“The first motivation could be called political: If you can't or won't understand the Bible, others surely will interpret it for you. The second could be called cultural or literary: Within this culture you can't be fully literature or creative, artistically or rhetorically, without an acquaintance with the Bible. But now we come to the third and most personal reason: You also can't be spiritually mature or wise simply by rejecting the Bible as oppressive. The oppressive uses of the Bible are real, but unless you learn to understand that there are other readings possible, the Bible will, indeed, simply continue to be a source of oppression for you, and not a source of inspiration, liberation, creation, and even exultation as you understand anew for yourself, at a deep and less literal level.”
Source: Understanding the Bible: An Introduction for Skeptics, Seekers, and Religious Liberals
“I write this book not as a testimony to vanity, but rather as a humble hope to inspire or move others to greater kindness, sensitivity, and commitment to our world and to the precious people we call our family and our extended brothers and sisters in this life.”
Source: A Walk in the Twilight: A Librarian searching for questions
“One day I was in my cozy basement reading when she came over. She always smelled great, and when I asked her what it was, she volunteered that it was Heaven Scent, a wildly popular perfume for young girls at that time. I so loved that smell and to be honest, I would have fallen in love with any woman who wore that scent.”
Source: A Walk in the Twilight: A Librarian searching for questions
“As she stepped out of the elevator, I looked at her until the doors closed around me. Heaven Scent lingered in the elevator car, and I rode the elevator up and down until the magical scent had dissipated into the air, as would my dreams and desires.”
Source: A Walk in the Twilight: A Librarian searching for questions
“And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.”
“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”
“If a man die, shall he live again?”
“Obadiah 1:4”
Source: Prophecy of the Judgement of Edom
“And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs.”
“The Sufi path is marked by a number of different stages or stations (maqdm/maqdmdt) which the Sufi traveller (sdlik) passes through as he advances on the path. On his way the Sufi also experiences various psychological and emotional states (hdl/ahwdf). [...] The Sufi’s progress along the path is hindered by the machinations of the self (nafs), that is, the ego-self or what is called in the Qur’an the self that incites or exhorts to evil {al-tiafs al-ammdrah bi-al-su). In order to maintain his progress along the path to God the Sufi must be able to control the ego-self by disciplining it, and by continually blaming and abasing it.”
Source: Three Early Sufi Texts: A Treatise on the Heart, Stations of the Righteous, The Stumblings of Those Aspiring