#sm

Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to us, something is out of tune. ↗

— Carl Jung

#below #conscience #deceiving #deep #deep down

I call this theory mystical pluralism because of its similarity to John Hick’s pluralist interpretation of religion. The theory is essentialist in both the therapeutic and epistemological senses described above. Its thesis is that mystical traditions initiate common transformative processes in the consciousness of mystics. Though mystical doctrines and practices may be quite different across traditions, they nevertheless function in parallel ways—they disrupt the processes of mind that maintain ordinary, egocentric experience and induce a structural transformation of consciousness. The essential characteristic of this transformation is an increasingly sensitized awareness/knowledge of Reality that manifests as (among other things) an enhanced sense of emotional well-being, an expanded locus of concern engendering greater compassion for others, an enhanced capacity to creatively negotiate one’s environment, and a greater capacity for aesthetic appreciation. ↗

— Randall Studstill

#religion #transformation-of-consciousness #experience

Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about. ↗

— Mark Twain

#about #holler #hollering #knowing #loudest

Although people sometimes assume that the happy are self-absorbed and complacent, just the opposite is true. In general, happiness doesn't make people want to drink daiquiris on the beach; it makes them want to help rural villagers gain better access to clean water. ↗

— Gretchen Rubin

#happiness #experience

Etymologically, "compassion" means to suffer together. "Together," however, is different from "identically." Compassion is not the same as selflessness, and not really the opposite of selfishness. Rather, it provides a basis for helping other people that is materially disinterested but emotionally self-regarding. As Rousseau wrote in Emile, "When the strength of an expansive soul makes me identify myself with my fellow, and I feel that I am, so to speak, in him, it is in order not to suffer that I do not want him to suffer. I am interested in him for love of myself..." Or, as Jean Bethke Elshtain has said, "Pity is about how deeply I can feel. And in order to feel this way, to experience the rush of my own pious reaction, I need victims the way an addict needs drugs. ↗

— William Voegeli

#etymology #narcissism #experience

I don't know what I would have done without believing in God. His support gives me power and energy to continue to be optimistic, to smile, not to be depressed. Sometimes, if things are not going so well, I don't cry. I say maybe it's meant to be. ↗

— Ofra Haza

#continue #cry #depressed #done #energy

Any idealism is a proper subject for art. ↗

— Lafcadio Hearn

#art #idealism #proper #proper subject #subject

We may be a small island, but we are not a small people. ↗

— Edward Heath

#may #people #small #small people

Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been. ↗

— Mark Twain

#been #indicate #merely #should #smiles

Last month, the House of Representatives passed the Veterans Opportunity to Work Act, which would provide training and assistance to unemployed veterans, and break down bureaucratic barriers preventing them from finding work. It's smart legislation that members of both parties support, and I'm pleased the Senate passed it. ↗

— Joe Heck

#assistance #barriers #both #break #bureaucratic