The Religion Network

lilypads
Photo by Chuck Bowman All rights reserved

We must learn not to disassociate the airy flower from the
earthy root, for the flower that is cut off from its root fades,
and its seeds are barren, whereas the root, secure
in mother earth, can produce flower after
flower and bring their fruit to maturity.

The Kabbalah
A discipline concerned with the
mystical aspects of Judaism

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Don't waste life in doubts and fears;
spend yourself on the work before you,
well assured that the right performance
of this hour's duties will be the best
preparation for the hours and ages
that will follow it.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
American Transcendentalist, poet

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What is to give light must endure burning.

Viktor Frankl (1905-1997)
Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist and concentration camp survivor

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You can come out of the furnace of trouble two ways:
if you let it consume you, you come out a cinder;
but there is a kind of metal which refuses to be
consumed, and comes out a star.

Jean Church
Motivational leader and mentor

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Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.

C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)
Irish scholar and Christian writer

green and purple succulent plant
Photo by Chuck Bowman All rights reserved

The first key to resolving your problems is to upgrade your thinking.
"This time, like all times, is a very good one,"
said (Ralph Waldo) Emerson, "if we but know what to do with it."

We also fail to recognize how our problems benefit
us by strengthening us, advancing our interests.

When a man "is pushed, tormented, defeated," (Emerson) wrote,
"he has a chance to learn something; he has been put on his wits; on
his manhood; he has gained facts; learns his ignorance; is cured
of the insanity of conceit; has got moderation and real skill."

If it doesn't seem that way now, recognize that it may in the future.
It's often just a matter of perspective. "The years teach much,"
Emerson said, "which the days never know."

Excerpted from:
"Emerson: The Quintessential American,"
by Alexander Green, Investment Director of the Oxford Club and author
SpiritualWealth.com

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For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin
-- real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way.
Something to be got through first, some unfinished business,
time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin.
At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."

Dr. Alfred D. Souza (d. 2004)
Australian author and philosopher

Death is caused by swallowing small amounts
of saliva over a long period of time.

George Carlin (1937-2008)
American stand-up comic, author, actor
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