Quotes

[Laura]

It is neither an index to human nature nor an accident of chance that most, if not all, so-called maladjusted persons in our society may be viewed as frustrated and distraught idealists. Distraught because they are frustrated, and frustrated because they are idealists, they are a living testimony of the price we pay for the traditions we cherish, and for the aspirations which those traditions encourage, together with the restrictions which they tend to enforce.

It is not that this idealism is always immediately apparent - on the contrary, it is rather likely, as a rule, to elude the superficial observer. It is our unstudied tendency, indeed, to assume that what maladjusted persons need most is something that we call a Sense Of Direction, of purpose, of noble aspiration. In this we are not altogether mistaken - but a partial understanding serves usually as an effective barrier to more penetrating wisdom.,,

The ideals of the maladjusted are high in three chief respects. In the first place, they are high in the sense that they are vague. Being vague, they are difficult to recognize; being difficult to recognize, they appear to be elusive... In all this is to be seen the basic design of our common maladjustment. We may call it the [IFD] disease: from idealism to frustration to demoralization.

What Dr. [Coyne Campbell] said, in effect, was that the patients who were brought to him because they had been judged to be seriously maladjusted or even insane, showed one chief symptom: They were unable to tell him clearly what was the matter. They simply could not put into words the difficulties with which they were beset. Surely no one who has made it his business to help people in trouble has failed to observe their relative inarticulateness...

Dr. Campbell remarked further that when be had succeeded in training a patient to verbalize his difficulties clearly and to the point, it was usually possible to release him... In other words, people who are confused and maladjusted are likely to remain so until they learn to state their problems clearly enough to indicate what sort of steps might be taken in order to change their situation or their behavior to advantage.

People in Quandaries: The Semantics of Personal Adjustment
Wendell Johnson _http://www.uiowa.edu/~cyberlaw/wj/wjpinq.html

 

[Buddy]

[quote author=_http://www.uiowa.edu/~cyberlaw/wj/wjpinq.html]
[The references to dating, indexing and quotes -- and their absence -- will be understood by students of general semantics. They are tools of general semantics to qualify language and make it reflect more precisely the reality to which it refers...][/quote]

Thanks for that, Laura. I thought I understood the esoteric significance of general semantics, but this deepens the meaning quite a bit. It also explains (I think) why so many esoteric authors choose their words with much care. Thank you for sharing that.

 

[ethnicsoup]

"Millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon." Susan Ertz

"There are two eternities that can really break you down - yesterday and tomorrow. One is gone and the other doesn't exist yet...so live today." Anon

"The person who seeks all their applause from outside has their happiness in another's keeping." Claudius Claudianus

"It is a brave and honest person who can stand apart from the masses and openly challenge its most treasured beliefs." Donna Evans

"Character is doing the right thing when nobody is looking." J. C. Watts

"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead." Louisa May Alcott

"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life, as by the obstacles overcome whilst trying to succeed" Booker T Washington

"Peace will come when we replace the love of power with the power of love." Sri Chinmoy

"The only thing necessary for evil to triumph.....is for good men to do nothing." Winston Churchill

"Silence is the Mother of Truth, for the silent man was ever to be trusted, while the man ever ready with speech was never taken seriously." Chief Luther Standing Bear, (Teton Sioux)

"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." Oscar Wilde

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect." Mark Twain

"Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead

"People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway." Mother Theresa

"Many things in life will catch your eye but few will catch your heart... Pursue those" Anon

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." Aesop

"I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity of regarding everything I cannot explain as a fraud" Jung

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." Mahatma Gandhi

"People only get lost in thought because it is unfamiliar territory." Paul Fix

"You can make more friends in two months by becoming more interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get people interested in you." Dale Carnegie

"Love means to love that which is unloveable. Otherwise it is no virtue at all." G. K. Chesterton

"To revel in the wonders of life, to think, to remember, to dream - this is to know happiness." Giancarlo Di Gratsi

"Do or do not there is no try." Yoda, Star Wars

"Life is a cycle, always in motion, if good times have moved on so will times of trouble!" Indian Proverb

"Be good to yourself 'cause nobody else has the power to make you happy." George Michael

"The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we appear to be." Socrates

"The possibility that we may fail in the struggle should not deter us from supporting a cause we believe to be just." Abraham Lincoln

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." Albert Einstein

"The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat." Lily Tomlin

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." Leo Tolstoy

"Worry about the things you can control..." James R. Macaulay

"Only those who risk going too far can possibly know how far they can really go." T.S. Eliot

"To touch the soul of another human being is to walk on holy ground." Stephen R Covey

