Differences of Belief

“Toward no crimes have men shown themselves so cold-bloodedly cruel as in punishing differences of belief.”
— James Russell Lowell

My philosophy is kindness

There is no need for temples,
no need for complicated philosophies.
My brain and my heart are my temples;
my philosophy is kindness.
Dalai Lama

Kindness

Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.
Dalai Lama

Follow the Grain

Follow the grain in your own wood. ~Howard Thurman

An Observation

Religions make God look rediculous.

All Theologies are Straws

All theologies are straws His sun burns to dust;
Knowing takes you to the Threshold, but not through the Door.
Nothing can teach you if you don’t unlearn everything.
How learned I was, before Revelation made me dumb?

- Rumi

Einstein on God

I cannot imagine a God
who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation
and whose purposes are modeled after our own --
a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty.

-Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)

Truth and Love

The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and
too small for anything but love.
~ William Sloane Coffin

Dogma vs Morality

The death of dogma is the birth of morality.
-Immanuel Kant, philosopher (1724-1804)

Live a Good Life - Marcus Aurelius

"Live a good life.

If there are gods and they are just,
then they will not care how devout you have been,
but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by.

If there are gods, but unjust,
then you should not want to worship them.

If there are no gods, then you will be gone,
but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones."

- Marcus Aurelius

Life is not lost by dying

“Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the small uncaring ways.” - Stephen Vincent Benet

The Purpose of Life

I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible,
to be honorable, to be compassionate.
It is, after all, to matter: to count, to stand for something,
to have made some difference that you lived at all.
Leo C. Rosten (1908-1977) American Writer

Ecclesiastic Tyranny

Of all plagues with which mankind is cursed,
ecclesiastic tyranny's the worst.
-Daniel Defoe,
novelist and journalist (1659?-1731)

The fundamental delusion of humanity

The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose
that I am here and you are out there.
-Yasutani Roshi, Zen master (1885-1973)

Morality and Religion

The greatest tragedy in mankind's entire history may be the hijacking of morality by religion.
-Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction writer (1917-2008)

Making Allowances

It is a severe Rebuke upon us,
that God makes us so many Allowances,
and we make so few to our Neighbor:
As if Charity had nothing to do with Religion;
Or Love with Faith, that ought to work by it.
~ William Penn

A Way of Life - Not a Declaration

It is in our lives and not our words that our religion must be read.
~ Thomas Jefferson

God is Good

If you're killing someone in the name of God —
you're missing the message.

~ Nick Annis in the preface to God is Good.