“Here is the infallible test. Imagine yourself in a situation where you are alone, wholly alone on earth, and you are offered one of the two, books or men. I often hear men prizing their solitude but that is only because there are still men somewhere on earth even though in the far distance. I knew nothing of books when I came forth from the womb of my mother, and I shall die without books, with another human hand in my own. I do, indeed, close my door at times and surrender myself to a book, but only because I can open the door again and see a human being looking at me.” MenHumansStillsI CanTwoBookHandsEarthMotherDiesMy OwnHuman BeingsSituationImagineDoorsAtheismSolitudeTestsDistancePositive AtheismSurrenderWhere You AreWombBecause I CanInfallibleHuman HandsFar Distance Book:Pointing the way: collected essays. Edited and translated with an introd. by Maurice S. Friedman Source: Pointing the way: collected essays. Edited and translated with an introd. by Maurice S. Friedman
“Human beings have a drive for security and safety, which is often what fuels the spiritual search. This very drive for security and safety is what causes so much misery and confusion. Freedom is a state of complete and absolute insecurity and not knowing. So, in seeking security and safety, you actually distance yourself from the freedom you want. There is no security in freedom, at least not in the sense that we normally think of security. This is, of course, why it is so free: there's nothing there to grab hold of.” ThinkingWantHumansStatesSpiritualCoursesCausesHuman BeingsKnowingSecurityAbsolutesSafetyDistanceMiserySeekingConfusionFuelInsecurityNot Knowing Author:Adyashanti
“The dismembering of a human being routinely in 30 minutes on an outpatient bases - or any other way - is barbaric. Four blocks from our church all year long - like churches within smelling distance of Auschwitz or Dachau or Buchenwald.” WayYearsHumansLongChurchHuman BeingsFourMinutesBasesDistanceBlockAbortionAuschwitzBarbaricDachauBuchenwald Author:John Piper
“I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished author, and I speak like a child.... My hemmings and hawings over the telephone cause long-distance callers to switch from their native English to pathetic French. At parties, if I attempt to entertain people with a good story, I have to go back to every other sentence for oral erasures and inserts.... In these circumstances nobody should ask me to submit to an interview if by "interview" a chat between two normal human beings is implied.” PeopleIfsThinkingShouldWritingHumansChildrenLongTwoStoriesAsksSpeakCausesHuman BeingsPartyGeniusCircumstancesNormalAnxietyDistanceSentencesAsk MeInterviewsNativeSubmitTelephonesPatheticDistinguishedGood StoryLong DistanceImpliedSocial AnxietyInsert Author:Vladimir Nabokov