"It takes a special kind of person to fight back." Terry Pratchett

"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." J K Rowling

"If you live your life out of memory, you live out of your history. That's what once was. If you live out of your imagination, you live out of your potential. That's what can be." Unknown

"People do not lack strength; they lack will." Victor Hugo

"He that would govern others, first should be the master of himself." Author unknown

"You should not worry about whether you are going to live or die; you should worry about whether you are doing right or wrong." Ernest Hemingway

"According to recognised aerotechnical tests, the bumblebee cannot fly because of the shape and weight of his body in relation to the total wing area. But the bumblebee doesn't know this, so he goes ahead and flies anyway." Anon

"If you love something... set it free.
If it returns... you never lost it.
If it disappears and never comes back.
It was never yours to begin with." Anon

"Don't ask ourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." Harold Whitman

"When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside can't hurt you." African proverb

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all." Oscar Wilde

"A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, 'The one I feed the most'." George Bernard Shaw

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain

"Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results." Frank Herbert

"When you come to the edge of all the light you have, and must take a step into the darkness of the unknown, believe that one of two things will happen to you: either there will be something solid for you to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly." Patrick Overton

"The one thing we can give and still keep is our word." Unknown

"This above all: to thine own self be true. It must follow that you cannot then be false to any man." Shakespeare

".....Don't try to keep up with the Joneses, bring them down to your level - it's much cheaper ..." Quentin Crisp

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." Closing Time by Semisonic

"I honor every woman who has strength enough to step out of the beaten path when she feels that her walk lies in another." Harriet Hosmer

"When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that the mighty oak grows strong in contrary winds, and diamonds are made from extreme pressure." Peter Marshall

"There are two things to aim at in life: First, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second." Logan Pearsall Smith

"A person who has not passed through the inferno of their passions has never overcome them." Carl Jung

"Those who cannot remember history are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Martin Luther King

"You need the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can and the wisdom to know the difference." Reinhold Viebuhr

"The only evil is that which lurks within our own hearts. This is where all of our battles should be fought." Mahatma Gandhi

"A man may perform astonishing feats and comprehend a vast amount of knowledge, and yet have no understanding of himself. But suffering directs a man to look within. If it succeeds, then there, within him, is the beginning of his learning." Soren Kierkegaard

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born." Anais Nin

"Happiness is not having what you want. It's wanting what you have." Unknown

"Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolutions." Kahlil Gibran

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves: "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same." Nelson Mandela

"Watch what people are cynical about and one can discover what they lack." Harry Emerson Fosdick

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is." Albert Einstein

"Don't wait for the light at the end of the tunnel. Stride down there and light it yourself."

"Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else." Judy Garland

 

[TheSpoon]

[quote author=mother teresa]
These are a few of the ways we can practice humility: speak as little as possible of oneself. mind one's own business. avoid curiosity. do not want to manage other people's affairs. accept contradiction and correction cheerfully. pass over mistakes of others. accept blame when innocent. yield to the will of others. accept insults and injuries. accept being slighted, forgotten, and disliked. be kind and gentle even under provocation. do not seek to be specially loved and admired. never stand on one's dignity. yield in discussion even though one is right. choose always the hardest.

I'm not digging alot of this quote

I agree. As stated, without an exposition, this quote raises questions.
[/quote]

I thought that it was about time I learned some humilty (if such a thing is possible) and this came up in a web search. I posted it because I find it challenges my sense of self. "Yield to the will of others", I thought. Never! So I can't say that my humilty has moved on much. And there's me also failing to "speak as little as possible of oneself".

 

[TheSpoon]

[quote author=Jed McKenna]
Here’s a simple test. If it’s soothing or comforting, if it makes you feel warm and fuzzy; if it’s about getting into pleasant emotional or mental states; if it’s about peace, love, tranquility, silence or bliss; if it’s about a brighter future or a better tomorrow; if it makes you feel good about yourself or boosts your self-esteem, tells you you’re okay, tells you everything’s just fine the way it is; if it offers to improve, benefit or elevate you, or if it suggests that someone else is better or above you; if it’s about belief or faith or worship; if it raises or alters consciousness; if it combats stress or deepens relaxation, or if it’s therapeutic or healing, or if it promises happiness or relief from unhappiness, if it’s about any of these or similar things, then it’s not about waking up. Then it’s about living in the dreamstate, not smashing out of it.

On the other hand, if it feels like you’re being skinned alive, if it feels like a prolonged evisceration, if you feel your identity unraveling, if it twists you up physically and drains your health and derails your life, if you feel love dying inside you, if it seems like death would be better, then it’s probably the process of awakening. That, or a helluva case of gas.
[/quote]

 

[Mountain Crown]

Let's say someone insisted on torturing my mother. I wouldn't yield.

