Today's Quote: On Love 2

"I know that people can be beautiful and happy without losing their ability to dwell on this earth. I cannot and will not believe that evil is man's natural state...

A dream they say... I shall go further: let it never, never come true, let paradise never be... ...I shall anyway go and spread the word. And yet it could be done so simply: in a single day, in a single hour everything would be settled! One should love others as one loves oneself, that is the main thing, that is all, nothing else, absolutely nothing else is needed, and then one would instantly know how to go about it. It's nothing but an old truth, repeated and read billions of times, and yet it has not taken root.
...If only everyone wanted it, it could be all done at once."


Fyodor Dostoevsky, from his short story 'The Dream of a Ridiculous Man'

Today's Quotes: The meaning of goodness expressed in life

[W]hen it comes to goodness, nothing can take the place of practice. Goodness is like playing a violin. All the musical theory, inspiration and sensitivity to local musical tastes in the world cannot make you into a musician. You have to practice.

...George MacDonald and C.S. Lewis reveal again and again in their fiction how people are formed by thousands of small, 'insignificant' acts. ...We are all moving - one day at a time - toward light or darkness, toward good or evil."


"Learning goodness from praxis means taking small, concrete steps to act out our stated beliefs. By action we gradually transfer what we believe is desirable into what we actually desire...

...A common error in Western-influenced thinking is to separate theory from practice and preparation from life. Not only what is learned but also how it is learned forms a person... All of our life is preparation for something else. And all of our life is also the thing for which we prepare. Living the goal cannot begin after preparation. Nor can it wait for adequate understanding. ... Now we must live the goal to the utmost extent that we know it. In such praxis the meaning of our faith is revealed to ourselves and those around us."

-from 'Strange Virtues' by Bernard Adeney