#worship

But, strictly speaking, this mythology was no essential part of ancient religion, for it had no sacred sanction and no binding force on the worshippers. ↗

— William Robertson Smith

#binding #essential #force #had #mythology

Even the highest forms of sacrificial worship present much that is repulsive to modern ideas, and in particular it requires an effort to reconcile our imagination to the bloody ritual which is prominent in almost every religion which has a strong sense of sin. ↗

— William Robertson Smith

#bloody #effort #even #every #forms

The myths connected with individual sanctuaries and ceremonies were merely part of the apparatus of the worship; they served to excite the fancy and sustain the interest of the worshipper... no one cared what he believed about its origin. ↗

— William Robertson Smith

#apparatus #believed #cared #ceremonies #connected

Nietzsche believed in heroes and, in his youth, he was a hero worshipper. First Arthur Schopenhauer's bespectacled visage stared from his shrine and after that the place of sacredness and honor was held by Richard Wagner. When the Wagner of the philosopher's dreams turned into a Wagner of very prosaic flesh and blood, there came a time of doubt and stress and suffering for poor Nietzsche. But he had courage as well as loyalty, and in the end he dashed his idol to pieces and crunched the bits underfoot. ↗

— H.L. Mencken

#hero-worship #truth #courage

I then wrought at my trade as a tailor; carefully attended meetings for worship and discipline; and found an enlargement of gospel love in my mind, and therein a concern to visit Friends in some of the back settlements of Pennsylvania and Virginia. ↗

— John Woolman

#back #carefully #concern #discipline #enlargement

... researchers argue that it's of utmost importance to unravel the nature of black holes, lest we someday begin to worship them. Sounds ridiculous, but whole segments of humankind have often revered the unknowable, venerating that which cannot be tested experimentally. Come to think of it, many still do in twenty-first-century society. ↗

— Eric Chaisson

#black-holes #science #testing #worship #age

Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship. ↗

— Oscar Wilde

#enmity #friendship #love #men #men and women

Everyone is free to imagine that which could never come to pass. That is the promise of worship. ↗

— Bauvard

#humor #imagination #worship #funny

If money’s the god people worship, I’d rather go worship the devil instead. ↗

— Jess C. Scott

#commercialism #core #core-of-the-soul #core-values #devil

Christians—who have no patience with Darwinistic materialism—often sound as progressive as the most ardent evolutionist. They look for “new” theologies, “new” ways of worship, and “new” music, being quite willing to toss out their entire “old-fashioned” Christian heritage. ↗

— Gene Edward Veith

#novelty #worship #music