Compassion and Humility
It is quite possible that death leads to pure non-existence rather than a heaven, hell, reincarnation, or spiritual afterlife. Because of this unknown in which all people are trapped, we must look with compassion to others and understand that they suffer as all of us do. Keep this constantly in your mind, that all of your actions may very well mean nothing, and that all creatures are bound to this one dooming fate, suffering through life because of this knowledge. Be compassionate in your actions and hesitant in your judging. As the Nous of the Buddha taught, “All life is suffering,” meaning all forms of life (plant, animal and people), all social classes of life (rich and poor, oppressed and oppressor), and all religious beliefs and philosophies. Furthermore, we must be humble when contemplating the Divine. We must realize that to presume to know the will of a nation, culture, group, or individual is to claim omniscience and to do so is to proclaim Divinity. As mortals, we are all incapable of such direct knowledge (see Gnosis and Nous).
Quotations
These quotes are meant to inspire and clarify, not define the various traditions. There is no order to the quotations under the specific tradition. While this may make it difficult to search, the scattering is meant to portray a larger concept: there is no order or hierarchy amongst world religions.Similarly, some quotes are not even from sacred or spiritual texts in the traditional sense; inspiration can come from any source.
Our sources are listed at the end along with the ISBN’s of our texts. We encourage all readers to consult the original source (preferably in the original language) for their own spiritual guidance and clarification.
Feel free to add comments with your own favorite quotations.
“Devotees of Ar-Rahman are those
who walk with humility on the earth, and when
they are addressed by the ignorant, say: ‘Peace.’”
(Al-Qur’ān, 25:63; similar in 31:18-19)
“One thing is certain, fixed by eternal law: nothing that is born can last.”
(Boethius, p. 27)
“Because a laugh’s the wisest, easiest answer to all that’s queer…”
(Moby Dick, p. 149)
“On this fair ocean our human forms
Float about, like bowls on the surface of water;
Yea, like cups on the surface, till they are filled;
And when filled, these cups sink into the water.”
(God’s Breath, Book of Rumi, p.178 )
“Verily those who are in the presence of your Lord
are never too proud to worship and celebrate His praises,
and bow in homage to Him.”
(Al-Qur’ān, 7:206)
“O how happy the human race would be, if that love which rules the heavens ruled also your souls!”
(Boethius, p. 41)
“Better sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christan.”
(Moby Dick, p. 31)
“Faith receives, love gives. [No one will be able to receive] without faith. No one will be able to give without love. Because of this, in order that we may indeed receive, we believe, and in order that we may love, we give, since if one gives without love, he has no profit from what he has given.”
(Nag Hammadi, The Gospel of Philip, p. 147)
“’Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.’”
(The Bible, Matthew: 5:4)
“And what is it, thought I, after all! It’s only his outside; a man can be honest in any sort of skin.”
(Moby Dick, p. 29)
“When you love you should not say,
‘God is in my heart,’ but rather, ‘I am
in the heart of God.’
And think not you can direct the course
of love, for love, if it finds you worthy,
directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill
itself.
But if you love and must needs have
desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook
that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart
and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate
love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then sleep with a prayer for the
beloved in your heart and a song of praise
upon your lips.”
(Gibran, The Prophet, p. 13-14)
“Then they (the ones who the “Spirit of life will descend” upon) have no other care than the incorruption alone, to which they direct their attention from here on, without anger or envy or jealousy or desire and greed of anything.”
(Nag Hammadi, The Apocryphon of John, p. 119)
“Thou has made these ‘Us’ and ‘Me’ for this purpose [of separation],
To wit, to play chess with them by Thyself.
When Thou shalt become one entity with ‘Us’ and ‘You,’
Then wilt Thou show true affection for these lovers.
When these ‘We’ and ‘Ye’ shall all become one Soul,
Then they will be lost and absorbed in the ‘Beloved.’
(God’s Breath, Book of Rumi, pp. 187-8 )
“When Eve was still in Adam death did not exist. When she was separated from him death came into being. If he enters again and attains his former self, death will be no more.”
