This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Experiences of shame appear to embody the root meaning of the word - to uncover, to expose, to wound. They are experiences of exposure, exposure of peculiarly sensitive, intimate, vulnerable aspects of self. The exposure may be to others, but whether others are or are not involved, it is always… exposure to one’s own eyes.
The central theme of existentialism: to live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering. If there is no purpose in life at all, there must be a purpose in suffering and in dying. But no man can tell another what this purpose is. Each must find out for himself, and must accept the responsiblity that his answer prescribes. If he succeeds he will continue to gorow in spite of all indiginities.
Existentialism | Life | Life | Man | Meaning | Purpose | Purpose | Suffering | Will |
Henry Miller, aka Henry Valentine Miller
Living apart and at peace with myself, I came to realize more vividly the meaning of the doctrine of acceptance. To refrain from giving advice, to refrain from meddling in the affairs of others, to refrain, even though the motives be the highest, from tampering with another's way of life - so simple, yet so difficult for an active spirit. Hands off!
Acceptance | Advice | Doctrine | Giving | Life | Life | Meaning | Motives | Peace | Spirit |
Henry Miller, aka Henry Valentine Miller
Life has to be given a meaning because of the obvious fact that it has no meaning.
How hard it is to confess that we have spoken without thinking, that we have talked nonsense. How many a man says a thing in haste and heat, without fully understanding or half meaning it, and then, because he has said it, holds fast to it, and tries to defend it as if it were true! But how much wiser, how much more admirable and attractive it is when a man has the grace to perceive and acknowledge his mistakes! It gives us assurance that he is capable of learning, of growing, of improving, so that his future will be better than his past.
Better | Future | Grace | Haste | Learning | Man | Meaning | Nonsense | Past | Thinking | Understanding | Will |
James Froude, fully James Anthony Froude
Morality rests upon a sense of obligation; and obligation has no meaning except as implying a divine command, without which it would cease to be.
Meaning | Morality | Obligation | Sense |
The meaning of life cannot be told; it has to happen to a person.
Part of life’s meaning comes in not being afraid to experience it on its own terms. We are constantly trying to remake and manipulate life so that it conforms to our image of what we would like it to be. In the process, we lose life’s essence. If we were to accept life on its own terms and allow other creatures to experience the fullness of their beings, we could add to the enrichment of all life.
Experience | Life | Life | Meaning | Afraid |
The core prescription for happiness and meaning handed down through all the world’s spiritual teaching is unchanging: Remember the source with gratitude, and love one another. In this way the meaning of life as an interconnected web of love and compassion becomes manifest in even the most seemingly mundane moments.
Compassion | Gratitude | Life | Life | Love | Meaning | World | Happiness |
In the spirit of faith let us begin each day, and we shall be sure to “redeem the time” which it brings to us, by changing it into something definite and eternal. There is a deep meaning n this phrase of the apostle, to redeem time. We redeem time, and do not merely use it. We transform it into eternity by living it aright.
Day | Eternal | Eternity | Faith | Meaning | Spirit | Time |
Jesse Jackson, fully Jesse Louis Jackson
We are each not other’s “keepers,” we are each other’s brothers and sisters. And it is in the struggle and service with our brothers and sisters, individually and collectively, that we find the meaning of life.
A man’s life of any worth is a continual allegory [Allegory: a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another, a symbolic narrative].
It’s often during the hardest times, rather than the most peaceful ones, that you find a purpose that gives meaning to your days so that your life becomes a blessing. The passion born of meaning is more than a psychological breakthrough or an emotional coping strategy. It’s a glimpse into the soul that elevates life’s predictable hardships into sacred quests.
Life | Life | Meaning | Passion | Purpose | Purpose | Sacred | Soul |