It is not proofs or evidence which causes a person to believe
or disbelieve, but his choice The most powerful arguments,
the most convincing evidence, the most thorough proofs, will
not persuade him if he simply does not want to be persuaded.


Most people listen, not to determine whether or not what is
being said warrants the change of their minds, but merely to
prepare their next rebuttal


It has been aptly said that people adjust the truth to fit their desires
rather than adjust their desires to fit the truth


To be open-minded does not mean that your mind is
so open that you can dump garbage in it


Being open minded is often the excuse used by people
who are actually empty-headed


Winston Churchill said, “People stumble over the truth
sometimes, but most pick themselves up and hurry off
as if nothing happened


We demand the truth when it affects our money, our
relationships, our health and safety, but are not so choosy
when it affects our minds, our morality or lifestyles


People love the truth when it
supports them, but they hate it when it convicts them


Permissiveness and relativeness are masquerades of
tolerance and non-judgmentalness

In this tenuous life there are few absolutes. We therefore
must learn to live with uncertainty. And wait upon revelation
to correct our illusions

Have you ever wondered why God does not appear to you
and reveal the truth of the matter? Perhaps you are not ready
yet and you could not withstand his presence or understand
his word


We are not called upon to live beyond our abilities,
but to discover them. And just do the best we can.
What we consider our best, however, is usually not our
best at all, but what is convenient and easy


Life must be lived through, not just thought about.


The point of it all is simply that we are not in control. And to
insist that we are, or should be, or try to be, is to perpetuate our
misery. The only thing we are in control of is ourselves. And learning
to do just that takes a lifetime


Neither foresight nor mid-sight gives us as much insight as
does hindsight


Our lives are not circumscribed solely by our time, but
by all time


It is our preferences, not our proofs, which cause us to decide whether
we will abide by a certain belief or not


Isn’t it interesting how we allow the irrational to obviate
the rational

On the wall of my study hangs the most beautiful and awesome
picture of a miracle I have ever seen. It is so incredibly fantastic
it literally boggles the mind. It is a picture of this round, blue
earth suspended in space taken by an astronaut in Apollo 17.


Are all the laws of being and existence fully known by
the scientist


He who allows his moods to determine reality makes
grievous errors


Complete history is not limited to our time only, but extends
to all time. Perhaps it even transcends time altogether. Ignorance
is the space between the two


The failure to achieve an answer to our most perplexing
questions does not mean there is no answer at all


Plato, that wise philosopher who lived during a time when
philosophy was a noble pursuit because it dealt with wisdom
instead of abstractions, wisely learned that there is a limit to
man’s knowing, and beyond that he must depend on revelation


Perhaps advanced imagination, of which there is a dearth, is superior to unadvanced intellect, of which there is plenty



Perhaps we catch a more valid glimpse of reality when,
during those rare and temporary moments we are lifted
out of the fundamental and familiar and we become
enraptured by the harmony, beauty and complexity of a
simple leaf of a magnificent tree, or the sound of music
lilting across the room lofting us into a different state of
being


Of all questions entering the mind of the sincere truth-seeker
these are the most persistent: What is faith? Who am I, where
did I come from, and where am I going? You may ignore them,
but they will not ignore you


Do you think the death of the body is the worst thing
that can happen to you? Well, it isn’t. Death of the spirit is!

Extraordinary spiritual attainment recognizes the sacred
inter-twined with the worldly and his attempts to disentangle
the two takes into account the person entangled


Those human purists who cannot see the angelic within
the sinful, are not as pure as they think


Which is the greater sin: the mistaken act of the truly repentant, or the unmerciful judgment


Most legal systems are designed to mete out justice, but in actual
practice that is exactly what they do not do


In whose house are we most likely to go, and in which we
feel the most welcome: The familial house of the returned
prodigal son, or the ornate house of Simon, the Pharisee


Rules were made for man, not man for rules


Some smart-alec said, “Getting old ain’t for sissies.” That’s
easy for him to say


There are many psychological theories that attempt to
explain the complexities of personality. However differing
they may be there is one aspect they all agree on: Man has
this remarkable capacity to change. Getting him to do it,
however, over his will to resist, is what therapy is all about


It would be wise not to allow our doubts to become the
final truth


Is a miracle merely a concept of the mind and therefore does
not really exist? Then how or why did the concept arise? Do
not ideas in the mind have their corollaries in reality


There are miracles all around us. Why does existence exist
at all? Isn’t it easier, from a purely logical point of view,
to believe in nothing rather than something? How is it, and
who is it, that can believe in nothing? Account, if you can, for
the occurrence of photosynthesis, perhaps the most miraculous
happening there is. Or how or why does the worm turn into the
butterfly?

Alas, the persons who need to read these sayings the most will never read them at all. The next lamentable scenario occurs when those who do read them, nevertheless ignores them and goes about business as usual


The mediator is already there, but we have to decide to use him


Isn’t it amazing that many decide to stay where they are
because “that’s just the way I am.” What does it take to
wake them up, and help them realize they are
better than they think they are


Isn’t it interesting that people will consult a map when
they are going to an unfamiliar place but leave their own
personal destiny to chance


The most needed healing in our time is the healing of
the spirit, but it is most often rejected. If only people
knew what they were rejecting


As our soul is healed we begin to see a new vision
of man redefined


That good news, which we often refer to as “the gospel,”
never sees one as standing alone in his sin, but is conjoined
with elevated beings possessed with great concern, mercy and
patience


Dare I reject an offering of love by referring to the one
offering it as “holier than thou”


