Friends

[stripe]

Re: chat

Reality is the beginning not the end,
Naked Alpha, not the hierophant Omega,
Of dense investiture, with luminous

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

What do I believe? As an American I believe in generosity, in liberty, in the rights of man. These are social and political faiths that are part of me, as they are, I suppose, part of all of us. Such beliefs are easy to express. But part of me too is my relation to all life, my religion. And this is not so easy to talk about. Religious experience is highly intimate and, for me, ready words are not at hand.

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything; both ways save us from thinking.

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it.

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can't build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery and death.

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence is an index into his desires -- desires of which he himself is often unconscious. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books. Believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true. [paraphrased

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

Habits of thought persist through the centuries; and while a healthy brain may reject the doctrine it no longer believes, it will continue to feel the same sentiments formerly associated with that doctrine.

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

The mind can assert anything and pretend it has proved it. My beliefs I test on my body, on my intuitional consciousness, and when I get a response there, then I accept.

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

Faith is not belief. Belief is passive. Faith is active.

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

It is not bigotry to be certain we are right; but it is bigotry to be unable to imagine how we might possibly have gone wrong.

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

Myths which are believed in tend to

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

One needs something to believe in, something for which one can have whole-hearted enthusiasm. One needs to feel that one's life has meaning, that one is needed in this world.

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

Nothing else matters much -- not wealth, nor learning, nor even health -- without this gift: the spiritual capacity to keep zest in living. This is the creed of creeds, the final deposit and distillation of all important faiths: that you should be able to believe in life.

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

Only barbarians are not curious about where they come from, how they came to be where they are, where they appear to be going, whether they wish to go there, and if so, why, and if not, why not.


g

 

[stripe]

Re: chat

If you must tell me your opinions, tell me