This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Max Weber, formally Maximilian Carl Emil Weber
To attain... self confidence, intense worldly activity is recommended as the most suitable means. It and it alone disperses religious doubts and gives the certainty of grace.. The moral conduct of the average man was thus deprived of its planless and unsystematic character and subjected to a consistent method for conduct as a whole.
Character | Conduct | Confidence | Grace | Man | Means | Method | Self |
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, native form is Csíkszentmihályi Mihály
Harmony is usually achieved by evolutionary changes involving an increase in an organism’s complexity, that is, an increase in both differentiation and integration. (Differentiation refers to the degree to which a system (i.e., an organ such as the brain, or an individual, a family, a corporation, a culture, or humanity as a whole) is composed of parts that differ in structure or function from one another. Integration refers to the extent to which the parts communicate and enhance one another’s goals. A system that is more differentiated and integrated than another is said to be more complex.)
Culture | Family | Goals | Harmony | Humanity | Individual | Integration | System |
To have the sense of creative activity is the great happiness and the great proof of being alive.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, native form is Csíkszentmihályi Mihály
When attention is not focused on a goal, the mind typically begins to be filled by disjointed and depressing thoughts. The normal condition of the mind is chaos. Only when involved in a goal-directed activity does it acquire order and positive moods... Boredom directs us to seek new challenges, while anxiety urges us to develop new skills; the net result is that, in order to avoid such negative feelings, a person is forded to grow in complexity.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, native form is Csíkszentmihályi Mihály
Just as we have learned to separate ourselves from each other and from the environment, we now need to learn how to reunite ourselves with other entities around us without losing our hard-won individuality. The most promising faith for the future might be based on the realization that the entire universe is a system related by common laws and that it makes no sense to impose our dreams and desires on nature without taking them into account. Recognizing the limitations of human will, accepting a cooperative rather than a ruling role in the universe, we should feel the relief of the exile who is finally returning home. The problem of meaning will then be resolved as the individual's purpose merges with the universal flow.
Dreams | Faith | Future | Individual | Individuality | Meaning | Nature | Need | Purpose | Purpose | Sense | System | Universe | Will | Learn |
Noam Chomsky, fully Avram Noam Chomsky
The [United States] educational system is geared toward obedience.
Paramahansa Yogananda, born Mukunda Lal Ghosh
Truth is no theory, no speculative system of philosophy. Truth is exact correspondence with Reality. For man, truth is unshakable knowledge of his real nature, his Self as soul.
Knowledge | Man | Nature | Philosophy | Reality | Self | Soul | System | Truth |
Our system of morality is a body of imperfect social generalizations expressed in terms of emotion.
Enter every activity without giving mental recognition to the possibility of defeat. Concentrate on your strengths, instead of your weaknesses... on your powers, instead of your problems.
The system of equality...must result from, rather than precede, the moral improvement of humankind.
Equality | Improvement | System |
The great make us feel, first of all, the indifference of circumstances. They call into activity the higher perceptions, and subdue the low habits of comfort and luxury; but the higher perceptions find their objects everywhere; only the low habits need palaces and banquets.
Circumstances | Comfort | Indifference | Luxury | Need |
The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention…. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.
Speech is better than silence; silence is better than speech.