To mollify the terrible offense by modifying the terrified
offender is better than condemning him


Jesus had this uncanny ability, which he invited all of us
to attain, to separate the sin from the sinner, and doing away
with the sin by re-making the sinner


I do not believe that David and Bathsheba or Judas Iscariot
are the incorrigible sinners many Christians believe them to
be

We solve our problems of sex about the same as we solve our problems
of everything else. We appeal to the “real world” which means
we look at the world the way we have made it, rather than
re-making it


When we need clarification it is best to find it in experience,
either in your own or in others, and not just in explanations


Personal experience is a good teacher, but it is not the best.
The best is in one who has traveled the same road before you, and learned his lessons well


Do not account a saying invalid simply because it is trite


Do not account a saying valid simply because it is
universally believed



The efficacy of the truth increases in us as we give it to
another


It is our consciousness level which contributes to our understanding
In other words, the higher our consciousness level the higher our
understanding. Therefore, if you want to understand more, be more


Be a gift giver. And remember, the best gift you can give is yourself


You are limiting yourself if you do not listen carefully to the message
of one who would bless you


Instead of doing so many things we later have to undo, why don’t
we instead calculate beforehand what we would do

Of all the phenomena we seek to understand, we are the
most phenomenal. And the least understood


Ideas which are merely articulated, but not internalized, are
ideas that are not lived. And ideas that are not lived makes of
us pretenders


The first principle of learning is curiosity. The second is teachableness. Lacking the first one becomes a mere depository. Lacking the second one can become rigidly opinionated, thus blinded to a new and different kind of evidence


One of the most insidious fallacies we must unlearn is the
notion that we are by nature permanently depraved and cannot change or rise to higher levels of being


To live what we desire to become and not merely articulate what
we know is living the authentic life


Getting hit in the head with a rock will get our attention.
But, is it necessary


When, and if, you change, you are not changing who you are,
you are becoming more of who you are


The practice of sex in our world is an inept expression of
an insufficient consciousness. People know how to do it,
and they do it often; indeed they seem to be addicted to it,
but they know virtually nothing of its meaning


We need to develop a philosophy of sex, not just knowledge
about it

Whosoever concludes that what is not by him observed
or experienced, must be wrong, has tricked himself into
blindness at the worst and denial at the best


What one insists as “fact” may be nothing more than
perception governed by bias. Putting such a “spin”
on data is peculiarly a common occurrence in this
so-called “scientific” age


The “facts” we glean from the splendor of this mysterious
universe, is not the end of knowledge, but its beginning


Let us not be mere scientists, or historians, but explorers
adventurers, and pathfinders of the spirit
We need to make of our lives not encyclopedias or
cornucopias, but a fountain of living water


We will be more happy if we not merely search for facts, but
find values, not merely accumulate knowledge, but fashion a
character, not merely to be self-actualized, but self-
transcendent, not merely see objects, but see possibilities


The truth would speak to us often, but we cannot hear it or understand
it until our level of consciousness corresponds with the level of truth
waiting to speak to us


Our sight is not solely determined by the light we are in but by our
spiritual occularity. There are some who “see” in the dark and some
who are blind even in the light


One is not only a depository of knowledge, but an instrument
of inspiration.


What is so sorely needed in our tempestuous lives is not
just understanding, but transformation


Growing increases capacity for knowing


When one is fully advanced he not only listens to the
symphony, he is the symphony

If only half the time we spend on fixing our broken-down
things was spent on fixing our broken-down selves and
our broken down relationships the millennium would be ushered in almost overnight


Do we occupy our time on this earth in proving a point
or evolving a self and enhancing a relationship


The sure way to ignorance is to say, “I’m not interested.”


The laws of the universe may be ignored by our supercilious
prerogatives, and even by our ignorant ineptitudes, but will
not deviate to conform to our deviations


Please do not account the recitation of our multitudinous
follies to an overweening pessimism, but as a call to attention


To avoid a serious moral dialogue with ourselves is to
evade our psycho-spiritual connection. Thus neutralized
we become like a violin with loose strings. No matter how
masterful the violinist, the music he would make is
dissonant


Supreme moral values are so perilously misunderstood because
they are so superficially considered


Moral values are not, as is so inelegantly supposed by the
rebellious and disobedient, rules and dictums purposely
arranged in order to prevent us from enjoying life


There is in all of nature’s processes, and in the ample lessons
of history, and the words of prophets, seers and revelators, sufficient guidance for our lives if we make ourselves students of their wisdom


Do we incarnate some noble virtue from exemplary men
and women or do we follow with envy the bad examples of
a few movie stars or popular sports figures

When a half-truth is interpreted to be the whole truth, all
truth is compromised


The depths of the ocean is teeming with life. Could that be
a metaphor for our human lives? Depth of being vs. surface
skimming


Does one merely know the wind is blowing? Or does he
engage his divine imagination and hear a chorus singing
through the trees


Are rain-drops falling on the roof just evidence of it raining?
Or does it arouse our sensitivities and permit us to hear a
cacophony of rhythms which stimulates our imagination
and alerts our souls


Divine awareness helps us realize that there is splendor
in the grass, eloquence in the sunrise, miracle in the leaf,
and music in our heartbeats
Why are we so focused on efficiency of labor and inefficient
in ourselves


Have we not been deluded by our brains into the pitiful notion that we are only human with human needs just like everybody else


We are indeed human, but not experiencing the complete
humanness in our humanity


Intelligence misused is the bane of our society. And raw
intellect obscures real intelligence