(Nag Hammadi, The Gospel of Philip, p. 150)
“In short, god made mankind good and capable of immortality through his two natures, divine and mortal, and so god willed the arrangement whereby mankind was ordained to be better than the gods, who were formed only from the immortal nature, and better than all other mortals as well.”
(Hermetica, Asclepius, p. 80)
“And who is more unjust than he
who prohibits the name of God
being used in His mosques [places of worship],
who hurries to despoil them even though
he has no right
to enter them except in reverence?”
(Al-Qur’ān, 2:114)
“[Moses said] ‘O Lord, reveal Yourself to me
that I may behold You.’
‘You cannot behold Me,’ He said. ‘But look at the mountain:
if it remains firm in its place
you may then behold Me.’
But when his Lord appeared
on the mountain in His effulgence,
it crumpled to a heap of dust,
and Moses fell unconscious.”
(Al-Qur’ān, 7:143)
“They ask you about it [miracles] as if you were in the know.
You tell them: ‘Only God has the knowledge.’”
(Al-Qur’ān, 7:187)
“Do good to others as God has done good to you.”
(Al-Qur’ān, 28:77)
“If someone remarks, ‘What and excellent man you are!’ and this pleases you more than his saying, ‘What a bad man you are!’ know that you are still a bad man.
(Sufyan Al-Thawri, Essential Sufism, p. 61)
“A man said to Junaid, ‘True companions are scarce in these times. Where am I to find a companion in God?’
Junaid replied, ‘If you want a companion to provide for you and to bear your burden, such are few and far between. However, if you want a companion in God whose burden you will carry and whose pain you will bear, then I have a multitude I can introduce you to.’”
(Al-Ghazzali, Essential Sufism, p. 61)
“One day the Prophet Abraham invited a person to dinner, but when he learned that he was and infidel he canceled the invitation and turned him out. Immediately the Divine Voice reprimanded him, saying, ‘You did not give him food for a day even because he belonged to a different religion, yet for the last seventy years I am feeding him in spite of his heresy. Had you fed him for one night, you would not have become poor on that account.’”
(Al-Ghazzali, Essential Sufism, p. 63)
“[Judas] said, ‘Tell me Lord, what the beginning of the path is.’
He [the savior] said, ‘Love and goodness. For if one of these existed among the governors, wickedness would never have come into existence.’”
(Nag Hammadi, The Dialogue of the Savior, p. 253)
“Such was the defeat of the rules of Xibalba [death]. The boys accomplished it only through wonders, only through self-transformation.”
(Popol Vuh, p. 155)
Sources
Bhagavad Gita. (c. 500 B.C.E to 100 C.E.; trans. 2000). (Stephen Mitchell trans.). New York: Harmony Books.
ISBN: 060960550X
Boethius (524 C.E; trans. 1962). The Consolation of Philosophy. (Richard Green trans.). New Jersey: Macmillan Publishing Company.
ISBN: 002346450X
Gibran, Kahlil. (first printed 1923, this edition: 2001). The Prophet. New York: Alfred A Knopf.
ISBN: 0394404289
Hermetica. (1992). (Brian P. Copenhaver, Trans.). London: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN: 0521425433
Lao Tzu. (original composition date unknown, possibly c. 500 B.C.E; trans. 1991). Tao Te Ching. (Stephen Mitchell trans.). New York: Harper Perennial.
ISBN: 0060916087
Melville, Herman. (first printed: 1851, this edition: 1967). Moby Dick. London: England. W.W. Norton & Company.
ISBN: 039309670X
Miller, J, Kenedi, A. (Eds.). (2000). God’s Breath: Sacred Scriptures from Around the World. New York: Marlowe & Company.
ISBN: 1569246181
Muhammad. (trans. 1993). Al-Qur’ān. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
ISBN: 0691074992
Rudolph, Kurt. (1987). Gnosis: the Nature and History of Gnosticism. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco.
ISBN: 0060670185
