December 19

Real goodness is in your hands. It follows a good person as a shadow follows its object.

 

Everything which can make us better and happier was given to us by God. If our conscience is clear, then nothing can harm us.

— Epictetus

 

They who have decided to dedicate their lives to spiritual perfection will never be dissatisfied or unhappy, because all that they want is in their power.

— Blaise Pascal

 

Happiness, pure happiness, is a virtue in itself.

— Benedictus Spinoza

 

The greater the effort a person makes to achieve pleasure, the less possible it is for him to possess real goodness, or love.

 

They who say that doing good causes them unhappiness either don't believe in God or aren't doing something that is truly good.

July 21

Love is the manifestation of the divine nature which exists above time. Love is not only a way of life, it is an action directed toward the goodness of others.

There is no love in the future. Love can exist only in the present moment. A man who does not manifest love in the present does not love at all.

Be kind even if the world blames you. It is better than the converse when a person is praised by others but continues to be bad.

The New Testament reflects a very simple faith: faith in God and respect for Him. It is the same in following the law; there is only one law: love your neighbor.

— Benedictus Spinoza

Certainly, it is painful to recall all the things which you could have done in the past but did not: some charity, for example; a time you denied to those who expected help from you; or when you blocked the joyful understanding of completing an action you should have finished.

June 24

Understanding or mindfulness of death teaches one to choose the things which are complete or could be completed; and those things are the most important.

You could die very quickly; but yet you have time to rid yourself of your passions. Be humble to everyone.

— Marcus Aurelius

A wise person thinks more about life than about death.

— Benedictus Spinoza

There is no death for the spirit; therefore, a person who lives a spiritual life is freed from death.

Do you worry about the moment when you die? Our life is only a moment in eternity. Think and you will see that you have eternity behind you and before you, and between these two huge abysses, what difference does it make whether you live three days or three centuries?

— Marcus Aurelius

Whenever you ask whether you should behave in this way or the other, ask yourself, what would you do if you knew that you could die this evening, and nobody would find out about your action? Death spurs people to finish their affairs; among all actions, there is only one type which is complete, and that is love which seeks no reward.

June 5

If we say that the outer world exists only as we see it, we deny that there are other beings, with senses different from our own.

When I cast my gaze on objects, I try to correlate their outlines with ideas that already exist in my head. I will see white on the horizon, and I will think, There is a white church in the distance. Do we not give everything we see in this world a preexisting form from our imagination, brought by us from our previous life?

We can see that all of the world’s objects exist in two ways: in relation to their place and time — by understanding that they exist in God and were created by the same Divine Nature which every spiritual thing in this world bears in relation to eternity.

— Benedictus Spinoza

In reality, the outer world in itself is not as we see it, and thus everything material in this world is insignificant. What is important then? That thing which exists everywhere, at all times, and for all people: the divine spark, the spiritual root of our lives.