Many religious people are more committed to creeds than they are to the most blessed teachings of their religion: forgiveness and tolerance.


Some religious people fail to achieve balance in their faith. They are so committed to forgiveness and tolerance that they permit themselves to be used and abused by evil persons masquerading as good persons who take advantage of them. They have been duped by their very virtues to believe that there is no sin or evil people in the world.


Prophetic religion, depth psychology, existential philosophy and esoteric mysticism, have always taught that man is a responsible being and that the main constituent of his life is free agency. It has also taught that while man has the incipient power within himself to change, he cannot complete the task alone. There are extraneous divine powers ready to assist him, but they are in a state of suspended animation and wait for the individual to take the first step.


We cannot assess our own progress. We may be further advanced than we think we are. On the other hand we may be less advanced than we think we are.


Man looks on the accomplishments we have made. God looks on the condition of the heart we have made.


Please don’t consider me a cynic or a rebel if I announce what history has revealed: Organized religion, in spite of promulgating many benefits, has also been the cause of many morbid consciences, abject confusion about the self and about reality, and have persuaded its adherents to be satisfied with surface interjections instead of inner development.


A wise religion does not consist merely of sects and orthodoxies, or stirring speeches and charismatic personalities, but address the issues which face man in his struggle to find sense in his life, to quest with the hurting soul why he hates instead of loves, why he is so afraid, why he has lost his faith in himself, in others and in God. And help him not only to understand but to overcome, and become.


Children do not usually distinguish between fact and fantasy, and neither do they ponder the consequences of good and evil. They must be taught these things by their parents. Are you still a child?


One of the things I have sadly learned by my experience in this life is not to be too dependent on people because sooner or later they will betray you. The only way out of this sore dilemma, it seems to me, is to be dependent upon God. This is easier said than done if one loves deeply another. What then, is the difference between love and dependence?


There is a religious philosophy taught by some teachers that we should learn to love God first, and then we are given the power to love man. I wonder sometimes though, if it isn’t the other way around?


“Will power” is a poor substitute for “internal power.”


You must first be good to yourself before you can be good to others.


Man is a conglomerate of unrealized potential.


Remember this, oh you who think no one is looking. Your act affects generations you cannot see and who cannot see you.


If we would remember that our acts of today, whether they be good or bad, make the circumstances of tomorrow, perhaps we would be a little more alert and a little more careful.