Mother Teresa's quote, as stated, reveals her ignorance of the third force; not surprising considering she was an obedient servant of the Vatican.

To make a black and white contrast of humility and dignity is insane; it would have been a little more clear if the word 'pride' was used instead.

 

[ana]

Mother Teresa's quote, as stated, reveals her ignorance of the third force; not surprising considering she was an obedient servant of the Vatican.

Even if She ignored it (wich I don't know) doesn't mean She was a servant of the Vatican, in fact there is a Sott article from yesterday wich is interesting:

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/194854-North-Carolina-church-to-burn-Satan-s-books-including-works-of-Mother-Teresa

A Baptist Church near Asheville, N.C., is hosting a "Halloween book burning" to purge the area of "Satan's" works, which include all non-King James versions of the Bible, popular books by many religious authors and even country music.

Church leaders deem Good News for Modern Man, the Evidence Bible, the New International Version Bible, the Green Bible and the Message Bible, as well as at least seven other versions of the Bible as "Satan's Bibles," according to the website. Attendees will also set fire to "Satan's popular books" such as the work of "heretics" including the Pope, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham and Rick Warren.

 

[TheSpoon]

Let's say someone insisted on torturing my mother. I wouldn't yield.

Mother Teresa's quote, as stated, reveals her ignorance of the third force; not surprising considering she was an obedient servant of the Vatican.

To make a black and white contrast of humility and dignity is insane; it would have been a little more clear if the word 'pride' was used instead.

Yes. I think what I take from the quote is that these are all things that I fail to do in general. I almost never accept contradiction or correction cheerfully. I rarely yield in discussion when I think I'm right, and so on. So I think what would help MT's quote there would be to say do these things "Unless you have good reason not to" eg someone's torturing my mother. Although that would somewhat neuter her quotability. Tea towel sales would plummet. I think anyone who's giving out advice with Always and Nevers is usually woefully ignoring the third force. I should quote Sean Connery here - "Never say never again".

I don't think she was contrasting humility and dignity directly there. I had to look up the phrase, but "To Stand On One's Dignity" I take to mean "to have or to affect a high notion of one's own rank, privilege, or character." - found here. So yes, Pride would be clearer.

 

[Mountain Crown]

[quote author=Ana]Even if She ignored it (wich I don't know) doesn't mean She was a servant of the Vatican, in fact there is a Sott article from yesterday wich is interesting:[/quote]

Actually, ignorance means "lack of knowledge," not the nominative of "to ignore."

All catholic priests and nuns vow obedience to the pope as "Vicar of Christ."

The relevance of the quote from the Sott article is unclear. Protestant Fundamentalists have always claimed the papacy is antichristian. Mother Teresa's obedience to the vatican is well documented, so their treatment of her as a heretic is understandable.

 

[ana]

All catholic priests and nuns vow obedience to the pope as "Vicar of Christ."

The relevance of the quote from the Sott article is unclear. Protestant Fundamentalists have always claimed the papacy is antichristian. Mother Teresa's obedience to the vatican is well documented, so their treatment of her as a heretic is understandable.

Maybe some of them knew well the "strategic enclosure" or maybe some began their journey in one direction and they change it later exploiting their position to teach. Of course I don't know if that was the case of mother Teresa but this article made me think about it.

 

[Hildegarda]

Attendees will also set fire to "Satan's popular books" such as the work of "heretics" including the Pope, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham and Rick Warren

Protestant Fundamentalists have always claimed the papacy is antichristian. Mother Teresa's obedience to the vatican is well documented, so their treatment of her as a heretic is understandable.

I think that has changed a bit in recent years. The animosity between the protestants and the Catholics has gone down a lot, because they feel that on many "moral" or societal issues (such as, abortion, feminism, etc) they need to present a united front.

The word they use to describe this is "cobelligerent", i.e., waging the war in cooperation against a common enemy without the formal treaty or alliance. The choice of language is very telling.

A particular group, of course may still be anti-Catholic or just not like Mother Theresa for whatever reason. These particular guys sound very fringe, as they turned on Billy Graham too, who I thought was one of their own.

All said and done, I think it's important not to fall into a logical trap in such situations.

If one "bad" guy is beating up on another guy, it doesn't mean that the other guy is "good", he can also be "bad" but in a different way.

Also, if someone is standing up to a "bad" guy, that doesn't mean that he is unquestionably "good", he may also be "bad" but in a different way.

Also, some people can have perfectly sound and accurate opinion on one subject and totally screw up with the rest of it.

