Be
a Hero for a Better World ... Every Act of Kindness Makes
a Difference!
Spirituality
*
The interdependency of humankind, the relevance
of relationship, the sacredness of creation is ancient,
ancient wisdom.
-- Rebecca
Adamson
*
The
indigenous understanding has its basis of spirituality
in a recognition of the interconnectedness and interdependence
of all living things, a holistic and balanced view
of the world. All things are bound together. All
things connect. What happens to the Earth happens
to the children of the earth. Humankind has not
woven the web of life; we are but one thread. Whatever
we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
-- Rebecca
Adamson
*
“Ethical
religion can be real only to those who are engaged
in ceaseless efforts at moral improvement. By moving
upward we acquire faith in an upward movement, without
limit.”
-- Felix
Adler
*
The
essence of spirituality is the duty to live to its
full the glorious destiny of being human. The purpose
of religion should be to empower all people in this
adventure of living with dignity and fulfillment.
-- Swami
Agnivesh
the
religions of the world must be assessed, not on
the basis of their convoluted theologies, but in
terms of the extent to which they serve as forces
of liberation and empowerment.
-- Swami
Agnivesh
Spiritually,
life is a festival, a celebration. Joy is of the essence
of life;
-- Swami
Agnivesh
...all
human beings have a right, and duty, to be joyful. Anything
that thwarts this spiritual human right goes against the
very purpose of human being. Spirituality mandates us
to wage a relentless war to eradicate these forces of
oppression and disempowerment.
-- Swami
Agnivesh
First,
we must liberate people from religion, as religion is
understood and practiced today. Second, we must effect
a paradigm shift from religiosity to shared spirituality.
-- Swami
Agnivesh
Peace
among religions is a precondition for world peace. But
religions, as religions, can never be at peace with each
other. To enable religions to be instruments for peace
we need to enable, first, religious communities to progress
from religion to spirituality. For the world order to
be one of peace and justice, for the global village to
be a theater of right livelihood, it is imperative that
a new and proactive spiritual vision commensurate to the
challenges of the emerging world order be enunciated without
delay. The challenge is to make “right livelihood” a universal
goal. Recognizing this value in a symbolic way through
an award like this is a significant step in the right
direction. This is not, however, our journey’s end. We
must not rest until right livelihood is within reach of
every human being upon this earth we love and cherish.
We all have a role to play in achieving this goal.
-- Swami
Agnivesh
Every
Day is an opportunity for all who value spirituality
in their lives to connect and unite in our wish
for a more peaceful, just and sustainable world
based on values grounded in our deeper spiritual
connection to each other and the world around us.
-- Robert
Alan Silverstein
*
I
think people are genuinely seeking spirituality.
There's a simple reason for this. In the midst of
the daily grind of life, it's easy to forget we
have a spirit, and we can get depressed, even sick.
We are spirits as well as bodies, and spirits need
nourishment.
-- Bill
Ayres
We
are on the planet to... wrap our consciousness around
the divine treasure within us...
-- Rev
Michael Beckwith
"This
is a deeply spiritual issue...Do we want to spend
more time trying to care for our fellow man or do
we want to just pursue more virtual reality? That's
the issue before us.. and it's being played out
in the world of the environment."
~ Ed
Begley, Jr.
*
"Spirituality
is that attitude which puts life at the center,
and defends and promotes life against all the mechanisms
of death, desiccation, or stagnation.
-- Leonardo
Boff
"Spirituality
is that attitude which puts life at the center, and defends
and promotes life against all the mechanisms of death,
desiccation, or stagnation. The opposite of spirit, in
this sense, is not the body but death and everything associated
with the system of death, understood in the widest sense
of biological, social, and existential death (failure,
humiliation, and oppression). Nourishing spirituality
means cultivating the inward space, the basis of which
all things can be brought together. It means overwhelming
deadness and stagnation and living reality in terms of
values, inspiration, and symbols of higher meaning. The
spiritual person is one who is always in a position to
see the other side of reality, and who is always capable
of perceiving that profundity by which we are referred
to the Ultimate Reality that religions call God.
-- Leonardo
Boff
*
To
be a soulful person means to go against all the
pervasive, prove-yourself values of our culture
and instead treasure what is unique and internal
and valuable in yourself and your own personal evolution.
