April 10

The holy spirit which exists in people is liberated more and more. This will change our existing world order.

Real science shows us how to apply our religious faith to our outer lives. Art shows us how to apply it to our feelings. The further any purpose the faster we should work toward it.

— Giuseppe Mazzini

The longer I live, the more things I must complete.

— William Ellery Channing

The more we understand our divine nature, the more its rules should be fulfilled in our actions. 

February 10

The higher the opinion a person has of himself, the more unstable is his position; the lower he moves in his self-esteem, the firmer he stands.

To be strong, you have to be like water: if there are no obstacles, it flows; if there is an obstacle it stops; if a dam is broken, then it flows further; if a vessel is square, then it has a square form; if a vessel is round, then it has a round form. Because it is so soft and flexible, it is the most necessary and the strongest thing.

— Lao-Tzu

The more a person analyzes his inner self, the more insignificant he seems to himself. This is the first lesson of wisdom. Let us be humble, and we will become wise. Let us know our weakness, and it will give us power.

— William Ellery Channing

Water does not stay on a mountaintop, but flows into the valley. In the same manner, real virtue does not remain with those people who want to be higher than the others; but virtue stays only with people who are humble.

— After the Talmud

Try to find out your potential. After you know it, do not be afraid to underestimate it. Be cautious not to exaggerate it.

January 15

The greatest truth of the teachings of Christ is the direct connection between a man (God's son) and God (His Father).

You ask me, what the most important feature of Christ's character was. I will answer you: it was his confidence in the greatness of the human soul. He saw in a person the reflection of God's image, and, therefore, he loved everyone, whoever a person was, without regard to his life or character.

— After William Ellery Channing

Both people and nations must get rid of prejudices. Feel yourself talking directly to God: don't read the Book, read your soul; then a small chapel will become as big as the heavenly dome itself.

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are two ways of understanding God: either intellectually or spiritually, based on faith and morality. The intellectual understanding of God is not resolute enough and can be subjected to dangerous mistakes; spiritual understanding of God requires moral actions. This faith is both natural and supernatural.

— After Immanuel Kant

Beware of everything which puts an obstacle between you and God.

January 10

The basis of all education is the establishment of our relationship to the beginning of all things, and the conclusions about our behavior which may be drawn from this.

 

But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

— Matthew 18:6-7

 

As we bring up our children, we have to remember that we are caretakers of the future. By improving their education, we improve the future of mankind, the future of this world.

— After Immanuel Kant

 

I think that the major obligation of parents and educators is to give children an understanding of the divine beginning that exists within them.

— William Ellery Channing

 

Religious upbringing is the basis of all education.

December 30

The understanding of the fraternity and equality of all people becomes more and more popular among mankind.

 

Do we understand our spiritual fraternity? Do we understand that we originated from one divine Father whose image we carry in ourselves and for whose perfection we strive? Have we accepted that there is the same divine life in all people, as well as in ourselves? And that this makes a natural and free bond among people?

— William Ellery Channing

 

We can love neither those whom we fear nor those who fear us.

— Marcus Tullius Cecero

 

Family and motherland are but two circles that are part of the wider circle that is humanity. Those who teach morality and who limit one’s duties only to family and country teach a selfishness which is dangerous for all of us.

 

The understanding of one’s unity with all of humanity comes from the understanding of the divine beginning in us all, and gives all our greatest good. True religion creates this understanding, and different prejudices interfere with it prejudice of state, nation, and class.

November 8

We come to a right understanding of our life in relation to God in the same way we understand our relation to the world and to its things. Without conscience, we would never know anything about God.

The question is whether the intellectual one, without the heart, can understand God. The truth is that if our heart understands God our intellect will then start to seek Him.

— George Lichtenberg

The basic foundation of the understanding of God is inside of us. — William Ellery Channing

A good worker probably does not know the details of the life of his master. Only a lazy worker tries to do nothing except find out more about his master's way of life, tastes, and preferences in order to please him. The same is true of a person's attitude to God. It is important to accept Him as your master and to know what He wants you to do. I may never know the answers to the questions "What is he?" and “How does I le live?” I will never find out because I am not equal to Him. I am His worker, not His master.

Every person understands God in different ways, but people should fulfill His will in the same way. 

October 27

Real religion cannot be opposed to intellect.

Do not believe that in religion you cannot trust your intellect. The force of our intellect must support the foundations of every real faith.

— William Ellery Channing

If God, the object of our faith, is higher than our understanding, and if you do not understand Him, it does not mean that you should not use your intellect trying to understand Him.

— Fyodor Strakov

While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

— John 12:36

In order to understand the truth, you should not suppress your intellect. On the contrary, you should purify your intellect, exercise it, and intellectually try and test everything which we can possibly put to the test.

