Great Throughts Treasury

"Blind obedience is itself an abuse of human morality. It is a misuse of the human soul in the name of religious commitment. It is a sin against individual conscience. It makes moral children of the adults from whom moral agency is required. It makes a vow, which is meant to require religious figures to listen always to the law of God, beholden first to the laws of very human organizations in the person of very human authorities. It is a law that isn't even working in the military and can never substitute for personal morality."

"If the people will lead, eventually the leaders will follow."

"Losing an ilusion makes you wiser than finding a truth."

"Freedom is an internal achievement."

"We are the raw material of Divine Hope."

"Hospitality is the act of the recklessly generous heart."

"We talk religion in a world that worships the bread but does not distribute it, that practices ritual rather than righteousness, that confesses but does not repent."

"Longing is a compass that guides us through life. We may never get what we really want, that's true, but every step along the way will be determined by it."

"Never pray without the world in mind, in other words. The purpose of the spiritual life is not to save us from reality. It is to enable us to go on co-creating it."