~ Jean
Shinoda Bolen
"I
believe that the thought that women together can
change the world is emerging into the minds and
hearts of many of us, and that the vessel for personal
and planetary evolution is the circle with a spiritual
center."
~ Jean
Shinoda Bolen
*
“If
you do a good job for others, you heal yourself
at the same time, because a dose of joy is a spiritual
cure.”
-- Dietrich
Bonhoeffer
*
…the voice of the Great Spirit is heard in the twittering
of birds, the rippling of mighty waters, and the
sweet breathing of flowers...
-- Gertrude
Bonnin (Zitkala-Sa)
You
can't have a physical transformation until you have
a spiritual transformation.
~ Sen.
Cory Booker
*
In
his scientific genius, man has wrought material miracles
and has transformed his world. He has harnassed nature
and has developed great civilizations. But he has
never learned very well how to live with himself.
The values he has created have been predominantly
materialistic; his spiritual values have lagged far
behind. He has demonstrated little spiritual genius
and has made little progress toward the realization
of human brotherhood. In the contemporary atomic age,
this could prove man's fatal weakness.
-- Ralph
J. Bunche
*
Spiritually,
no action is more important than surrender. Surrender
is the tenderest impulse of the heart, acting out
of love to give whatever the beloved wants. Surrender
is being alert to exactly what is happening now,
not imposing expectations from the past. Surrender
is faith that the power of love can accomplish anything,
even when you cannot foresee the outcome of a situation.
-- Deepak
Chopra
*
Whenever
a human being ceases to live for themselves and begins
to care about that which is greater than themselves,
the personality begins to experience ecstasy, joy
and spontaneous liberation. And that's found through
doing, through action, through giving, through deeply
embracing the human experience.
-- Andrew
Cohen
It
seems to rise again when the crisis times come,
and this is a time of most severe crisis, as we
all know, not just for the history of the United
States and the survival indeed of our democracy,
but for the future peace of the world. And never
before probably has the need for interfaith commitment
been nearly as great as it is at this very moment.
-- Walter
Cronkite
The
fact that you are here tonight gathered together with
us testifies to the fact you understand the need for this
organization and the need for redoubling our efforts in
this organization to try to assure that democracy as represented
by the United States must depend upon a total freedom
of religion, which is written into our Constitution, of
course, and the mere suggestion that anyone could maintain
that one’s patriotism, one’s devotion to one’s country
can be judged by one’s religion is so vile, so vile that
we have to take to the streets indeed and to put it aside.
-- Walter
Cronkite
*
"My
religion is very simple. My religion is kindness."
- The
Dalai Lama
*
I appreciate any organization or individual people
who sincerely make an effort to promote harmony
between humanity, and particularly harmony between
the various religions. I consider it very sacred
work and very important work
- The
Dalai Lama
The
problems we face today, violent conflicts, destruction
of nature, poverty, hunger and so on, are human-created
problems which can be resolved through human effort, understanding
and the development of a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood.
We need to cultivate a universal responsibility for one
another and the planet we share.
- The
Dalai Lama
"What
we would like to do is change the world-make it a
little simpler for people to feed, clothe, and shelter
themselves as God intended for them to do. And, by
fighting for better conditions, by crying out unceasingly
for the rights of the workers, of the poor, of the
destitute…we can, to a certain extent, change the
world; we can work for the oasis, the little cell
of joy and peace in a harried world. We can throw
our pebble in the pond and be confident that its ever
widening circle will reach around the world. We repeat,
there is nothing that we can do but love, and, dear
God, please enlarge our hearts to love each other,
to love our neighbor, to love our enemy as well as
our friend."
-- Dorothy
Day
"Whenever
I groan within myself and think how hard it is to keep
writing about love in these times of tension and strife
which may, at any moment, become for us all a time of
terror, I think to myself: What else is the world interested
in? What else do we all want, each one of us, except to
love and be loved, in our families, in our work, in all
our relationships? God is Love. Love casts out fear. Even
the most ardent revolutionist, seeking to change the world,
to overturn the tables of the money changers, is trying
to make a world where it is easier for people to love,
to stand in that relationship to each other…There can
never be enough of it."
