“The man who has struggled bravely with the passions of the body, has fought ably against unclean spirits, and has expelled from his soul the conceptual images they provoke, should pray for a pure heart to be given him and for a spirit of integrity to be renewed within him (cf. Ps. 51:10). In other words, he should pray that by grace he may be completely emptied of evil thoughts and filled with divine thoughts, so that he may become a spiritual world of God, splendid and vast, wrought from moral, natural and theological forms of contemplation.” MenWorldShouldHeartMaySoulBodyChristianSpiritualFormSpiritPassionEvilGivenNaturalMoralGraceDivineHe ManPrayingIntegrityPureFilledContemplationOrthodoxProvokingSplendidTheologicalCfsPure HeartEvil Thoughts Author:Maximus the Confessor
“If you expound the teaching of the Logos from the standpoint of the moral life, using materialistic words and examples which correspond to the capacity of your hearers, you make the Logos flesh. Conversely, if you elucidate mystical theology by means of the higher forms of contemplation you make the Logos spirit.” IfsMeanChristianFormSpiritMoralTeachingExampleHigherCapacityFleshTheologyContemplationOrthodoxMysticalStandpointMaterialisticLogosMoral Life Author:Maximus the Confessor
“The search for truth is, as it always has been, the noblest expression of the human spirit. Man's insatiable desire for knowledge about himself, about his environment and the forces by which he is surrounded, gives life its meaning and purpose, and clothes it with final dignity.... And yet we know, deep in our hearts, that knowledge is not enough.... Unless we can anchor our knowledge to moral purposes, the ultimate result will be dust and ashes- dust and ashes that will bury the hopes and monuments of men beyond recovery.” KnowsMenLifeGivingHumansHeartHas BeensEnoughSpiritDesirePurposeForceResultsMoralEnvironmentExpressionTruth IsClothesDignityUltimateFinalsRecoveryDustAshesHuman SpiritMonumentAnchorsInsatiableSearch For TruthDesire For Knowledge Author:Raymond B. Fosdick
“This party spirit has so ill an effect on our morals, it has likewise a very great one upon our judgments.” SpiritPartyMoralEffectsJudgmentIllGreat Ones Book:The spectator Source: The spectator
“If we would accept heaven's life, we need by all means to live in the world and to participate in its duties and affairs. In this way, we accept a spiritual life by means of our moral and civic life; and there is no other way a spiritual life can be formed within us, no other way our spirits can be prepared for heaven. This is because living an inner life and not an outer life at the same time is like living in a house that has no foundation, that gradually either settles or develops gaping cracks or totters until it collapses.” IfsWorldWayNeedsMeanSpiritualSpiritHouseHeavenAcceptingMoralDutyFoundationPreparedAffairSettlingCracksSpiritual LifeCollapseBe PreparedCivicsInner Life Book:Heaven and hell Source: Heaven and hell
“When we assume God to be a guiding principle well, sure enough, a god is usually characteristic of a certain system of thought or morality. For instance, take the Christian God, the summum bonum: God is love, love being the highest moral principle; and God is spirit, the spirit being the supreme idea of meaning. All our Christian moral concepts derive from such assumptions, and the supreme essence of all of them is what we call God.” WellsIdeasEnoughChristianSpiritCertainLove IsMoralPrinciplesMoralityHighestConceptsEssenceAssumingSupremeInstanceCharacteristicsAssumptionGod Is LoveMoral PrinciplesGuiding PrinciplesChristian God Author:Carl Jung
“The real need of the day is moral and spiritual rearmament. God's Living Spirit can transcend conflicting political systems, can reconcile order and freedom, can rekindle true patriotism, can unite all citizens in the service of the nation, and all nations in the service of mankind.” NeedsRealSpiritualPoliticalSpiritOrderNationsMoralMankindCitizensReconcilePolitical SystemsTrue Patriotism Author:Stanley Baldwin
“Calvin's theocentric irrationalism eventually revealed itself as the cunning to technocratic reason which had to shape its human material. Misery and the poor laws did not suffice to drive men into the workshops of the early capitalistic era. The new spirit helped to supplement external pressures with a concern for wife and child to which the moral autonomy of the introverted subject in reality was tantamount.” MenHumansChildrenReasonRealityLawSpiritPoorMoralWifeSubjectsMaterialsShapesConcernPressureMiseryErasAutonomyCunningWorkshopsSupplementsIntroverted Author:Max Horkheimer
“The basic struggle today is not between individualism and collectivism, free enterprise and socialism, democracy and dictatorship. These are only the superficial manifestations of a deeper struggle which is moral and spiritual and involves above all else whether man shall exist for the state, or the state for man, and whether freedom is of the spirit or a concession of a materialized society.” MenStatesWisdomTodaySpiritualSpiritPoliticsMoralStruggleEconomyDemocracyDeeperSocialismManifestationLiberalismEnterpriseIndividualismDictatorshipSuperficialCollectivismFree EnterpriseConcessions Author:Fulton J. Sheen
“No substance in nature, as far as yet known, has, when it reaches the brain, such power to induce mental and moral changes of a disastrous character as alcohol. Its transforming power is marvelous, and often appalling. It seems to open a way of entrance into the soul for all classes of foolish, insane or malignant spirits, who, so long as it remains in contact with the brain, are able to hold possession.” WayLongSoulCharacterSeemsAbleSpiritBrainKnownMoralClassRemainsPossessionAlcoholFoolishContactInsaneSubstanceMarvelousTransformingEntrances Author:Timothy Shay Arthur
“The precept to worship God 'in spirit and in truth' recommand to worship him as an inward and moral force, without physical attributes and with no relation to fears and egoist wishes.” SpiritForceWishMoralWorshipRelationAttributesInwardWorship God Author:African Spir
“Increasingly, I wonder if there are any outrages that would be sufficiently ominous in their effects upon liberty and unequivocal in their moral perversity to awaken the American people to the tyrannical spirit that envelopes the Clinton White House.” PeopleIfsWould BeSpiritHouseWhiteLibertyWonderMoralEffectsClintonWhite HouseOutrageEnvelopesOminousPerversityUnequivocal Author:Alan Keyes