posted June 13, 2007 08:43 AM         

What is the effect of such philosophical thought applied in the world today? Surely it is that we should think nobly, that our ideals should be lofty. In daily life we should ever strike the highest keynote, and then strive to attune our living to that keynote. Our will is lifted by the ideal. We become that which we worship.

Let us see, then, that what we worship shall have in it the power to transform us into the image of the perfect human being, into the perfect gold of which humanity shall finally consist. If you would help in that evolution and bear your share in that great labor, then let your ideal be truth, truth in every thought and act of life. Think truly; otherwise you will act falsely. Let nothing of duplicity, nothing of insincerity, nothing of falsehood soil the inner sanctuary of your life, for if that is pure your actions will be spotless, and the radiance of the eternal truth shall make your lives strong and noble.

Not only be true, but also be pure, for out of purity comes the vision of the Divine, and only the pure in heart, as said the Christ, shall see God. In whatever phrase you put it, whatever words describe it, that is true. Only the pure in heart shall have the beatific vision, for only those who are pure can share in that which is itself absolute purity.

To these ideals of truth and purity we must add one that is lacking in modern life: the ideal of reverence for what is noble, of adoration for what is higher than oneself. Modern life is becoming petty because we are not strong enough for reverence. It is becoming base, sordid and vulgar because people fear that they will sink if they bow to that which is greater than themselves. But worship of that which is higher than yourself raises you; it does not degrade you. The feeling of reverence is a feeling that lifts you up; it does not take you down. We have talked so much about rights that we have forgotten that which is greater than our rights. It is the power of seeing what is nobler than we have dreamed and bowing before it till it permeates our life and makes us like itself. Only those who are weak are afraid to obey; only those who are feeble are afraid of humility.

With the world as it is today, democracy in the external world is the best way of carrying on outer life. But if it were possible that, as in ancient Egypt and India, the very gods themselves wandered the earth as humans and taught people the higher truth, trained them in the higher life, conveyed the higher knowledge, would we claim that we were their equals? Would we be degraded by sitting at their feet to learn?

If you could weave into modern life that feeling of reverence for that which is purest, noblest, grandest -- for wisdom, for strength, for purity -- till the passion of your reverence brings those qualities into your own life, then your future as a nation would be secure. Your future as a people would be glorious. You men and women of America, creators of the future, will you not rise to the divine possibilities which every one of you has hidden in your own heart? Why go only to the lower when the stars are above you? Why go only to the dust when the sun sends down beams on which you may rise to its very heart?

Yours is the future, for you are making it today. As you build the temple of your nation, as you hope that in the days to come it shall rise nobly among the peoples of the earth and stand as pioneer of true life, of true greatness, lay the foundations strong today. No building can stand whose foundations are rotten, no nation can endure whose foundations are not divine. You have the power; yours is the choice. As you exercise it the America of centuries to come will bless you for the way you live or condemn you for your failure; for you are the creators of the world, and as you will so it shall be.

posted June 14, 2007 01:28 PM         

We all need to evolve at our own natural place. This is why I don't believe that there ever can be a massive revolution as such.....

But yes, to reach for that which is Greater, Higher than ourselves.....this cannot be anything other than UPLIFTING.

Did the Gods walk amongst us once? Perhaps....perhaps.....

posted June 16, 2007 07:51 AM         

"Whoever is spared personal pain must feel himself called to help in diminishing the pain of others. We must all carry our share of the misery which lies upon the world."

"A man does not have to be an angel in order to be a saint."

- Albert Schweitzer

(A Man With High Ideals)

posted June 16, 2007 11:09 AM         

BIG WORDS

I know Big Words;
Words like "Love" and "Truth";
Words that strain the mouth that speaks them,
And cry out (for attention!) the instant they are born.

- HSC

posted March 09, 2008 04:54 PM         

I like this quote:

"Judgment is the antithesis of understanding, and hatred of evil is the craftiest and least well-known of vices, so easily is it mistaken for love of good". - Valerian

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"To err is human, to forgive divine"
~Alexander Pope