8 Dec 2014

This quotation about Christmas could refer either to the religious or secular aspect:

“Christmas renews our youth by stirring our wonder. The capacity for wonder has been called our most pregnant human faculty, for in it [is] born our art, our science, our religion.”

Ralph W Sockman
(Now to Live!, Kessinger Publishing, 2005)

1 Dec 2014

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it. My optimism, then, does not rest on the absence of evil, but on a glad belief in the preponderance of good and a willing effort always to cooperate with the good, that it may prevail. I try to increase the power God has given me to see the best in everything and every one, and make that Best a part of my life.”

Helen Keller (Optimism: An Essay). Helen Keller (1880-1968) was a deaf and blind writer and social activist.

24 Nov 2014

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure …There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you… As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson (A Return to Love, Thorsons, New Edition, 1996)

17 Nov 2014

Interfaith Week begins on Sunday 16 November and during the week many will be celebrating the richness and diversity of faith, recognising that we all belong to one human race. So some suitable words from Nelson Mandela:

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

Nelson Mandela (Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus, 1995)

10 Nov 2014

During the Second World War, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, academic, theologian and pastor, was imprisoned then executed for helping to smuggle Jews out of Germany. He regularly preached about peace and justice but also plotted to kill Hitler and had to reconcile himself with his involvement to kill another human being.

“We are not simply to bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Life Together, SCM Press, 1954)

3 Nov 2014

In this year in which we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, a quotation about the ‘common good’:

“The totalitarianism that leads to chains begins with the assumption that there is only one way of understanding the common good. Fascism is about wanting to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. It is a consequence of this assumption that if I think differently from you, then it must be because of error or wickedness. On the other hand, a pluralism that recognises many different ways – creative disharmony – is the best guarantor of healthy freedom.”

The Revd Dr Giles Fraser (The Church Times, 12/11/2010)

27 Oct 2014

In an address given soon after World War II, Einstein recognised that the world’s problems needed both scientific cooperation and spiritual understanding between nations:

“We are here to take counsel with each other. We must build spiritual and scientific bridges linking the nations of the world.”

Albert Einstein (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, October 1948)

20 Oct 2014

“People who live the most fulfilling lives are the ones who are always rejoicing at what they already have.”

Richard Carlson (source of quotation not found)

Richard Carlson (1961-2006) was an author and psychotherapist.

13 Oct 2014

“It’s not differences that divide us. It’s our judgements about each other that do.”

Margaret Wheatley from Turning to One Another (Berrett-Koehler: 2009)

Margaret Wheatley is co-founder The Berkana Institute (http://berkana.org/)

6 Oct 2014

Chief Rabbi Mirvis spoke on Thought for the Day (BBC Radio 4, 1/10/2014) about Yom Kippur or ‘Day of Atonement’ which this year falls on 4 October. His theme was that it is ‘doing’ which matters, not just good intentions or thoughts. And he said...

“The essence of a meaningful life is the pursuit of constructive positive deeds.”

Chief Rabbi Mirvis (Thought for the Day, BBC Radio 4, 1/10/2014)

29 Sep 2014

We are restarting our Thought for the Week with a quotation about education - a challenge to all of us:

“The biggest obstacle to learning something new is the belief that you already know it.”

Zen Master (source unknown)