#lief

In order to create you have to believe in your ability to do so and that often means excluding whole chunks of normal life, and, of course, pumping yourself up as much as possible as a way of keeping on. Sort of cheering for yourself in the great football stadium of life." (Barnes & Noble Review, email dialogue with Cameron Martin, Feb. 09, 2009) ↗

— T.C. Boyle

#creative-process #self-confidence #self-trust #writing #life

Children who are victimized through sexual abuse often begin to develop deeply held tenets that shape their sense of self: 'My worth is my sexuality. I'm dirty and shameful. I have no right to my own physical boundaries.' That shapes their ideas about the world around them: 'No one will believe me. Telling the truth results in bad consequences. People can't be trusted.' It doesn't take long for children to being to act in accordance with these belief systems. For girls who have experienced incest, sexual abuse, or rape, the boundaries between love, sex, and pain become blurred. Secrets are normal, and shame is a constant. ↗

— Rachel Lloyd

#children #incest #love #pain #rape

[Buddhism and Christianity] are in one sense parallel and equal; as a mound and a hollow, as a valley and a hill. There is a sense in which that sublime despair is the only alternative to that divine audacity. It is even true that the truly spiritual and intellectual man sees it as sort of dilemma; a very hard and terrible choice. There is little else on earth that can compare with these for completeness. And he who does not climb the mountain of Christ does indeed fall into the abyss of Buddha. ↗

— G.K. Chesterton

#belief #beliefs #compare #comparison #contrast

In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity. ↗

— Marco Antonio De Dominis

#catholicity #church-unity #doctrine #dogma #truth

The more you believe, the more you doubt. The more you doubt, the more you ask questions. Knowing that questions left unanswered is the best proof for your belief. ↗

— Sandra Chami Kassis

#belief #christian #christianity #god #life

What you call life is but a dream, and reality is relative. ↗

— Wayne Gerard Trotman

#dream #life #life-and-living #life-experience #real

For desired conclusions, we ask ourselves, "Can I believe this?", but for unpalatable conclusions we ask, "Must I believe this? ↗

— Thomas Gilovich

#human-behavior #logic #mind #psychology #life

When it's all over and the dust from our Ancestors bodies and our own settle from the four winds only then will we see that we were here! ↗

— Stanley Victor Paskavich

#belief #metaphysics #reincarnation #religion #spirituality

To point out nonepistemic motives in another’s view of the world, therefore, is always a criticism, as it serves to cast doubt upon a person’s connection to the world as it is. ↗

— Sam Harris

#criticism #skepticism #motivational

You must remember, my dear lady, the most important rule of any successful illusion: First, the people must want to believe in it. ↗

— Libba Bray

#deceit #success