Conscience and Courage

 

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous
than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking.
There is an almost universal quest
for easy answers and half-baked solutions.
Nothing pains some people more than having to think.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive.
He who is devoid of the power to forgive
is devoid of the power to love.
There is some good in the worst of us
and some evil in the best of us.
When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position
that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular;
but one must take it BECAUSE it is right.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Further reading: Gain Peace Through Peace

The First Step in Faith

Serve Others

Hate Returns Upon Itself
      

Never Take Life for Granted

 

As soon as man does not take his existence for granted,
but beholds it as something unfathomably mysterious,
thought begins.
- Albert Schweitzer

God is not what you imagine,
or what you think you understand.
If you understand you have failed.
- Saint Augustine

Be thankful that life is a mystery.
There is so much we can never know.
Breathe deeply and relax into the not-knowing.
There is much that we do not have to know in order to live joyfully.
We Can Never Understand Our World, But We Can Still Enjoy It.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The world is incomprehensible.
We won't ever understand it;
we won't ever unravel its secrets.
Thus we must treat the world as it is:
a sheer mystery.
- Carlos Castaneda

Uncertainty that comes from knowledge
(knowing what you don't know)
is different from uncertainty coming from ignorance.
- Isaac Asimov

Further reading: Wonder and Mystery

Pause to Wonder

Cherish Mystery

Life: Mystery and Riddle
    

Choose Inner Peace

 

The world has always been in an uproar, and it always will be.
Choose Peace. Choose to live with Peace.
Choose to interact peacefully with everyone -
especially those whose instinct is not to be peaceful.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

You are precisely as big as what you love and precisely
as small as what you allow to annoy you.
- Robert Anton Wilson

You may not seem able to change some outer circumstances
but you can start by changing your inner experience of life and yourself.
- Joy Page

Choose Inner Peace.
Nothing is worth losing your inner peace.
Take action as circumstances require,
but never surrender your inner peace.
Stop. Breathe deeply.
Close your eyes and breathe deeply again.
Then, and only then, take action -
from a peaceful heart.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

We can never obtain peace in the outer world
until we make peace with ourselves.
- Dalai Lama

Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit.
Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever,
even if your whole world seems upset.
- Saint Francis de Sales

Further reading: Have Gratitude for THIS Moment

Slow Down and Focus

Focus on Peace

Kick Back
    

Simplify Your Life

 

Life is really simple,
but we insist on making it complicated.
- Confucius

As you simplify your life,
the laws of the universe will be simpler;
solitude will not be solitude,
poverty will not be poverty,
nor weakness weakness.
- Henry David Thoreau

If thou wilt make a man happy,
add not unto his riches but take away from his desires.
- Epicurus

What if happiness were found in the serenity of simple pleasures.
What if we didn't need the newest gizmo... the highest high?
What if happiness is in the air we breathe...
slowly, deeply, and consciously?
What if happiness is one fresh grape, savored with gratitude?
What if happiness is in our oneness with all creation?
What if happiness is about enjoying life exactly as it comes to us -
without chasing after it?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

To live a pure unselfish life,
one must count nothing as one's own
in the midst of abundance.
- The Buddha

Further reading: Bounty of the Earth

Simple Life

Giving of Yourself
    

Trust in the Power of the Light

 

Exercise: Write your most worrisome trouble on a piece of paper and feed it to the fire. Send your troubles up in smoke. Breathe deeply and rejoice.

Trust in the Light.
Darkness is not a force -
it is merely the absence of light.
Observe that when a light is brought to a dark place,
the darkness disappears.
Sadness is similar -
when joy is brought to suffering, the sadness disappears.
Open yourself to the Light!
Hold back nothing, Trust in the Light.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

All the darkness of the world cannot
extinguish the light of a single candle,
yet one candle can illuminate all the darkness.
- Jewish Hanukah Prayer

I will gather myself around my faith,
for light does the darkness most fear.
- Jewel

Further reading: Feel Your Connection With the Infinite - a Meditation

A Light from Within

Radiate Light and Love
   

Win-Win is Always the Best Outcome

 

Your mother really did know the secret to a better world:
"Play nicely together. Don't fight."

Compromise is the worst way to address human differences, except for all the others.
(modeled on Churchill's quote "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.")

The alternative to compromise is conflict.

When we seek to discover the best in others,
we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.
- William Arthur Ward

Unless both sides win, no agreement can be permanent.
- Jimmy Carter

Most of us think about succeeding in terms of someone else failing --
that is, if I win, you lose; or if you win, I lose.
Life becomes a zero-sum game.
... [In contrast,] Win-win sees life as a cooperative arena, not a competitive one.
Win-win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks
mutual benefit in all human interactions.
Win-win means agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial and satisfying.
- Stephen R. Covey

Today's affirmation:
I feel unity with Spirit and with all that is.
My life is richer for sharing my being with all those I meet.
Each experience, however it appears at the time,
highlights and strengthens the fabric of my life.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: A Shared Dream

Helping Others

Our Shared Humanity

Caring for Others
      

Practice Compassion

 

Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
- Jesus (Matthew 25:40)

Do to others as you would have them do to you.
- Luke 6:31 (the "Golden Rule")

Compassion is not a relationship between the healer and the wounded.
It's a relationship between equals.
Only when we know our own darkness well
can we be present with the darkness of others.
Compassion becomes real when we recognize our shared humanity.
- Pema Chodron

Our opportunity is to visualize a kinder world.
To sing glad songs of tomorrow -
imagining a world of love -
of the whole world filled with love.
To offer our hand... often.
To breathe deeply and honor ourselves.
To pause and contemplate... just because.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

For me, an area of moral clarity is:
you're in front of someone who's suffering
and you have the tools at your disposal
to alleviate that suffering or even eradicate it,
and you act.
- Paul Farmer

Further reading: Feed the Hungry

Comfort, Rainbows, and Laughter

Accept Others

Compassion, Kindness, Humility