-- Dorothy
Day
*
The
intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational
mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society
that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
-- Albert
Einstein
"Our
principle is, and our practices have always been,
to seek peace, and ensue it, and to follow after righteousness
and the knowledge of God, seeking the good and welfare,
and doing that which tends to the peace of all...All
bloody principles and practices we do utterly deny,
with all outward wars, and strife, and fightings with
outward weapons, for any end, or under any pretence
whatsoever..."
-- George
Fox
“My
generation was bold enough to question many things
and to seek spirituality over religion. We haven’t
succeeded in overthrowing the old order yet, and maybe
there are some meanings to be found in my story about
coming of age spiritually in the latter half of the
twentieth century.”
-- Matthew
Fox
Compassion
is the essence of Jesus’ teaching, and indeed of the teaching
of all great spiritual figures from Mohammed to Isaiah,
from Lao Tzu to Chief Seattle. Yet compassion has been
sentimentalized and severed from its relationship to justice-making
and celebration. Creation Spirituality links the struggle
for justice with the yearning for mysticism.
-- Matthew
Fox
We
were made for something cosmic and will not fit peacefully
into anything much smaller. And when we try to build our
lives around anything much smaller than cosmos we become
grotesque, and our institutions, be they religious or
familial or educational or governmental are asked to do
too much. They become misshapen and malformed and turn
into instruments of cosmic and personal destruction.
-- Matthew
Fox
*
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there
is hatred, let me sow love: where there is injury,
pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is
despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and
where there is sadness, joy.
-- Saint
Francis of Assisi
Every
time that religion has identified itself or entangled
itself with a particular political movement or a particular
government, religion has been harmed by that. I see
religion as a powerful positive healing force for
this nation and the world. But that force is blunted,
weakened, compromised inestimably, if we turn religion
into a tool for advancing political strategy; if we
make it a matter of how to win political office; if
we treat it as anything other than a sacred part of
life from which we ought to draw sustenance and values
and strength for living courageously as good citizens.
-- C.
Welton Gaddy
"If only we can overcome cruelty, to human and animal,
with love and compassion we shall stand at the threshold
of a new era in human moral and spiritual evolution
- and realize, at last, our most unique quality:
humanity."
~ Jane
Goodall
"I
just have this absolute belief that humans are moving
away from cruelty and destruction towards a time
when we can truly live in harmony with nature. When
we understand that there is a spiritual power around
us from which we can draw strength. That is where
I believe human destiny ultimately is taking us.
I just hope we have time."
~ Jane
Goodall
*
"If only we can overcome cruelty, to human and animal,
with love and compassion we shall stand at the threshold
of a new era in human moral and spiritual evolution -
and realize, at last, our most unique quality: humanity."
~ Jane
Goodall
Tolerance, a term which we sometimes use in place
of the words respect, mercy, generosity, or forbearance,
is the most essential element of moral systems;
it is a very important source of spiritual discipline
and a celestial virtue of perfected people.
-- M.
Fethullah Gülen
*
Only
a few people seem to realize that social harmony
and peace with nature, between people, and within
the individual only can come about when the material
and spiritual realms are reconciled.
-- M.
Fethullah Gülen
Would
a CONSCIOUS human being destroy himself through war,
and crime, and quarrels? No, a man simply knows not
what he does to himself.
-- Gurdjieff
*
Seek
peace. When you have peace within, real peace with
others will be possible.
-- Thich
Nhat Hanh
Every
breath we take, every step we make, can be filled
with peace, joy, and serenity. We need only to be
awake, alive in the present moment.
-- Thich
Nhat Hanh
"Do
not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine,
theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. All systems
of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute
truth."
-- Thich
Nhat Hanh
*
"To
me, love, spirituality and life are all the same
thing. To me they're all about honoring the circle,
and they're just different ways of defining the
same understanding. Our society as a whole, because
we have placed our love for money above our love
for life, has devalued the sacred and devalued love."
