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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"Every act of love brings happiness; there is no act of love which does not bring peace and blessedness as its reaction. Real existence, real knowledge, and real love are eternally connected with one another, the three in one: where one of them is, the others also must be; they are the three aspects of the One without a second – the Existence-Knowledge-Bliss." Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), Hindu mystic, 'Karma-Yoga'
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"The idea of wholeness is an archetype of deep significance." Gerhard Adler (b. 1904), English Jungian analyst, 'Studies in Analytical Psychology'
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"True self-revelation has always as its counterpart a growth in knowledge of God. For it is only in the light of God that we see ourselves for what we are." Edward Leen (1885-1944), Irish Catholic cleric and educator, 'Progress Through Mental Prayer'
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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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"The philosophers Tilly and Seneca maintain that no rational soul is without God. The seed of God is in us." Meister Eckhart (1260-1327), German scholar and mystic
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"I feel myself part of eternity, part of the Being which was eons of years before I was born, and will be eons of years after I die. This is an expression, it seems to me, of 'The peace of God which passes understanding.'" Rollo May (b. 1909), American psychoanalyst, 'Paulus'
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"The deepest and most profound and most hidden of all human desires: The desire to love and to give oneself in love and to be part of the living stream we call brotherhood." Fritz Kunkel, M.D. (1889-1956), American psychiatrist, 'In Search of Maturity', quoted in 'The Choice Is Always Ours', edited by Dorothy B. Phillips, Pillar Books 1975, p. 105
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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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"I know that God exists. There is utter Reality, complete creative power holding the entire creation in its grasp. The whole of time and space is no more than an incident, a minute episode in the immeasurable order, power, and glory of complete Being." Gerald Heard, (1889-1971), English author and philosopher, 'The Creed of Christ'
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"I realize that in 'my' chemistry I am akin to earth and water; I recognize my kinship with flowers and grass and trees, with brooks and lakes and rivers, and I feel their rhythms flow through me with peace and power, as I yield my sense of them-in-separateness to the Unity which is their underlying reality." Ruth Raymond (1878-1969), American art educator, written for this anthology
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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 true self-sacrifice is the one that sacrifices the hidden thing in the self which would work harm to ourselves and to others." Frances G. Wickes (1875-1970), American psychotherapist, 'The Inner World of Childhood'
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"If history reveals anything it is that dissolution and growth have been aspects of the same phenomenon. Growth has not occurred anywhere without involving dissolution. Every major cultural change throughout history has involved this two-fold process of death and emergence." Bernard Eugene Meland (b. 1899), American philosopher and professor of religion, from an article in 'The Personalist'
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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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"There is inherent in man a longing and tendency towards wholeness, and only when this longing is stilled is his negative state of tension wiped out and neutralized." Gerhard Adler (b. 1904), English Jungian analyst, 'Studies in Analytical Psychology'
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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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"The whole gist of the matter lies in the will, and this is what our Dear Lord meant by saying, 'The Kingdom of God is within you.' It is not a question of how much we know, how clever we are…. it all depends upon the heart's love. External actions are the results of love, the fruit it bears; but the source, the root, is in the deep of the heart." Francois Fenelon (1651-1715), French Archbishop of Cambray
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"Freedom comes through complete acceptance of reality." Alan W. Watts (1915-1973), American philosopher and author, 'The Spirit of Zen'
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"There are times when doubts over me steal, but I know Thou are there and awake. Thou art – and art – and I feel no surging of aeons can shake Thee – Life is a ring, I have found – I am child, boy, man, more – I learn the circle is rich, the full round complete in its perfect return." Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), German poet
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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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"Great Tao is all pervading! It is available everywhere, on the right hand and on the left. Everything is dependent upon it for existence and it never fails them." Laotzu, 6th century bce, Chinese philosopher, 'Laotzu's Tao and Wu-Wei'
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"Every particular thou is a glimpse through to the eternal Thou." Martin Buber (1878-1965),Israeli theologian and mystic
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"The miracle of rebirth seems to be a natural element in human life….we feel behind the sunrise of the new life a higher Living Power who brings it about." Fritz Kunkel, M.D. (1889-1956), American psychiatrist, 'How Character Develops'
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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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"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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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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