Logos
Say and do the same things. If asked, tell. If your words and actions reflect and compliment one another, you will not need to preach: people will see your Nous and hear your message through your actions alone. Evangelism is not necessary for those with Nous and often not welcomed by others, it only encourages difference, which encourages hate. This also discourages slothy behavior. Engage your body, mind, and spirit: only then will you know their potential.
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.
“In the beginning was the Word [Logos], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
(The Bible, John 1:1-4)
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
(The Bible, John 1:14)
“We (those awaken into Divine knowledge), by contrast (to those who are “energetic only in what they demonstrate”), use not speeches but sounds that are full of action.”
(Hermetica, Corpus Hermeticum XVI, v. 2)
“To speak in plain Persian, this attraction
comes from the same quarter whence comes this sweet savor [salvation].”
(God’s Breath, Book of Rumi, p. 172)
“No, his great genius is declared in his doing nothing particular to prove it. It is moreover declared in his pyramidical silence.”
(Moby Dick, p. 292)
Tat: “‘Even among humans, my father, does speech not differ fro each nation?’”
Hermes: ‘”It is different, my child, but humanity is one; therefore, speech is also one, and when translated it is found to be the same in Egypt and Persia as in Greece.’”
(Hermetica, Corpus Hermeticum XII, v. 13)
“Within myself I recorded the kindness of Poimandres, and I was deeply happy because I was filled with what I wished, for the sleep of my body became sobriety of soul, the closing of my eyes became true vision, my silence became pregnant with good, and the birthing of the word became a progeny of goods.”
(Hermetica, Corpus Hermeticum I, v. 30)
“Think not that those who exult
at what they have done, and who love to be praised
for what they have not done,
shall escape the punishment,
for grievous indeed will be their doom.”
(Al-Qur’ān, 3:188)
“Seldom have I known any profound being that had anything to say to this world, unless forced to stammer out something by way of betting a living. Oh! Happy that the world is such an excellent listener!”
(Moby Dick, p. 312)
“God will not call you to account
for that which is senseless in your oaths,
but only for what is in your hearts;
for God is forgiving and forbearing.”
(Al-Qur’ān, 2:255)
“If you conform your spirit to better things, you have no need of human approval and reward; you have placed yourself among the more excellent.”
(Boethius, p. 87)
“Teaching without words,
performing without actions:
that is the Master’s way.”
(Tao te Ching, ch. 43)
“The Master doesn’t talk, he acts.
When his work is done,
the people say, ‘Amazing:
we did it all by ourselves!’
(Tao te Ching, ch. 17)
“O you who believe, why do you profess what you do not practice?
Saying what you do not practice is odious to God.”
(Al-Qur’ān, 61:2-3)
“The semblance of those who expend
their wealth in the way of God
is that of a grain of corn
from which grow seven ears,
each ear containing a hundred grains.”
(Al-Qur’ān, 2:261)
“If they call you a liar (remember)
so had other apostles been called before you,
who had come with clear signs and Scriptures
and the Book enlightening.”
(Al-Qur’ān, 3:184)
“[Author's note on Al-Quran 14:24] Kalimat, literally ‘word’ stands in the Qur’an for ‘act’, speaking life into existence, explicit in kalimat-Allah. As soon as God speaks He transforms His word into act Kun, Be, and it came into being, showing that it was not created out of something else, other than God’s command. Since one of the basic meanings of the word kalam is to ‘wound’ (Ibn Faris), kalimat [literally 'word'] implies action, and it is the word of God that creates, and thus, for act, action through command, through in 18:109 or 31:27, kalimat stands for acts and creations of God in general, inclusive of all divine words and wonders.”
(Al-Qur’ān, p. 222)
In the West, seekers are often attracted to those who write or speak beautifully about great truths. To discuss the truth and not live it is hypocrisy. Insincere teaching can weaken or even destroy a student’s faith…. Empty words have no weight.
(Essential Sufism, p. 24)
“If words come out of the heart, they will enter the heart, but if they come from the tongue, they will not pass beyond the ears.”
(Al-Shurawardi, Essential Sufism, p. 39)
“A donkey with a load of books is still a donkey.”
(Islamic traditional, Essential Sufism, p. 58)
“I proclaim to you to tell you these (words) that I shall speak. When you hear, therefore, open your ears and understand and walk (accordingly)?”
(Nag Hammadi, The (Second) Apocalypse of James, p. 272)
“For the will of God has no beginning, even as his nature, which is his will, (has no beginning). For the nature of God is will. And his will is the good.”
(Nag Hammadi, Asclepius, p. 336)
“[Speak] when it is not proper [to be silent], but [speak concerning] the things you know (only) then [when] it is fitting.”
(Nag Hammadi, The Sentences of Sextus, p. 503)
“[When it is] proper to act, do not [use a] word.”
(Nag Hammadi, The Sentences of Sextus, p. 503)
“[While it is] a skill [to speak], it is also [a] skill [to be silent].”
(Nag Hammadi, The Sentences of Sextus,p. 503)
“[May your life] confirm [your words before those who] hear.”
(Nag Hammadi, The Sentences of Sextus,p. 504)
“May your pious works precede every word about God.”
(Nag Hammadi, The Sentences of Sextus, p. 507)
“It is better [for] you to be silent about the word of [God] than to speak it recklessly.”
(Nag Hammadi, The Sentences of Sextus, p. 507)
“And then the earth arose because of them, it was simply their [the deities'] word that brought it forth.”
(Popol Vuh, p. 73)
“As soon as they thought it and said it, deer and birds came forth.”
(Popol Vuh, p. 77)
“When Hurricane had spoken with the Sovereign Plumed Serpent, they invoke the daykeepers, diviners, the midmost seers:
‘There is yet to find, yet to discover how we are to model a person, construct a person again, a provider, nurturer, so that we are called upon and we are recognized: our recompense is in words.”
(Popol Vuh, p. 80)
“After that [i.e. the action], they put it into words:
the making, the modeling of our first mother-father,
with yellow corn, white corn alone for the flesh,
food alone for the human legs and arms,
for our first fathers, the four human works.”
(Popol Vuh, p. 164)
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