-- Julia
Butterfly Hill
It
all began on a day in 1960, sitting in the kitchen of
my Greenwich home with a friend, snacking on peanut butter
sandwiches, talking about what a mess the world was in,
with the spectre of nuclear Armageddon not a remote possibility,
when as if out of nowhere, a light turned on in my mind
and I excitedly saw an antidote -- an ongoing forum where
dialogue and understanding could be promoted by bringing
all the world's religions together under one roof.'
-- Juliet Hollister, founder of the Temple of Understanding
There
is so much work yet to be done. It is so clear to me that
all we have to do is awaken to the fact that we are all
ONE, or as my friend Father Thomas Merton has so rightly
said, 'We are already ONE . . . what we have to become
is what we already are.' It seems so simple, doesn't it?
Yet so much more work to do. So much more work.'
-- Juliet Hollister, founder of the Temple of Understanding
We
can no more do without spirituality than we can do without
food, shelter, or clothing.
-- Ernest Holmes
*
In
the next 30 years we can destroy our world. With the
very same powers — spiritual, social, scientific —
we can evolve our world. Our mission is to serve as
catalysts for a planetary awakening in our lifetime,
to take a non-violent path to the next stage of our
evolution.
-- Barbara
Marx Hubbard
*
I
feel that faith and feminism have a deep relationship
to each other and that both are responses to the
deep human yearning for connection and for peace
on earth, and that they both have a vision of universal
human equity.
-- Helen
LaKelly Hunt
I
firmly believe that all human beings have access
to extraordinary energies and powers. Judging from
accounts of mystical experience, heightened creativity,
or exceptional performance by athletes and artists,
we harbor a greater life than we know.”
-- Jean
Huston
*
"Peace
is a necessary condition of spirituality, no less
than an inevitable result of it."
-- Aldous
Huxley
*
The
true spiritual life begins within the individual
when he perceives the importance of it, and begins
to realize what spiritual values are. Therefore,
in order for man to emerge from his present state
of chaos, he must experience a revolution of a new
type, one that will have neither a political nor
an economic character. We may call it the individual
self-revolution. There is nothing that can better
transform man from his materialistic conception
of existence to a spiritual awareness of life than
such individual revolution from within...
-- Frederick
Kettner
*
Reconnect
with the spiritual force that animates the best
in you. Then let your every action flow from your
strength and compassion.
-- Fran
Korten
*
Active
citizenship begins with an envisioning of the desired
outcome and a conscious application of spiritual
principles.
-- Dennis
Kucinich
*
There
is at the moment in the world a battle going on
between those who are pursuing materialistic paths—globalizers
of economic growth and those hell-bent on this ‘big
is better’ idea—on the one hand, and on the other
hand those who are dedicated to spiritual renewal,
more small-scale development, more human scale,
more sustainability, more crafts and arts. Where
human beings are not just sold to companies and
money and those kinds of things. Where human beings
have a sacred path. -- Satish
Kumar
*
…in
place of the Old Bottom Line of money and power,
a New Bottom Line of Love and Generosity is possible.
People of all faiths need to shape a political and
social movement that reaffirms the most generous,
peace-oriented, social justice-committed, and loving
truths of the spiritual heritage of the human race.
-- Rabbi
Michael Lerner
We
need to build millions of little moments of caring on
an individual level. Indeed, as talk of a politics of
meaning becomes more widespread, many people will feel
it easier to publicly acknowledge their own spiritual
and ethical aspirations and will allow themselves to give
more space to their highest vision in their personal interactions
with others. A politics of meaning is as much about these
millions of small acts as it is about any larger change.
The two necessarily go hand in hand.
-- Rabbi
Michael Lerner
"Ultimately,
one of the best ways to take care of our souls is to build
a society that supports rather than undermines our highest
moral and spiritual intuitions and inclinations. Yet,
building that society can never be divided from the daily
practices through which we live out our ethical and spiritual
lives, both in the way we treat others around us, and
in the way we nourish the God within us."
-- Rabbi
Michael Lerner
*
We
must comprehend in each of our hearts and minds
the two ways we human beings are free to follow,
as we choose: the good way, the spiritual way -
or the un-natural way, the material way. It’s our
personal choice, our personal decision - each of
ours and all of ours.
