This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Peter Senge, fully Peter Michael Senge
It’s not about positional power; it’s not about accomplishments; it’s ultimately not even about what we do. Leadership is about creating a domain in which human beings continually deepen their understanding of reality and become more capable of participating in the unfolding of the world. Ultimately, leadership is about creating new realities.
Power | Reality | Understanding | World | Leadership |
We will never comprehend why the infinite will, in order to realize its completion, requires the incomplete, or how evil can result in good. No forced attempt to reason out these events can give us peace of God. There is a different way, a way born from inward experience. We may not have been given the privilege of understanding how events are expressing the will of God. But one thing we do know, and on that knowledge all else depends – the will of God is directed only toward one thing: the spiritual.
Events | Evil | Experience | God | Good | Knowledge | Order | Peace | Reason | Understanding | Will | God | Privilege |
Traditionally, the relation between the divine and the human is that the divine confers meaning on our finite and otherwise petty lives. The idea… is that the divine has qualities that are meaningful because of our possible response to them. In other words, rather than starting from the divine and understanding the meaning of our lives in terms of that, we should start from meaningful activities, such as contemplation and worship, that constitute an appropriate response to the divine, and from this, try to make sense of the divine.
Contemplation | Meaning | Qualities | Sense | Understanding | Words | Worship | Contemplation |
We believe that humanity stands at the threshold of its next great leap. However, our success in making this transition depends on our willingness to develop a greater vision and a clearer sense of responsibility for one another. Understanding and articulating the nature and dynamics of consciousness is key to achieving this new vision.
Consciousness | Humanity | Nature | Responsibility | Sense | Success | Understanding | Vision |
The established religious institutions are bastions of ignorance in a world where knowledge has become the most valuable commodity. Well-entrenched, these institutions hold back social progress, dividing people who otherwise have no reason to oppose one another, fanning the flames of militarism and nationalism. Most of all, however, they are promoting ignorance and falsehoods at the expense of truth. How can society advance under such erroneous belief systems?
Belief | Ignorance | Knowledge | People | Progress | Reason | Society | Truth | World | Society |
Time and again, the passion for understanding has led to the illusion that man is able to comprehend the objective world rationally, by pure thought, without any empirical foundations - in short, by metaphysics.
Illusion | Man | Metaphysics | Passion | Thought | Time | Understanding | World |
My goal is simple. It is complete understanding of the universe, why it as it is and why it exists as all.
Queen Elizabeth II, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary NULL
True patriotism doesn't exclude an understanding of the patriotism of others.
Education is the process of leading people from cocksure ignorance to thoughtful uncertainty.
Education | Ignorance | People | Uncertainty |
Just as Socrates felt that it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of creative analysis and objective appraisal, so we must see the need for nonviolent gadflies to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of understanding and brotherhood.
Brotherhood | Men | Mind | Need | Prejudice | Society | Understanding | Will | Society |
Molly Ivins, fully Mary Tyler "Molly" Ivins
I believe that ignorance is the root of all evil. And that no one knows the truth.
Robert A. Millikan, fully Robert Andrews Millikan
Fullness of knowledge always and necessarily means some understanding of the depths of our ignorance, and that is always conducive to both humility and reverence.
Humility | Ignorance | Knowledge | Means | Reverence | Understanding |