the spiritual Way, chosen from psychological, religious, philosophical, poetical and biographical sources
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"Any friendship – between two or between a hundred – entails a new emergent unity, where each of the constituent selves is far more in its functional oneness with the rest than it ever was in its apartness." Gregory Vlastos (b. 1909), Canadian professor of philosophy, 'The Religious Way'
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"This is the real message of the Bhagavad Gita: in short, temporal life and spiritual values stand in a relation of harmony – one divine life, as the Gita tells us." Swami Prabhavananda (b. 1893), monk of Ramakrishna Mission, 'Vedic Religion and Philosophy'
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"Love is the result of an identification – the identifying of our wills with the will of God, and our fate with that of all men, however obscure, fallen and needy." Rose Terlin, contemporary American editor and writer, 'Christian Faith and Social Action'
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"In broadest outline we see the universe evolving life and life evolving to continually extended awareness. We see our individuality as a phase – perhaps a hairpin bend in the zig-zag spiral of ascent – and we see that our task in cooperating with the purpose of life and the universe is so to act and to think that we become increasingly aware of our extra-individuality – that is, the common life which unites us with our fellow creatures with all life and the universe." Gerald Heard (1889-1972), English philosopher and author, 'The Third Morality'
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"God is the one systematic, complete fact, which is the antecedent ground conditioning every creative act." Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), English mathematician and philosopher, 'Religion in the Making'
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"Everything I do is like the pebble thrown into a pool, making larger and larger ripples in the waters of other lives." Joshua Loth Liebman (1907-1948), American rabbi, educator, 'Peace of Mind'
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"All of us are individual spirits created to evolve into a common union." Anonymous
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"This Form of the good must be seen by whosoever would act wisely in public or in private." Plato, 'The Republic'
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"The integrated personality does not merely express the individual totality, for in the actualization of his own a priori wholeness the individual also discovers his relatedness to a super-individual centre. This centre is the self which is paradoxically the quintessence of the individuum and at the same time of the collectivum. In other words: the experience of wholeness coincides with the experience of a centre of the personality and a meaning of life which transcends the individual. This is expressed for instance in the words of Nicolaus of Cusa who makes God say to man: 'Be thou thyself, and I shall be thine.'" Gerhard Adler (b. 1904), English Jungian analyst, 'Studies in Analytical Psychology'
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"The world lives by its incarnation of God in itself." Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), English mathematician and philosopher, 'Religion in the Making'
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"When any community is devoted to the vitality of the Center of and beyond each individual, there will be no danger of damaging consensus, for the particular 'color' of the Center as it expresses itself through each personality will contribute richness to the whole. This will bring relatedness and cooperation." Elizabeth Boyden Howes, Jungian analyst, written for this anthology
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"Know that, by nature, every creature seeks to become like God….Secretly nature seeks, hunts, tries to ferret out the track on which God may be found." Meister Eckhart (1260-1327)
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"They who are long gone are in us, as predisposition, as a charge upon our destiny, as blood that stirs, and as gesture that rises up out of the depths of time." Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), German poet, 'Letters to a Young Poet'
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"Somehow we are part of a creative destiny, reaching backward and forward to infinity – a destiny that reveals itself…in our striving, in our love, our thought, our appreciation. We are the fruition of a process that stretches back to star dust. We are material in the hands of the Genius of the universe for a still larger destiny that we cannot see in the everlasting rhythm of worlds." John Elof Boodin, (1869-1950), American philosopher, 'Cosmic Evoltuion'
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"There are facets of failure in every person's makeup and there are elements of success. Both must be accepted while we try to emphasize the latter through self-knowledge." Joshua Loth Liebman (1907-1948), American rabbi, 'Peace of Mind', quoted in 'The Choice Is Always Ours', edited by Dorothy B. Phillips, Re-Quest Books 1975, p. 199
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"God is. That is so real, that to talk of His love, or of serving Him is saying less, not more. He is, and He is with us." Alfred Romer, (b. 1907), American professor of physics
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"The relation of each to all, through God, is real, objective, existential. It is an eternal relationship which is shared in by every stick and stone and bird and beast and saint and sinner of the universe." Thomas R. Kelly (1893-1941), American philosopher, 'A Testament of Devotion'
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"The Kingdom of God is not imminent but immanent; it is not 'among you', about suddenly to break like a thunderstorm, but 'within you', ready to be expressed the moment you understand your latent, common nature and how you must and can transcend your individuality, your egotism, which makes the world the obstacle it proves today to be to you." Gerald Heard (1889-1971), English author and philosopher, 'The Third Morality'
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"We are inescapably all members of one another." Rose Terlin, contemporary American editor and writer, 'Christian Faith and Social Action'
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"The ability and willingness to enter into experience, honestly appraising it, finding its value in outer life and courageously exploring its inner meaning to us, is the attitude that sets free creative energy and makes life move within us." Frances G. Wickes (1875-1970), American psychotherapist, 'The Creative Process'
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"The command to love is written in the material structure of our everyday life. Mutuality is not just a shiny ideal that catches the eye of a few idealists. It is the demand of the historic process. It is not merely a moral obligation, which can be set aside because of more urgent practical necessities. It is the most urgently practical need of our life. It is a moral obligation precisely because it is also a material necessity." Gregory Vlastos (b. 1909), Canadian professor of philosophy, 'Christian Faith and Democracy'
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"Whatever the approach, and however complicated the philosophical, psychological or theological superstructure erected upon it, the essentials of the Way whereby the suprapersonal reality becomes transformingly effective in the individual life are found to be virtually identical and universal."
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"It is human to go through negative experiences, disappointments and frustrations. It is one of the ways leading us to maturity. Indeed, it is the opportunity to become We-feeling, objective, creative." Fritz Kunkel, M.D. (1889-1956), American psychiatrist, 'How Character Develops'
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"In us is the longing for unity. We are impelled by a hidden instinct to reunion with the parts of the larger heart of the universe." John Elof Boodin (1869-1950)
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"The freedom of the individual might be defined as the preparedness to be formed by his own eidos, his inner image of wholeness which exists a priori in him. The more the individual becomes sensitive and receptive to his inner image, the more he becomes whole and 'healed'." Gerhard Adler (B. 1904), English Jungian analyst, 'Studies in Analytical Psychology'
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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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