This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
It is only the idea of a divine presence hidden within the rational order of nature which is compatible with our scientific view of nature and in accord with our sense of the ineffable.
To regain the freedom of our Will, we must become consciously aware of what we have been subconsciously choosing. Then we can choose anew.
Oscar Romero, formally Óscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdámez
No soldier is obliged to obey an order counter to the law of God. No one has to comply with an immoral law. It is time now that you recover your conscience and obey its dictates rather than the command of sin.
The idea of creation expresses the conviction that neither blind chance nor an impersonal mechanical order is behind the existence of the universe. Behind the orderly processes of nature stands the primordial act of God’s concern. There are processes because there was an event of creation.
Rumi, fully Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rumi NULL
The testing of good and bad is in order that the gold may boil and bring the scum to the top.
Prince Metternich, fully Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich
The word 'freedom' means for me not a point of departure but a genuine point of arrival. The point of departure is defined by the word 'order.' Freedom cannot exist without the concept of order.
The visible order of the universe proclaims a supreme intelligence.
Intelligence | Order | Universe |
Salman Rushdie, fully Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie
What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.
Freedom |
Patterns and structure. Everywhere we look we see them. What appears random and chaotic also has order. And on Earth much of the order is linked to interrelationships that drive constant change. Cycles and rhythms. Pulses and flows. Changes in magnetic fields. Continental plates moving. Water cycles. Seasons changing. Life and death. Process and connection. Nature flows through webs of structure and shifting time: from ocean to cloud to rain to river to ocean. Natural rhythms.
Change | Death | Earth | Life | Life | Nature | Order | Time |
Meaning in life is determined by how we choose to experience the world, not by how the world experiences us. We are all born with the freedom to put whatever meaning we’d like into our lives.
Freedom and Liberty are not synonyms. Freedom is an essence; Liberty, an accident. Freedom is born with a man; Liberty may be conferred upon him… Freedom is the gift of God; Liberty, the creature of society. Liberty may be taken away from a man; but on whatsoever soul Freedom may light, the course of that soul is henceforth onward and upward.
Accident | Freedom | God | Liberty | Light | Man | Society | Soul |
Generosity’s aim is twofold: we give freely to others, and we give freely to ourselves. Without both aspects, the experience is incomplete. If we give a gift freely, without attachment to a certain result or expectation of what will come back to us, that exchange celebrates freedom both within ourselves as the giver and the receiver… In a moment of pure giving, we really become one.
Expectation | Experience | Freedom | Generosity | Giving | Will | Expectation |
Leon Shenendoah, elected Tadodaho, aka Chief Leon Shenendoah
These are our times and our responsibilities. Every human being has a sacred duty to protect the welfare of our Mother Earth, from whom all life comes. In order to do this we must recognize the enemy -- the one within us. We must begin with ourselves.
Duty | Earth | Enemy | Life | Life | Mother | Order | Sacred |
William Safire, fully William Lewis Safire
Economic freedom cannot exist without political freedom.
Freedom |