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Read through the most famous quotes by topic #erica
We live in a culture of reductionism. Or better, we are living in the aftermath of a culture of reductionism, and I believe we have reduced the complexity and diversity of the Scriptures to systematic theologies that insist on ideological conformity, even when such conformity flattens the diversity of the Scriptural witness. We have reduced our conception of gospel to four simple steps that short-circuit biblical narratives and notions of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven in favor of a simplified means of entrance to heaven. Our preaching is often wed to our materialistic, consumerist cultural assumptions, and sermons are subsequently reduced to delivering messages that reinforce the worst of what American culture produces: self-centered end users who believe that God is a resource that helps an individual secure what amounts to an anemic and culturally bound understanding of the 'abundant life. ↗
It is truth, in the old saying, that is 'the daughter of time,' and the lapse of half a century has not left us many of our illusions. Churchill tried and failed to preserve one empire. He failed to preserve his own empire, but succeeded in aggrandizing two much larger ones. He seems to have used crisis after crisis as an excuse to extend his own power. His petulant refusal to relinquish the leadership was the despair of postwar British Conservatives; in my opinion this refusal had to do with his yearning to accomplish something that 'history' had so far denied him—the winning of a democratic election. ↗
#britain #british-empire #cold-war #conservative-party-uk #crisis
As we look over the list of the early leaders of the republic, Washington, John Adams, Hamilton, and others, we discern that they were all men who insisted upon being themselves and who refused to truckle to the people. With each succeeding generation, the growing demand of the people that its elective officials shall not lead but merely register the popular will has steadily undermined the independence of those who derive their power from popular election. The persistent refusal of the Adamses to sacrifice the integrity of their own intellectual and moral standards and values for the sake of winning public office or popular favor is another of the measuring rods by which we may measure the divergence of American life from its starting point. ↗
The crack in your heart allows light in. ~ GOOD FORTUNE page 238 ↗
#chinese-wisdom #compassion #inner-wisdom #life-lessons #meditation
In the distance of my years I cover myself with time Like a blanket which enfolds me with the layers of my life. What can I tell you except that I have gone nowhere and everywhere? What can I tell you except that I have not begun my journey now that it is through? All that I ever was and am yet to be lies within me now this way. There is the Young Boy in me traveling east With the Eagle which taught me to see far and wide. The Eagle took his distance and said, There is a Time for Rising Above So that you do not think Your small world too important. There is a time for turning your vision toward the sky. There is the Young Girl in me traveling west With the Bear which taught me to look inside. The Bear stood by himself and said, There is a Time for Being Alone So that you do not take on The appearance of your friends. There is a time for being at home with yourself. There is the Old Man in me traveling north With the Buffalo which taught me wisdom. The Buffalo disappeared and said, There is a Time for Believing Nothing So that you do not speak What you have already heard. There is a Time for Keeping Quiet. There is the Old Woman in me traveling south With the Mouse which taught me my limitations. The Mouse lay close to the ground and said, There is a Time for Taking Comfort in Small Things So that you do not feel Forgotten in the night. There is a Time for enjoying the Worm. That is the way it was. That is the way it shall continue With the Eagle and the Bear With the Buffalo and the Mouse In all directions joined with me To form the circle of my life. I am an Eagle. The small world laughs at my deeds. But the great sky keeps to itself My thoughts of immortality. I am a Bear. In my solitude I resemble the wind. I blow the clouds together So they form images of my friends. I am a Buffalo. My voice echoes inside my mouth. All that I have learned in life I share with the smoke of my fire. I am a Mouse. My life is beneath my nose. Each time that I journey toward the horizon I find a hole instead. ↗
At the sight of the flag he tasted tears in his throat. In the Stars and Stripes all the passions of his life coalesced to produce the ache with which he loved the United States of America - with which he loved the dirty, plain, honest faces of GIs in the photographs of World War Two, with which he loved the sheets of rain rippling across the green playing field toward the end of the school year, with which he cherished the sense-memories of the summers in his childhood, the many Kansas summers, running the bases, falling harmlessly onto the grass, his head beating with heat, the stunned streets of breezeless afternoons, the thick, palpable shade of colossal elms, the muttering of radios beyond the windowsills, the whirring of redwing blackbirds, the sadness of the grown-ups at their incomprehensible pursuits, the voices carrying over the yards in the dusks that fell later and later, the trains moving through town into the sky. His love for his country, his homeland, was a love for the United States of America in the summertime. ↗
Columbus's real achievement was managing to cross the ocean successfully in both directions. Though an accomplished enough mariner, he was not terribly good at a great deal else, especially geography, the skill that would seem most vital in an explorer. It would be hard to name any figure in history who has achieved more lasting fame with less competence. He spent large parts of eight years bouncing around Caribbean islands and coastal South America convinced that he was in the heart of the Orient and that Japan and China were at the edge of every sunset. He never worked out that Cuba is an island and never once set foot on, or even suspected the existence of, the landmass to the north that everyone thinks he discovered: the United States. ↗