This IMO is very important in analyzing every specific situation we encounter, including articles on SOTT, or Mother Theresa's words in this thread.

 

[Mountain Crown]

There is a popular trend to close the critical eye in regards to Mother Teresa. She was not outside the frequency fence.

Here are excerpts from an article by Susan Shields, a former Missionaries of Charity sister who resigned out of conscience:

[quote author=Mother Teresa's House of Illusions – How she harmed her helpers as well as those they helped]

Three of Mother Teresa's teachings that are fundamental to her religious congregation are all the more dangerous because they are believed so sincerely by her sisters. Most basic is the belief that as long as a sister obeys she is doing God's will. Another is the belief that the sisters have leverage over God by choosing to suffer. Their suffering makes God very happy. He then dispenses more graces to humanity. The third is the belief that any attachment to human beings, even the poor being served, supposedly interferes with love of God and must be vigilantly avoided or immediately uprooted. The efforts to prevent any attachments cause continual chaos and confusion, movement and change in the congregation. Mother Teresa did not invent these beliefs - they were prevalent in religious congregations before Vatican II - but she did everything in her power (which was great) to enforce them.

Once a sister has accepted these fallacies she will do almost anything. She can allow her health to be destroyed, neglect those she vowed to serve, and switch off her feelings and independent thought. She can turn a blind eye to suffering, inform on her fellow sisters, tell lies with ease, and ignore public laws and regulations.

. . . there are many who generously have supported her work because they do not realize how her twisted premises strangle efforts to alleviate misery. Unaware that most of the donations sit unused in her bank accounts, they too are deceived into thinking they are helping the poor. . .

We received touching letters from people; sometimes apparently poor themselves, who were making sacrifices to send us a little money for the starving people in Africa, the flood victims in Bangladesh, or the poor children in India. Most of the money sat in our bank accounts. . .

Mother was very concerned that we preserve our spirit of poverty. Spending money would destroy that poverty. She seemed obsessed with using only the simplest of means for our work. Was this in the best interests of the people we were trying to help, or were we in fact using them as a tool to advance our own "sanctity?" In Haiti, to keep the spirit of poverty, the sisters reused needles until they became blunt. Seeing the pain caused by the blunt needles, some of the volunteers offered to procure more needles, but the sisters refused. . .

Our Constitution forbade us to beg for more than we needed, but, when it came to begging, the millions of dollars accumulating in the bank were treated as if they did not exist.

_http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=library&page=shields_18_1[/quote]

Apparently it was common to refuse quality assistance to the poor so as not to spend money. Any guesses where that money went?

Sometimes when individuals are widely venerated, their quotes are allowed to bypass common sense; it’s healthy, imo, to look at them warts and all.

 

[Mountain Crown]

More on understanding Mother Teresa:

[quote author=Mommie Dearest by Christopher Hitchens]

During the deliberations over the Second Vatican Council, under the stewardship of Pope John XXIII, MT was to the fore in opposing all suggestions of reform. What was needed, she maintained, was more work and more faith, not doctrinal revision. Her position was ultra-reactionary and fundamentalist even in orthodox Catholic terms. Believers are indeed enjoined to abhor and eschew abortion, but they are not required to affirm that abortion is "the greatest destroyer of peace," as MT fantastically asserted to a dumbfounded audience when receiving the Nobel Peace Prize*. Believers are likewise enjoined to abhor and eschew divorce, but they are not required to insist that a ban on divorce and remarriage be a part of the state constitution, as MT demanded in a referendum in Ireland (which her side narrowly lost) in 1996. Later in that same year, she told Ladies Home Journal that she was pleased by the divorce of her friend Princess Diana, because the marriage had so obviously been an unhappy one . . .

This returns us to the medieval corruption of the church, which sold indulgences to the rich while preaching hellfire and continence to the poor. MT was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory reproduction. And she was a friend to the worst of the rich, taking misappropriated money from the atrocious Duvalier family in Haiti (whose rule she praised in return) and from Charles Keating of the Lincoln Savings and Loan. Where did that money, and all the other donations, go? The primitive hospice in Calcutta was as run down when she died as it always had been—she preferred California clinics when she got sick herself—and her order always refused to publish any audit. But we have her own claim that she opened 500 convents in more than a hundred countries, all bearing the name of her own order. Excuse me, but this is modesty and humility?