-- Chief
Arvol Lookinghorse
All
things are bound together, all things connect. Whatever
befalls the earth, befalls also the children of the
earth." Chief
Oren Lyons, Onandaga Nation
*
To
be a light to others you will need a good dose of
the spiritual life. Because as my mother used to
say, if you are in a good place, then you can help
others; but if you're not well, then go look for
somebody who is in a good place who can help you.
-- Rigoberta
Menchú
*
A
life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at
all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is
shaped by the end you live for. You are made in
the image of what you desire.
-- Thomas
Merton
The
whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness
of the interdependence of all these living beings,
which are all part of one another, and all involved
in one another.
--
Thomas
Merton
*
"For
me there is no hope without faith. Faith in a higher
good. Faith in our own divinity."
-- Alyssa
Milano
*
The
Interfaith Alliance has to become an ongoing sustaining
and powerful movement whose interest is to prove that
religion has a healing side as well as a killing side,
and that democracy is the consequence of conscience
-- Bill
Moyers
*
The
world’s major religions in the end all want the
same thing, even though they were born in different
places and circumstances on this planet. What the
world needs today is a convergence of the different
religions in the search for and definition of the
cosmic or divine laws which ought to regulate our
behavior on this planet.
--
Robert
Muller
In
my mind, the purpose of education is to enable human
beings to develop to their full potential, intellectually
and spiritually. That means that students have to
be empowered to pursue self-knowledge and the skills
that will help them be of service to their fellow
human beings. Education should encourage people
to develop their curiosity about life; above all,
it should not trivialize either the students or
their lives.
-- Michael
Nagler
"Mental
conflict and emotional states around an issue tie
up energy, which is then no longer available for
creative problem solving. Anger is a complex emotion
which is a cry for love and understanding. The ultimate
alchemy is releasing those prickly emotions inside
to become a person of emotional balance who is capable
of loving and being loved and connecting with your
deepest spiritual nature and your True-Self."
-- Lynne
Namka (AngriesOut.com)
"Mental
conflict and emotional states around an issue tie
up energy, which is then no longer available for
creative problem solving. Anger is a complex emotion
which is a cry for love and understanding. The ultimate
alchemy is releasing those prickly emotions inside
to become a person of emotional balance who is capable
of loving and being loved and connecting with your
deepest spiritual nature and your True-Self."
-- Lynne
Namka (AngriesOut.com)
“Spiritual
transcendence is transforming the rigid ego attachments
into acceptance of self and others.”
-- Lynne
Namka (AngriesOut.com)
*
"Peace
is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition
of mind brought about by a serenity of soul… Lasting
peace can come only to peaceful people."
-- Jawaharlal
Nehru
*
"As
believers we all have an opportunity and moral obligation
to recognize our spiritual common ground; to rise
above our differences; to combat prejudice and intolerance."
-- Queen
Noor of Jordan
I
was able to see faith as more than just a comfort
to the weary or a hedge against death; rather, it
was an active, palpable agent in the world.
-- Barack
Obama
*
Faith
is not just something you have, it's something you
do.
-- Barack
Obama
*
"When
you find peace within yourself, you become the kind
of person who can live at peace with others." -- Peace
Pilgrim
"Be
a sweet melody in the great orchestration, instead
of a discordant note. The medicine this sick world
needs is love. Hatred must be replaced by love,
and fear by faith that love will prevail." -- Peace
Pilgrim
*
"When
you find peace within yourself, you become the kind
of person who can live at peace with others." -- Peace
Pilgrim
“Religion
is for people who are scared to go to hell. Spirituality
is for people who have already been there.”
-- Bonnie
Raitt
*
Science
is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a
profound source of spirituality. -- Carl
Sagan
*
"So
I would hope they would develop some kind of habit
that involves understanding that their life is so
full they can afford to give in all kinds of ways
to other people. I consider that to be baseline
spirituality."
-- Susan
Sarandon
What
interfaith seeks to do is to not allow religion to fall
back into confrontational modes, into contemporary crusades
and jihads, rather to move onwards to a new level of interfaith
harmony and understanding."
-- Dr. Karen Singh
Radical
transformation of society requires personal and
spiritual change first or at least simultaneously
-- Sulak
Sivaraksa
*
People
seeking to live spiritually must be concerned with
their social and physical environment.
