This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Luther Standing Bear, aka Ota Kte or Mochunozhin
I am going to venture that the man who sat on the ground in his tipi meditating on life and its meaning, accepting the kinship of all creatures, and acknowledging unity with the universe of things was infusing into his being the true essence of civilization.
Civilization | Life | Life | Man | Meaning | Unity | Universe |
For the reality to which the artist and the mystic are exposed, is in fact, the same. It is of their own inmost truth brought to consciousness: by the mystic, in direct confrontation, and by the artist, through reflection in the masterworks of his art. The fact that the nature of the artist (as a microcosm) and the nature of the universe (as the macrocosm) are two aspects of the same reality (respectively, as a minute part of the whole, experienced from within, and as the whole, viewed from without... accounts sufficiently for that creative interplay of discovery and recognition which alerts the artist to the possibility of a revelatory composition in which outer and inner realities are recognized as the same.
Art | Consciousness | Discovery | Nature | Reality | Reflection | Truth | Universe | Discovery |
Evolution... is comprehensible only if we admit that it is dominated by a finality, a precise and distant goal... telefinality orients the march of evolution as a whole and has acted, ever since the appearance of life on earth, as a distant directing force tending to develop a being endowed with a conscience, a spiritually and morally perfect being. To attain this goal, this force acts on the laws of the unorganized world in such a way that the normal play of the second law of thermodynamics is always deflected in the same direction.
Appearance | Conscience | Earth | Evolution | Force | Law | Life | Life | Play | World |
M. Scott Peck, fully Morgan Scott Peck
There is a force that somehow pushes us to choose the more difficult path whereby we can transcend the mire and muck into which we are son often born. Despite all that resists the process, we do become better human beings.
Lorenz Oken, born Lorenz Okenfuss
The universe is the language of God.
Reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.
Maimonides, given name Moses ben Maimon or Moshe ben Maimon, known as "Rambam" NULL
Every fool thinks that life is there for his sake alone, and as though nothing existed but he. And so, when anything happens that opposes his wishes, he concludes that the whole universe is evil. But if man would regard the whole universe itself and realize what an infinitesimal part he plays in it, the truth would be clear and apparent to him.
Evil | Life | Life | Man | Nothing | Regard | Truth | Universe | Wishes |
Maimonides, given name Moses ben Maimon or Moshe ben Maimon, known as "Rambam" NULL
An ignorant man believes that the whole universe exists only for him... If, therefore, anything happens to him contrary to his expectations, he at once concludes that the whole universe is evil.
Maimonides, given name Moses ben Maimon or Moshe ben Maimon, known as "Rambam" NULL
Even if the Universe existed for man’s sake and man existed for the purpose of serving God, one must still ask: What is the end of serving God? He does not become more perfect if all His creatures serve Him. Nor would he lose anything if nothing existed beside Him. It might perhaps be replied that the service of God is not intended for God’s perfection, but for our own. Then, however, the question arises: What is the object of our being perfect? Pressing the inquiry as to the purpose of Creation, we must at last arrive at the answer: it was the will of God. Logic as well as tradition prove clearly that the Universe does not exist for man’s sake, but that all things in it exist each for its own sake.
God | Inquiry | Logic | Man | Nothing | Object | Perfection | Purpose | Purpose | Question | Service | Tradition | Universe | Will | God |
Maimonides, given name Moses ben Maimon or Moshe ben Maimon, known as "Rambam" NULL
Some people assume that the Universe was created solely for the sake of man’s existence, that he might serve God. On examining this opinion, as intelligent persons ought to examine all different opinions, we will discover that it is erroneous.
Existence | God | Man | Opinion | People | Universe | Will |
Maimonides, given name Moses ben Maimon or Moshe ben Maimon, known as "Rambam" NULL
The universe in its entirety is nothing but one individual being there is no vacuum whatever therein.
Individual | Nothing | Universe |
Maltbie Babcock, fully Maltbie Davenport Babcock
Our business in life is not to get ahead of other people, but to get ahead of ourselves. To break our own record, to outstrip our yesterdays by todays, to bear our trials more beautifully than we ever dreamed we could, to whip the tempter inside and out as we never whipped him before, to give as we have never given, to do our work with more force and a finer finish than ever, - this is the true idea, - to get ahead of ourselves... to play a better game of life.
Better | Business | Force | Life | Life | People | Play | Trials | Work | Business |
Love unites the mind more quickly, more closely, and more stably with God than does knowledge, because the force of knowledge consists more in distinction, that of love in union.
Technology is a way of organizing the universe so that man doesn't have to experience it.
Experience | Man | Technology | Universe | World |
Mencius, born Meng Ke or Ko NULL
It is true that water will flow indifferently to east and west, but will it flow equally well up and down? Human nature is disposed toward goodness, just as water tends to flow downwards. There is no water but flows downwards, and no man but shows his tendency to be good. Now, by striking water hard, you may splash it higher than your forehead, an by damming it, you may make it go uphill. But, is that the nature of water? It is external force that causes it to do so. Likewise, if a man is made to do what is not good, his nature is being similarly forced.