#witnessing

The whole Bible is the story of men and women trying to get back to God, to overcome that sin with sacrifices, good works, sermons, prophesy, witnessing, giving all kinds of things. It never worked. ↗

— Keith Miller

#bible #get #giving #god #good

Think about it: virtually every atrocity in the history of humankind was enabled by a populace that turned away from a reality that seemed too painful to face, while virtually every revolution for peace and justice has been made possibly by a group of people who chose to bear witness and demanded that others bear witness as well. ↗

— Melanie Joy

#revolution #witnessing #love

You could grow up in the city where history was made and still miss it all. ↗

— Jonathan Lethem

#missing-out #new-york-city #witnessing-history #new-york-city

The new social question is: democracy or the rule of the financial markets. We are currently witnessing the end of an era. The neoliberal ideology has failed worldwide. The U.S. movement Occupy Wall Street is a good example of this. ↗

— Sigmar Gabriel

#democracy #end #era #example #failed

Delphine witnessed awful things occurring to other humans. Worse than that, she was powerless to alter their fate. It would be that way all her life--disasters, falling like chairs all around her, falling so close they disarranged her hair, but not touching her. ↗

— Louise Erdrich

#powerlessness #witnessing #life

What we are witnessing now is a clash of civilisations, not just between states but within them. ↗

— Pim Fortuyn

#civilisations #clash #just #now #states

Becoming aware of the intense suffering of billions of animals, and of our own participation in that suffering, can bring up painful emotions: sorrow and grief for the animals; anger at the injustice and deception of the system; despair at the enormity of the problem; fear that trusted authorities and institutions are, in fact, untrustworthy; and guilt for having contributed to the problem. Bearing witness means choosing to suffer. Indeed, empathy is literally 'feeling with.' Choosing to suffer is particularly difficult in a culture that is addicted to comfort--a culture that teaches that pain should be avoided whenever possible and that ignorance is bliss. We can reduce our resistance to witnessing by valuing authenticity over personal pleasure, and integration over ignorance. ↗

— Melanie Joy

#suffering #witnessing #anger

One of the greatest gifts my father gave me - unintentionally - was witnessing the courage with which he bore adversity. We had a bit of a rollercoaster life with some really challenging financial periods. He was always unshaken, completely tranquil, the same ebullient, laughing, jovial man. ↗

— Ben Okri

#always #bit #bore #challenging #completely

I think that witnessing ecological problems visible from space is one of the new and essential roles of astronauts. ↗

— Philippe Perrin

#ecological #essential #i #i think #new

In crises, the old is dying and the new has not been born. Hence, the revolts we are witnessing in Egypt and Tunisia, which may yet extend to other countries in the region, are full of uncertainties. ↗

— Jose Maria Aznar

#born #countries #crises #dying #egypt