#power

The devil, the originator of sorrowful anxieties and restless troubles, flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the Word of God....Music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of men. Thus it drives out the devil and makes people cheerful. Then one forgets all wrath, impurity, and other devices. ↗

— Martin Luther

#power-of-music #men

A person who...does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs." [Foreward to Georg Rhau's (1488-1548) Collection Symphoniae iucundae, 1538] ↗

— Martin Luther

#power-of-music #music

There is music in words, and it can be heard you know, by thinking. ↗

— E.L. Doctorow

#power-of-words #reflection #music

Passion can transform the mind, body and spirit... Passion can align you with the wisdom of nature and the power of what is in your heart. ↗

— JoLynne Valerie

#empowerment #mind #passion #spirit #nature

To man has been given the grief, often, of seeing his gods overthrown and his altars crumbling; but to the wolf and the wild dog that have come in to crouch at man's feet, this grief has never come. Unlike man, whose gods are of the unseen and overguessed, vapors and mists of fancy eluding the garmenture of reality, wandering wraiths of desired goodness and power, intangible outcroppings of self into the realm of spirit - unlike man, the wolf and the wild dog that have come into their fire find the gods in the living flesh, solid to the touch, occupying earth-space and requiring time for the accomplishment of their ends and their existence. No effort of faith is necessary to believe in such a god; no effort of will can possibly induce disbelief in such a god. There is no getting away from it. There it stands, on its two hindlegs, club in hand, immensely potential, passionate and wrathful and loving, god and mystery and power all wrapped up and around by flesh that bleeds when it is torn and that is good to eat like any flesh. ↗

— Jack London

#god #man #nature #power #religion

One of the key characteristics of an elite corps is its susceptibility to those more powerful than itself. Elite power is naturally attracted to a power hierarchy and fits itself neatly, obediently into the one that promises the most personal benefits. Here is the Achilles’ heel of armies, police and bureaucracies. ↗

— Frank Herbert

#bureaucracies #bureaucracy #elite #hierarchy #power

Sicknesses, especially those affecting nerves and head, are signs that the defensive strength of the strong natures is lacking; precisely this is suggested by irritability, so pleasure and displeasure become foreground problems. ↗

— Friedrich Nietzsche

#nature

Power is fortified not just by what it destroys, but also by what it creates. Not just by what it takes, but also by what it gives. And powerlessness reaffirmed not just by the helplessness of those who have lost, but also by the gratitude of those who have (or THINK they have) gained. ↗

— Arundhati Roy

#helplessness #human-nature #humility #power #powerlessness

A cult is a religion with no political power. ↗

— Tom Wolfe

#political #political power #power #religion

This ain't my first rodeo!". ~R. Alan Woods [1999] ↗

— R. Alan Woods

#abuse-of-power #abuse-of-religion #church #pastors #r-alan-woods