—ISAIAH 59:2-3
Murder is always a crime, no matter whom, and how it is justified.
April 9
Love of goodness and faith in immortality are inseparable.
Nobody can say that he knows what the afterlife will be. Our beliefs are based not on logical proofs but on moral ones and therefore I cannot say that God exists and I am immortal, but I can say that God exists and that my “self” is immortal. This means that my faith in God is so closely connected with my nature that this faith cannot be separated from me.
—IMMANUEL KANT
The animal beginning disappears, the veil is taken from the future, the darkness disperses. It is then that we feel our immortality.
—After SAINT MARTIN
We live in this world like a child who enters a room where a clever person is speaking. The child did not hear the beginning of the speech, and he leaves before the end; and there are certain things which he hears but does not understand. In the same way, the great speech of God started many, many centuries before we started learning, and it will continue for many centuries after we turn to dust. We hear only part of it, and we do not understand the biggest part of what we hear, but nevertheless, a bit vaguely, we understand something great, something important.
If you truly love goodness (God), then you cannot have doubts in your immortality.
April 10
The holy spirit which exists in people is liberated more and more. This will change our existing world order.
Real science shows us how to apply our religious faith to our outer Uves. Art shows us how to apply it to our feelings.
The further any purpose the faster we should work toward it.
—GIUSEPPE MAZZINI
The longer I live, the more things I must complete.
—WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING
The more we understand our divine nature, the more its rules should be fulfilled in our actions.
April 11
Everything is connected more closely in the spiritual world than in the material world. Every lie brings multiple lies, every cruelty brings more cruelty.
Very often people are proud of the purity of their conscience only because their memory is too short.
—ZANIZAD RAFAEZSKY
Drop after drop, water fills the vessel; in the same way those who want to be good, become filled with goodness.
—DHAMMAPADA, a book of BUDDHIST WISDOM
Many of our vices exist only because they are supported by other vices; therefore, if we destroy our major vices, many others will disappear at once, in the same way as branches fall when you cut the trunk of a tree.
—BLAISE PASCAL
Be attentive to the appearance of evil. There is an inner voice in your soul which always tells you about approaching evil You feel unpleasant, you feel ashamed. Believe in this voice; stop and seek to improve yourself, and then you will defeat evil.
April 12
At a certain level of self-awareness, a person understands something supernatural in himself.
God exists because we exist. You can call it any other name, but there is no doubt that the superior life which created us exists. And you can call the source of this life God, or give it any other name.
—GIUSEPPE MAZZINI
God exists only for those who look for Him. Start looking: you will find Him in you and yourself in Him.
Looking for God is like pulling a net in the water. When you pull the net, it is heavy and full of water, and yet when you pull it out, there is nothing in it. When you seek God with your intellect and your actions, God exists in you, and as soon as you decide that you have found God, and stop and become satisfied, you have lost him.
—FYODOR STRAKHOV
It is surprising that I could not see a very simple truth: behind and above this world and our lives, there is someone who knows why this world exists and why we exist in this world. And our lives are as bubbles in boiling water, which appear, rise to the surface, pop, and disappear.
The unity of all living beings exists in this world where everybody and everything quietly seeks God. It is only unbelieving atheists who see eternal silence.
—JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU
Just because a person does not understand God, he has no right to draw the conclusion that God does not exist.
April 13
We understand the divine, spiritual beginning of our life both with our intellect and with our love.
A man is wise who does three things: first, he does by himself those things which he advises others to do; secondly, he does not do anything that contravenes the truth; and thirdly, he is patient with the weaknesses of those who surround him.
Great thoughts come directly from the heart.
—Luc DE VAUVENARGUES
Investigate everything: believe only in those things which exist in accordance with intellect.
A clever person cannot be evil. A kind person is always clever. Improve your kindness by exercising your intellect, and improve your intellect by exercising your kindness and love.
April 14
We cannot hope to obtain any sort of perfection in a society which is divided into two parts: rich people who rule the world and poor people who obey their orders.
We came to strange conclusions in this world: we say that we live in society but at the same time we live lonely lives.
—THOMAS CARLYLE
If there are millionaires, there should be paupers.
—HENRY GEORGE
If you have an income without working hard, then someone worked hard without receiving an income.
—MAIMONIDES
It is worse to be an oppressive master than an obedient slave. Excessive wealth is worse than poverty.
April 15
The consequences of our notions cannot be known to us, because they ripple outward limitlessly in a limitless world.
Our efforts to penetrate the mystery of God are futile. It is enough to follow the divine law.
—The TALMUD
A saint lives with his inner life; he denies outer life.
—LAO-TZU
Our most important actions are those consequences which we will not see.
Great deeds have very remote consequences.
—JOHN RUSKIN
If you can see all of the consequences of your actions, then your actions are of no use.
April 16
To accept the dignity of another person is an axiom. It has nothing to do with subduing, supporting, or giving charity to other people.
The smallest detail can benefit the strengthening of character. Do not say that small details are not important; only a person with high morals can see their importance.
Some of the most religious people in Russia have an interesting habit: they make a low bow to persons to whom they are introduced for the first time. They say they do this to acknowledge the divine spirit that every person has within himself. This is not a widespread tradition, but its foundations are very deep.
A man is humble. He can hardly say: I exist, I can think.
—After RALPH WALDO EMERSON
A person should know that he performs true charity not in front of other persons, but before the eternal law of God.
April 17