August 30

Those who are on top of the mountain can see the sunrise sooner than those who live in the valley. So, too, with those who achieve spiritual heights: they can see the heavenly sunrise sooner than those who live a material life. But the time will come when the sun will rise so high in the sky that everyone will see it.

We should hope that the day will come when all people perceive that the life of a man is great only in its service to his brothers, for he is united with them by God.

— Edward Brown

Powerful forces are at work in this world. No one can stop them. We see their signs in a new understanding of religion, a new respect for people, a new feeling of brotherhood.

— William Ellery Channing

As soon as the higher ideal is put before us, all false ideals will fade away as the stars fade away when they meet the sun.

August 23

If people were completely virtuous, they would never step aside from the truth.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

— John 3:19-21

Don’t be afraid of a person in any position, in low or high standing, whether he is a scholar or an ignorant person. If you respect all people, you should love all people, and fear no one.

— William Ellery Channing

The consequences of any good thing which you have done in your life will die as soon as you step aside from the truth. The high spirit which lives in you and which is united with you is looking all the time for good and evil.

— Manu

Truth can be understood only by waiting and watching, and when you get one truth, two more will appear before you.

— John Ruskin

The truth is harmful only to evildoers. Those who do good; love the truth.

April 10

The holy spirit which exists in people is liberated more and more. This will change our existing world order.

Real science shows us how to apply our religious faith to our outer lives. Art shows us how to apply it to our feelings.

The further any purpose the faster we should work toward it.

— GIUSEPPE MAZZINI

The longer I live, the more things I must complete.

— WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING

The more we understand our divine nature, the more its rules should be fulfilled in our actions.

July 29

The more important something is in your life, the more harmful it can be for you in the future if you abuse it. The misfortunes and woes of people often come from the abuse of the most precious tool of our life: intellect.

God gave his spirit, his intellect, to us, so that we can understand his will and fulfill it. But we misuse it and abuse this spirit for the fulfillment of our own will.

When the intellect becomes the slave of vices and passions, the supporter of lies, it becomes not only a perversion, but an illness, and we cannot see the difference between truth and falsehood, good and evil, virtue and vice.

— William Ellery Channing

When a person tries to apply his intellect to the question "Why do I exist in this world?" he becomes dizzy. The human intellect cannot find the answers to these questions. What does this mean? This means that our intellect is not given to us to find a solution for this question. Our intellect can only answer the question: “How shall I live?” And the answer is simple; “We should live so us to bring good to all people.”

The purpose of the intellect is to reveal the truth; therefore it is a harmful misconception to pervert the truth with intellectual efforts.

July 18

People believe in eternal life because they believe that life’s beginning is spiritual, and therefore eternal.

In our soul is the sign of eternity.

— William Ellery Channing

Our biggest desire is to live forever. But when we are freed from this body, we will not wish to come back. Is there such a child who, once born, would like to return to the womb of his mother? Is there a man who, freed from prison, would like to return to it? In the same way, a person should not be afraid about the future liberation from his body, if he is not connected too closely with this material life.

— Tables of the Babids, a Muslim sect from Persia

A person is not afraid to die only after he understands that he was never born, that he always existed, exists at present, and will always exist.

A person will believe in his eternity when he understands that his life is not a wave, a period of time, but the eternal movement which is manifested in this life only as a wave. 

Those who believe that their life has not begun with their birth and will not end with death find it much  easier to live a good life than those who do not understand or believe this.

June 26

Love provides a person with the purpose of his life. Intellect shows him the means to achieve that purpose.

In the scheme of the world, a person is no more than a pine cone, or a weak herb, or a bit of swamp grass, but he is a grass which possesses some intellect.

— Blaise Pascal

Man differs from other animals only in his intellect; some people try to develop it and others neglect it, just as they try to reject those other qualities which differentiate them from the animals.

— Eastern Wisdom

I praise Christianity because it develops, strengthens, and elevates my intellectual nature.

— William Ellery Channing

If a person lacks intellect, he can not distinguish bad from good, and so he can neither truly seek nor truly have real goodness.

June 15

To love God means to love the highest possible good which we can imagine in all things.

People often say, “I do not understand love of God, what is love of God?” It would be more exact to say, “cannot understand love in this world without love of God.”

Real love of God is a moral feeling based on a clear understanding of His high, superior being; love of God coincides with love of virtue, truth, and kindness.

— William Ellery Channing

A person who understand the law but who is far from the love of God is like a bank official who has keys for the inside of his building but not the key for the front door.

— The Talmud

The commandments of God should be followed because of love of God, not because of fear of God.

— The Talmud

If you love a person without loving God, which is the goodness inside of him, then you plant the seeds for future disappointments and sufferings with this love.

Those who say that they love God but dislike their neighbors are lying to people; those who love their neighbors but don’t love God are lying to themselves.

Only perfection is worth complete love. In order to feel complete love, we can either delude ourselves that some imperfect object of our love is “perfection” or we can love perfection, which is God.