My Life in Quotes- #81-90

""Wherever the tree of knowledge stands is Paradise," says the oldest and the youngest serpents."- Friedrich Nietzsche

Would love to know the context of this quote.  AND- Nietzsche seems to be talking about the joy of learning, describing the fact that there are opportunities to learn everywhere at every moment.  If we approach life with curiosity, we open ourselves up to constant delight.

82. "What has shaken me is not that you lied to me but that I no longer believe you."- ibid., (Friedrich Nietzsche)

This is the sad reality of relationships.  When a lie is uncovered, we lose the trust that is the foundation of healthy relationships.  How can that trust be restored?  Is it not inevitable that we will develop a cynical perspective?

And yet.  It is possible, over time and with effort, to come back from the hurt of being lied to and believe again.  Not easy, but possible.

83. "Prayer places man under absolute obligation to God.  He who wants to have dealings with God must obey and serve him.  The prayer which cries to God for help places a man under absolute obligation to accept God's help, but according to God's idea of what it means to be helped."- Reidar Thomte, Kierkegaard's Philosophy of Religion

Reminds me of the old story.  I prayed to God, and God answered, “No.”  All of our prayers are never answered in just the way we hope and dream they will be.  And sometimes that’s okay.  Thinking of the great Garth Brooks line- “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.”

84. "One's neighbor is one's equal.  One's neighbor is not the beloved for whom you have passionate preference.  Nor is your neighbor, if you are well-educated, the well-educated person with whom you have cultural equality- for with your neighbor you have before God the equality of humanity.  Nor is your neighbor one who is of higher social status than you, that is, insofar as he is of higher social status he is not your neighbor, for to love him because he is of higher status than you can very easily be preference and to that extent self-love.  Nor is your neighbor one who is inferior to you, that is, insofar as he is inferior he is not your neighbor, for to love one because he is inferior to you can very easily be partiality's condescension and to that extent self-love.  No, to love one's neighbor means equality.  It is encouraging in your relationship to people of distinction that in them you shall love your neighbor.  If you do this there is salvation, for you shall do it.  Your neighbor is every man, for on the basis of distinctions he is not your neighbor, nor on the basis of likeness to you as being different from other men.  He is you neighbor on the basis of equality with you before God; but this equality absolutely every man has, and he has it absolutely."- Soren Kierkegaard, Works of Love

This is an important quote.  When we read that we should love our neighbor as ourselves, Kierkegaard reminds us that the challenge is to see every person as a tzelem Elohim, an image of God.  Not only when it’s obvious or convenient, but most especially when, for any number of reasons, it is difficult to connect with that individual. 

85. "No word involves such obligation as the prayer which cries to God for help; for this puts thee under the obligation to let thyself be helped as he will."- Soren Kierkegaard, Christian Discourses

See #83 above.  Thomte is a secondary source, but he seems to be drawing directly from these words of Kierkegaard.

86.  "To pray is not to hear oneself speak, but it is to be silent, and to remain silent, to wait, until the man who prays hears God."- ibid., (Soren Kierkegaard, Christian Discourses)

Silence as prayer.  An extended moment of silent prayer is included in all Jewish worship services.  Known as the Amidah, while the prayer is recited in  silence, a very long and specific text is included in the traditional prayer book. 

As rabbis introduce this prayer in the service, we often remind people that they are welcome to use the time for their own private meditation. Yet it is not typically the Jewish way to just be in silence and wait to hear God’s words.  In fact, in the Orthodox community there is an understood requirement to say those specific words.

More listening and less speaking in worship- that is an interesting idea.

 87. Worship is the rendering of ourselves present to the presence of God, whether in the interior prayer which sends no message to God but which receives his presence, or in the public and common ceremonies which visibly, audibly, and sensibly unite us through our collective presence to each other in the presence of the present God."- Leslie Dewart, The Future of Belief

As I look at this collection of quotes, it seems clear that I was at a moment in my life when I was hoping, maybe struggling?, to hear God’s voice.  Dewart expands the concept of communal worship to include a focus on how, as a community, we become present to each other when we pray together.

It’s an important aspect of prayer, and one that threatens to be diluted by Zoom and livestream prayer.  Those are vital links for those who can’t, for a variety of reasons, be in the sanctuary with the congregation.  Yet Dewart is on to something when he encourages unity “through the collection presence to each other in the presence of the present God.”

88. "The essential difference between magic and religion is that magic is believed to work automatically, and it seeks to coerce the deity into doing something for man.  Religion, on the other hand, requires a free relationship between a human person and a divine person:  there can be no coercion on either side.  Magic denies the sovereignty of God, and seeks to place sovereignty and control within man himself.  Magic wishes to manipulate the divine; religion demands man's surrender to the divine."- J. Philip Hyatt

I can’t disagree with Hyatt’s description of magic vs. religion.  Yet it is also a huge priority to me that in Judaism from the moment that Abraham challenges God regarding the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, to the selection of the name “Yisrael- Israel- one who wrestles with God” as the name for the Jewish people, surrender has not been the exclusive Jewish way.

We have the right, and maybe even the responsibility, to raise our fists to heaven when we witness injustice in the world.

89. "If thou couldest understand a single grain of wheat, thou wouldest die for wonder."- Martin Luther

I think that Martin Luther is right.  While scientists are well able to analyze the micro and macro aspects of the natural world, for most of us non-scientists, the extraordinary, incomprehensible magnitude and grandeur of nature is a path to awe.

90. "Boredom is rage spread thin."- Paul Tillich

Think this isn’t true?  Watch a toddler or a young child.  The less engaged they are, the more easily they are provoked!

About this series-

I love words.  I love when a word exactly captures the moment, the feeling.  How it precisely describes something that you experienced but didn’t know exactly how to express.  It’s like a warm bath or a deeply satisfying meal.

         And beyond that- a collection of words.   A deeply insightful phrase, thought-provoking and uplifting.  A quote to remember.

         I started collecting quotes when I was 16 years old.  (1972)  I’m 69 now, as I write these words, (2025), and there are 472 quotes in my collection.  At this precise moment. 

         That’s not really that many over the course of 53 years.  I guess I am fairly discriminating.  Sometimes years can go by and the collection lays dormant.  In other years there is a great harvest of quotes. 

         These are not necessarily famous quotes, things you’ll often hear referenced.  For the most part, they simply represent words that I read that made me stop for a moment to meditate and bask in their impact.  And quotes I enjoy reading and re-reading and quoting myself!

         These quotes represent the evolution of my thinking over the course of 52 years.  I look forward to pondering what it is that made me find each one meaningful enough to save.