Great Throughts Treasury

This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.

Robert Hugh Benson

English Roman Catholic Priest and Author of Ghost Stories, Awarded the Dignitary of Honour of hte Order of the Holy Sepulchre, youngest son of Edward White Benson Archbishop of Canterbury), brother of Edward Frederic Benson and A.C. Benson

"It seems to me probable that anyone who has a series of intolerable positions to put up with must have been responsible for them in some extent; not that it was simply "their fault" - I don't mean that - but that they have contributed to it by impatience, or intolerance, or brusqueness - or some provocation."

"To “lose self” in a Society of some kind is the only means of saving self."

"It is only the souls that do not love that go empty in this world."

"A lion is at liberty who can follow the laws of his own nature, who can eat when his stomach tells him, who can sleep when his fierce eyes grow weary, who can scratch long furrows in a forest tree when his claws feel so disposed. He is not at liberty when he lives in a cage, is fed on horseflesh at 4 p.m., and is compelled at the point of a red-hot poker to spell P-I-G ? PIG, in the presence of a diverted crowd."

"Competition, founded upon the conflicting interests of individuals, is in reality far less productive of wealth and enterprise than co-operation, involving though it does the constant apparent sacrifice of the individual to the common interests."

"I think that the insane desire one has sometimes to bang and kick grumblers and peevish persons is a Divine instinct."

"At length we reached our point of departure. Words would not express our feelings, but our thoughts passed unfailingly to him who had brought us this supreme happiness, this foretaste of our destiny - and of the destiny of the whole Earth world and the whole Spirit world. And with a blessing upon us all, and with a smile of such affection, of such ineffable benignity, he bade us God-speed, and we found ourselves once more in our own realm. I have tried to tell you something of what we saw, but words cannot be found to describe it, because I cannot translate the purely Spiritual into Earthly terms. My account must therefore fall far, far short. And so also in those other matters of which I have treated. To give you a comprehensive account of all that we have seen in the world of Spirit would fill many volumes, and therefore I have chosen what I felt would be of most interest and benefit. My earnest wish is that I have captured your interest, taken you away, for a moment, from the pressing affairs of Earthly life, and given you a glimpse of the world beyond the world in which you are now living. If I have brought a measure of comfort, or of good hope, then great is my reward, and I would say to you: Benedicat te omnipotens Deus."

"Ignorance may be bliss, but it certainly is not freedom, except in the minds of those who prefer darkness to light and chains to liberty. The more true information we can acquire, the better for our enfranchisement."

"In the ages of faith a very inadequate grasp of religion would pass muster; in these searching days none but the humble and pure could stand the test for long, unless indeed they were protected by the miracle of ignorance."

"Society is not merely a select body of spiritual or intellectual persons, but a great organism composed of all kinds of members, a net containing bad and good."

"Passing to spirit life - The actual process of dissolution is not necessarily a painful one. I had during my Earth life witnessed many souls passing over the border into Spirit. I had had the chance of observing with the physical eyes the struggles that take place as the Spirit seeks to free itself for ever from the flesh. With my psychic vision I had also seen the Spirit leave, but nowhere was I able to find out - that is, from orthodox sources - what exactly takes place at the moment of separation, nor was I able to gather any information upon the sensations experienced by the passing soul. The writers of religious text-books tell us nothing of such things for one very simple reason - they do not know."

"While friendship itself has an air of eternity about it, seeming to transcend all natural limits, there is hardly any emotion so utterly at the mercy of time. We form friendships, and grow out of them. It might almost be said that we cannot retain the faculty of friendship unless we are continually making new friends."

"The Church must be intelligible to the simple as well as to the shrewd."

"Who I am really matters not. Who I was matters still less. We do not carry our Earthly positions with us into the Spirit world. My Earthly importance I left behind me. My Spiritual worth is what counts now, and that, my good friend, is far below what it should be and what it can be. Thus much as to who I am. As to who I was, I should like to give some details concerning my mental attitude prior to my passing here into the world of Spirit."