#om

Christians should put survival of the planet ahead of national security...Here is the mystery of our global responsibility: that we are in communion with Christ- and we are in communion with all people...The fact that the people of Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Russia, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia are our brothers and sisters is not obvious. People kill each other by the thousands and do not see themselves as brothers and sisters. If we want to be real peace-makers, national security cannot be our primary concern. Our primary concern should be survival of humanity, the survival of the planet, and the health of all people. Whether we are Russians, Iraqis, Ethiopians, or North Americans, we belong to the same human family that God loves. And we have to start taking some risks- not just individually, but risks of a more global quality, risks to let other people develop their own independence, risks to share our wealth with others and invite refugees to our country, risks to offer sanctuary- because we are people of God ↗

— Henri J.M. Nouwen

#communion #global-responsibility #humanity-national-security #family

In garden arrangement, as in all other kinds of decorative work, one has not only to acquire a knowledge of what to do, but also to gain some wisdom in perceiving what it is well to let alone. ↗

— Gertrude Jekyll

#alone #also #arrangement #decorative #gain

It could draw from a greater reservoir of freedom. The irony could develop an even greater ease. ↗

— Elfriede Jelinek

#develop #draw #ease #even #freedom

My training in music and composition then led me to a kind of musical language process in which, for example, the sound of the words I play with has to expose their true meaning against their will so to speak. ↗

— Elfriede Jelinek

#composition #example #expose #for example #i

I came to poetry through the urgent need to denounce injustice, exploitation, humiliation. I know that's not enough to change the world. But to remain silent would have been a kind of intolerable complicity. ↗

— Tahar Ben Jelloun

#came #change #change the world #complicity #denounce

We have no Arab intellectuals of international stature because we live in a state of generalized mediocrity. We are suspended in the pit without touching the bottom. ↗

— Tahar Ben Jelloun

#because #bottom #generalized #intellectuals #international

I had a big background in listening to classical music and I started trying to compose, like I was playing the guitar but I heard an orchestra in my head. ↗

— John Fahey

#big #classical #classical music #compose #guitar

The mediation by the serpent was necessary. Evil can seduce man, but cannot become man. ↗

— Franz Kafka

#cannot #evil #man #mediation #necessary

I was raised as a Christian but the transaction has to be made by yourself - you and God - at some point. ↗

— Jerry B. Jenkins

#god #i #i was raised #made #point

There is a comfort zone of knowing where things are going and having characters in place, but the action gets more and more dramatic and is very challenging to describe. ↗

— Jerry B. Jenkins

#challenging #characters #comfort #comfort zone #describe