NOM

One of my favorites: "With malice toward none, with Charity toward all." Lincoln

What are some of your favorites?

"Be excellent to each other!" -Bill and Ted

The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

Yeah, that's from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. Wonder how it would have affected Mormon Authorities?

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.
-Rush

"Behold I, the Lord of Hosts, am the creator of all things.* I am independently wealthy beyond thy wildest dreams. If any man come unto thee collecting money in my name he shall be taken before the tribunal and even that which he has shall be taken from him and given unto the poor, and he shall be cast into that place where the sun shineth not."


*like gold, diamonds, oil...

Hagoth wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 16, 2022 9:46 am

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.
-Rush

Oh dear. Don't get me started with the Holy Triumvirate™...


My proposed scriptural phrase:

"Love Wins"

I don't think I "got" that phrase from Rob Bell, but his ministry surrounding that phrase is quite enlightening.

If the Bible had said somewhere, "Thou shalt not hold slaves" it probably would have had a major impact on the history of the world.

Don’t forget the common anachronisms!

“The grass is always greener over the septic tank…”

“At a stop sign, always yield to the automobile on the right”

Not all who wander are lost…Tolkien

2bizE wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 17, 2022 7:59 pm

Not all who wander are lost…Tolkien

When people start getting all Iron Rod, I like to remind them that Lehi didn't need it. He found the Tree o' Life by wandering in mists.

There are no hard lines between me and you, you and God, God and nature, nature and me.

God is everywhere because everything is God.

The only thing standing between you and awareness of divinity is the thickness of your own skull.

If you think you know God you have already missed the boat.

If anyone claims to know what God wants for you, run away. Especially if they want money.

If God shares your prejudices, you can be pretty certain that you have made Him in your own image.

Everyone has exactly the same access to God, regardless of claims of authority.

The God Within giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not.

Prayer can take many forms. Its purpose should not be to get things and favors, but to attenuate the barrier between yourself and the universe - to humbly and gratefully approach the awe and mystery.

Scripture is the creation of men reaching out to God, not the other way around.

Why do people everywhere believe in greater beings and share similar morals and yearnings? Because nature has given us all the same brain.

The human mind is the universe’s way of contemplating itself, human eyes are its way of looking upon its creation.

The elements of our bodies were forged in the hearts of stars and will live on again and again in other beings. In that sense we are all immortal.

Nature is an active participant in its own creation.

The universe is built upon a substrate of love and joy - do your damndest to tap into it.

There is only one way to know if there is life beyond death and that is to make that journey yourself.

There is only one way to ensure that some part of you will live on after death and that is to have children.

We are all brothers and sisters in a very literal sense. In the same sense we are also brothers with the hedgehog, the mushroom, and the amoeba; all are facets of the greater something.

There is one temple and it is called Nature. There are many sacred places. A place becomes sacred when you recognize it as such, and it might be sacred only to you.

If you imagine a God who is more cruel and petty, less loving and forgiving than the best person you have ever known, you are probably imagining a God that was invented to control people, rather than a real loving parent who wants you to learn and grow.

A religion is true to the degree that it teaches Gratitude, Forgiveness, Compassion, and Love of self and others. It is false to the degree that it does not.

If you still believe the same things at age 50 that you did at age 20 you have wasted 30 year

If you think your truth cup is full, it's time to get a bigger cup.

Life is not a test, it’s a classroom

What you believe doesn’t matter. How you behave does.

The self, my self, is inherently sacred, by virtue of its own improbability, its own miracle, it’s own emergence.

Truth exists independent of ego. What I believe and what I want have no influence on what is.

The act of questioning is at least as important as the satisfaction of knowing.

We do the best they can with the information we have. We can do better by actively seeking new, better information.

If you are not willing to put your most cherished beliefs on the altar of truth, you are afraid to know if they are indeed true, and you will never be able to know.

Self-indulgence and self-mastery are both essential to a full, rich life. The secret is to find the proper balance.

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you, because when you do unto others you are actually doing unto your larger self. Better yet, do unto others as they would have done unto them.

Joy comes with companionship and community but can only be appreciated when properly tempered with solitude and contemplation.

Most things don’t really matter. Calm down, it’s going to be ok.

Give more than you take.

Thinking is best done by individuals, not groups.

If you are not willing to be lost you will never find yourself.

Do what is right, let the consequence follow.

The most important thing about life is the quest of trying to figure it out for yourself. There are many valid paths; don’t get lost trying to follow someone else’s.

Just because someone is not on your path, don’t assume they are lost.

Beware of certainty. Being certain you’re right means you will never be able to determine when you are wrong. Certainty leads people to do things like crashing airplanes into buildings.

You are unlikely to encounter many ideas that are either 100% true or 100% false.

This may be as good as it gets. Make the most of it.

The only reward you should expect from life is a pat on the back, self administered.

We all take ourselves too seriously.

Peck's Dilemma: We are all inside a box. The instructions for getting out of the box are written on the outside of the box.

Be your own light (Buddha)

Be your own best friend, not your harshest critic.

I especially like the proverb on certainty: "Certainty leads people to crash airplanes into buildings."
Certainty led Custer to several successes, and a final drastic failure.