Words to Move the Spirit

There is in every person an inward
sea, and in that sea there is an island
and on that island there is an altar and
standing guard before that altar is the
“angel with the flaming sword.”
Nothing can get by that angel
to be placed upon that altar unless it
has the mark of your inner authority.
Nothing passes “the angel with the
flaming sword” to be placed upon
your altar unless it be apart of “the
fluid area of your consent.” This is
your crucial link with the eternal.

Howard Thurman
Inward Sea

Every moment and every event of
every man’s (sic) life on earth plants
something in his soul.

Thomas Merton
New Seeds of Contemplation

Harmony, friendliness, community
are great goods. Social harmony is
for us the summum bonum – the great
good. Anything that subverts, that
undermines this sought-after good, is
to be avoided like the plague. Anger,
resentment, lust for revenge, even
success through aggressive competi-
tiveness, are corrosive of this good.
To forgive is not just to be altruistic.
It is the best form of self-interest.
What dehumanizes you inexorably
dehumanizes me. It gives people re-
silience, enabling them to survive and
emerge still human despite all efforts
to dehumanize them.

Desmond Tutu
No Future Without
Forgiveness