—RALPH WALDO EMERSON
The more respect that different objects, customs, or laws are given, the more attentively you have to question the right these things have to this respect.
Uprooting the existing evils of this life can begin only by making our religions open, so that every single human being in the world can reveal religious life and can discuss and create and discover religious truth.
June 5
If we say that the outer world exists only as we see it, we deny that there are other beings, with senses different from our own.
When I cast my gaze on objects, I try to correlate their outlines with ideas that already exist in my head. I will see white on the horizon, and I will think, There is a white church in the distance. Do we not give everything we see in this world a preexisting form from our imagination, brought by us from our previous life?
We can see that all of the world’s objects exist in two ways: in relation to their place and time—by understanding that they exist in God and were created by the same Divine Nature which every spiritual thing in this world bears in relation to eternity.
—After BENEDICTUS SPINOZA
In reality, the outer world in itself is not as we see it, and thus everything material in this world is insignificant. What is important then? That thing which exists everywhere, at all times, and for all people: the divine spark, the spiritual root of our lives.
June 6
An evil deed not only destroys the soul but often returns to bring evil on the evildoer.
The greatest virtue is to do no evil, even to your enemies. If you respect yourself, you will not commit evil, even in the slightest way.
—INDIAN WISDOM
When you throw a ball up in the air, it doesn’t stay there but returns to the earth; likewise all your good or bad actions will return to you in another form, according to the desire of your heart, no matter which path you take.
—BUDDHIST WISDOM
An evildoer is happy while the evil is not yet ripe, but when it is ripe and ready, he will understand what evil is, and his evil will return to him like dust thrown against the wind.
Neither in the sky nor in the earth nor in the depth of mountains, nor anywhere in this world is there a place where one can escape the results of sin.
—DHAMMAPADA, a book of BUDDHIST WISDOM
A person who broods on revenge only worsens his wounds. His injuries would heal if he would refrain.
—FRANCIS BACON
Sinning is as dangerous as irritating a wild beast. In most cases in this world, evil returns to the evildoer in the worst and rudest form.
June 7
Calmness and humility provide pleasures which are not accessible to the selfish and the proud.
The prerequisite of a good life is peace between people, and the major obstacle to peace is pride. A person should be humble, prepared to be falsely accused, ready for everything; only then can he bring peace into his relationships and into the lives of others.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
—MATTHEW 11:28-30
Pride defends itself, and not only itself but other sins, and it hates humility, so it rejects the cure, and hides and justifies the sin. The understanding of sin has a positive influence on a person; it is even more useful than a good deed, which can increase pride.
Be strict in judging yourself and gentle in judging others, and you will have no enemies.
—CHINESE WISDOM
Do not be afraid to be humiliated if you can accept this with humility—you will be repaid many times in the spiritual blessings which are connected with being humble.
June 8
Without truth there is no kindness; without kindness the truth cannot be told.
And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
—LUKE 6:46-49
Always respond to hatred with kindness. The most difficult enterprises are easiest at their inception, and the greatest of enterprises have humble origins. Confront difficulties while they are still easy, then, and tackle a big thing when it is still small.
—LAO-TZU
There are two paths which lead to virtue: the first is to be truthful and just, and the second is to do no evil to living beings.
—MANU
Disguising yourself as a kind person is worse than being nakedly mean.
June 9
Christian society, as it now exists, doesn’t follow Christian law in its real meaning.
Almost every effort of the human mind is directed, not toward lightening the work of the laborer, but toward making more pleasant the idleness of the leisured.
If a person could look at our world from a distance he would see so much stupidity and hatred that he would probably cry. We do so many funny and stupid and impoverished hateful deeds. One person hunts wild animals and becomes an animal himself; another feeds donkeys and horses to carry loads, and despises people who die of hunger. Other people spend a great deal of money to create huge houses and do nothing to help the homeless. Some people seek only profits, others spend only for dissipation, and others steal.
In all of these excesses, all of this criminal behavior, we see people who only want to take care of themselves, without a thought about what is most necessary in this world.
—SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM
It defies the laws of nature for a child to rule an adult, or a fool to guide a wise man. Likewise, it is against the law of nature that a small group of people should be overindulged when a huge, hungry crowd’s most basic needs aren’t met.
There is only one thing in this world which is worth dedicating all your life. This is creating more love among people and destroying barriers which exist between them.
June 10
There is something in the soul which cannot die, which cannot be affected by death.
He who defeats others is strong; he who defeats himself is powerful, and he who knows when he dies that he will not be destroyed is eternal.
—LAO-TZU
People are born and live only as manifestations, or pieces of God; therefore they cannot be completely destroyed. They can disappear from before our eyes, but they cannot be destroyed. One person was within my sight for a long time; another went out of my sight very quickly; but I cannot say that the first person existed more and the second less. It doesn’t matter whether a man passes by my window quickly or slowly. I know definitely that this man existed in the time before I saw him and that he will exist in the time after he has disappeared from my sight.
He who knows that the foundation of this life is spirit is out of danger. When he closes the gates of his senses at the end of his life, he has no troubles.
—After LAO-TZU