-- Sulak
Sivaraksa
*
"I
would like the church to be a place where the questions
of people are honored rather than a place where
we have all the answers. The church has to get out
of propaganda. The future will involve us in more
interfaith dialogue. ... We cannot say we have the
only truth."
-- Bishop
John Shelby Spong
*
“Seek
the truly practical life, but seek it in such a
way that it does not blind you to the spirit working
in it. Seek the spirit, but seek it not out of spiritual
greed, but so that you may apply it in the genuinely
practical life.”
-- Rudolf
Steiner
“Reverence
awakens in the soul a sympathetic power through
which we attract qualities in the beings around
us, which would otherwise remain concealed.”
-- Rudolf
Steiner
*
The
Earth Charter is important as an expression of the
commitment of people throughout the Earth to evoke
their own deepest moral, spiritual and ethical principles
in the task of ensuring a sustainable future for
those who inhabit the Earth now and those who will
follow us on the Earth.
-- Maurice
Strong
*
“Our
personal consumer choices have ecological, social,
and spiritual consequences. It is time to re-examine
some of our deeply held notions that underlie our
lifestyles.”
-- David
Suzuki
''We're
talking about calling the entire world of religion into
a global dialogue,''
-- Bishop William E. Swing
*
In
our innermost Spirit - we nourish the gentleness
and understanding of Peace.
Those around us feel a gentle breeze
whispering as if rustling leaves -
Peace comes not from contemplation-
but action!
-- Pauline
Tangiora
*
"It
is the inner life that is to spark the change in
consciousness that will permit us to advance
-- Brother
Wayne Teasdale
"Every
one of us is a mystic. We may or may not realize
it, we may not even like it. But whether we know
it or not, whether we accept it or not, mystical
experience is always there, inviting us on a journey
of ultimate discovery. We have been given the gift
of life in this perplexing world to become who we
ultimately are: creatures of boundless love, caring
compassion, and wisdom. Existence is a summons to
the eternal journey of the sage - the sage we all
are, if only we could see."
-- Brother
Wayne Teasdale
*
We
are not human beings having a spiritual experience;
we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
-- Pierre
Teilhard De Chardin
*
Love
is a fruit in season at all times and within the
reach of every hand. Anyone may gather it and no
limit is set. Everyone can reach this love through
meditation, prayer, sacrifice, and an intense inner
life.
~ Mother
Teresa
*
"Enlightenment
is not meant to be an object of religious faith. It
is an evolutionary goal, something we want to become..."
-- Robert
Thurman
*
Certainly
the vision of the spiritual nature of man and the
universe brings the conviction that the human potential
is unlimited and that we stand at the threshold
over which a quantum leap in consciousness is possible.
~ George
Trevelyan
"My
humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be
human together."
-- Desmond
Tutu
*
We can find common ground only by moving to higher
ground.
-- Jim
Wallis
And
we're seeing a higher level of consciousness and
many more opportunities for people to challenge
their present ways of thinking and move into a grander
and larger experience of who they really are.
~ Neale
Donald Walsch
*
As the new spirituality begins to become the pervasive
spirituality of the planet, we'll find that we have
abandoned our philosophy of contradictions in which
we say we're all one but continue to try to win.
~ Neale
Donald Walsch
If
we win, someone else loses. But if someone else loses,
we lose. Which is a point we're not getting. The new spirituality
will make this just painfully obvious.
~ Neale
Donald Walsch
*
Conscious business.. business that is conscious
of inner and outer worlds.. would therefore be business
that takes into account body, mind, and spirit in
self, culture, and nature. Put differently, conscious
business would be mindful of the way that the spectrum
of consciousness operates in the Big Three worlds
of self and culture and nature.
-- Ken
Wilber
In
the context of interfaith encounter, we need to bring
to the surface how our actual beliefs shape what we do
- not simply to agree that kindness is better than cruelty.
-- Rowan D. Williams
*
The spiritual path -- is simply the journey of living
our lives. Everyone is on a spiritual path; most
people just don't know it.
-- Marianne
Williamson
*
Love
is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn.
The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear
and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in
our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our
purpose on earth.
-- Marianne
Williamson