_http://www.slate.com/id/2090083/[/quote]

[quote author=Latha Menon's review of MOTHER TERESA: The final verdict by Aroup Chatterjee]

"We are not concerned about the cause of a problem, we look after the effects." - Mother Teresa

Mother Teresa's comment is revealing. Note that she did not say that the causes may be complex, or difficult to tackle and beyond the scope of her Orders work. Rather, they were a matter of no concern to her, the causes of poverty, of overcrowding, of child labour. She was being modest. For people like Mother Teresa, poverty is necessary. The poor, she used to say, are a "gift from God". Like Chatterjee, I find the sentiment obscene. . .

A Calcuttan born and bred, Chatterjee grew up not far from Mother Teresa's Home for the Dying, oblivious to the miracles happening on his doorstep. Indeed, throughout his youth and adult life in Calcutta, he was scarcely aware of her activities. For Mother Teresa was of little consequence in Calcutta. The chattering classes, in time, aped western enthusiasm. The poor, Chatterjee shows, were largely unaware of her, as she and her nuns were found but rarely in the slums. At her funeral, there had been a plan for her beloved and grateful poor to form part of the cortège. Unfortunately, not enough of the grateful poor could be found. . .

Chatterjee's researches confirm in depressing detail the now familiar story of neglect, appalling lack of medical care, and emphasis on prayer rather than proper nursing in Mother Teresa's homes. He compares the minute impact of the Missionaries of Charity with the efficient and wide-ranging activities of other charities such as the Ramakrishna Mission and the Child in Need Institute. These groups, a number of them established by Indians long before Mother Teresa's appearance, provide schools, properly equipped hospitals, and training in useful skills; they distribute free condoms and advise on reproductive health. Unlike Mother Teresa's outfit, they encourage slum dwellers to become strong and self-sufficient.

Contraception and abortion were, of course, anathema to Mother Teresa. She would dash off to America or Ireland to lend her support to anti-abortion campaigns. Still, on contraception, she was not averse to natural methods. Chatterjee quotes from her Nobel speech, in which she claimed that in Calcutta, in six years, natural methods had resulted in there being 61,273 fewer babies - an astonishing feat of precise calculation! The impracticality of natural methods for those living on the pavement seems to have escaped her.

Chatterjee also discusses the development of the Teresa myth, the funds in the Vatican Bank, the Mother's politics, and her powerful friends. He declares that he does not want to interpret her international activities within a hard left framework. All the same, the Teresa phenomenon can only be understood fully by taking into consideration the web of wealth and power, and the intimate connections between the Vatican and reactionary forces worldwide. Despite her affectations of political transcendence, this account reveals a woman of robust worldly opportunism and considerable political cunning.

_http://newhumanist.org.uk/622 [/quote]

 

[ana]

More on understanding Mother Teresa:

_http://www.slate.com/id/2090083/

[quote author=Latha Menon's review of MOTHER TERESA: The final verdict by Aroup Chatterjee]

"We are not concerned about the cause of a problem, we look after the effects." - Mother Teresa

The poor, she used to say, are a "gift from God". Like Chatterjee, I find the sentiment obscene. . .


Chatterjee also discusses the development of the Teresa myth, the funds in the Vatican Bank, the Mother's politics, and her powerful friends. He declares that he does not want to interpret her international activities within a hard left framework. All the same, the Teresa phenomenon can only be understood fully by taking into consideration the web of wealth and power, and the intimate connections between the Vatican and reactionary forces worldwide. Despite her affectations of political transcendence, this account reveals a woman of robust worldly opportunism and considerable political cunning.
_http://newhumanist.org.uk/622 [/quote]

Very revealing, also found this session:

Q: (L) So, in other words, you don't do anything or think
anything in terms of fulfilling or doing for self. You always
think in terms of doing or fulfilling for others. (T) Damn, I've
got a long way to go then... (Chorus) Don't we all! (J) Was
Gandhi?
A: No.
Q: (T) Mother Theresa?
A: No. Political deceptions.

Thank you MC.

 

[Snow]

"If I take a lamp and shine it toward the wall, a bright spot will appear on the wall. The lamp is our search for truth... for understanding. Too often, we assume that the light on the wall is God, but the light is not the goal of the search, it is the result of the search. The more intense the search, the brighter the light on the wall. The brighter the light on the wall, the greater the sense of revelation upon seeing it. Similarly, someone who does not search - who does not bring a lantern - sees nothing. What we perceive as God is the by-product of our search for God. It may simply be an appreciation of the light... pure and unblemished... not understanding that it comes from us. Sometimes we stand in front of the light and assume that we are the center of the universe - God looks astonishingly like we do - or we turn to look at our shadow and assume that all is darkness. If we allow ourselves to get in the way, we defeat the purpose, which is to use the light of our search to illuminate the wall in all its beauty and in all its flaws; and in so doing, better understand the world around us."

- G'Kar (character from the Babylon 5 TV series)