A Calendar of Wisdom

Individual goodness and individual evil both have the power to spread goodness or evil throughout the world.

Due to the current distortion, perversion, and false understanding of Christianity, our lives have become worse than those of pagans.

A man should be a servant, and he should make a choice of whose servant he is: if he is the servant of his passions, then he is a servant of other human beings, but if he is the servant of his inner divine spirit, then he is a servant of God alone. It is better to have a superior master.

The salvation of mankind depends upon independent thinkers directing their thoughts rightly.

The more respect that different objects, customs, or laws are given, the more attentively you have to question the right these things have to this respect.

Uprooting the existing evils of this life can begin only by making our religions open, so that every single human being in the world can reveal religious life and can discuss and create and discover religious truth.

If we say that the outer world exists only as we see it, we deny that there are other beings, with senses different from our own.

When I cast my gaze on objects, I try to correlate their outlines with ideas that already exist in my head. I will see white on the horizon, and I will think, There is a white church in the distance. Do we not give everything we see in this world a pre existing form from our imagination, brought by us from our previous life?

We can see that all of the world’s objects exist in two ways: in relation to their place and time - by understanding that they exist in God and were created by the same Divine Nature which ever spiritual thing in this world bears in relation to eternity

In reality, the outer world in itself is not as we see it, and thus everything material in this world is insignificant. What is important then? That thing which exists everywhere, at all times, and for all people: the divine spark, the spiritual root of our lives.

An evil deed not only destroys the soul but often returns to bring evil on the evildoer.

The greatest virtue is to do no evil, even to your enemies. If you respect yourself, you will not commit evil, even in the slightest way.

When you'll throw a ball up in the air, it doesn’t stay there but returns to the earth; likewise all your good or bad actions will return to you in another form, according to the desire of your heart, no matter which path you take.

An evildoer is happy while the evil is not yet ripe, but when it is ripe and ready, he will understand what evil is, and his evil will return to him like dust thrown against the wind. Neither in the sky nor in the earth nor in the depth of mountains, nor anywhere in this world is there a place where one can escape the results of sin.

A person who broods on revenge only worsens his wounds. His injuries would heal if he would refrain.

Sinning is as dangerous as irritating a wild beast. In most cases in this world, evil returns to the evildoer in the worst and rudest form.

Calmness and humility provide pleasures which are not accessible to the selfish and the proud.

The prerequisite of a good life is peace between people, and the major obstacle to peace is pride. A person should be humble, prepared to be falsely accused, ready for everything; only then can he bring peace into his relationships and into the lives of others.

Pride defends itself, and not only itself but other sins, and it hates humility, so it rejects the cure, and hides and justifies the sin. The understanding of sin has a positive influence on a person; it is even more useful than a good deed, which can increase pride.

Be strict in judging yourself and gentle in judging others, and you will have no enemies.

Do not be afraid to be humiliated if you can accept this with humility - you will be repaid many times in the spiritual blessings which are connected with being humble.

Without truth there is no kindness; without kindness the truth cannot be told.

Always respond to hatred with kindness. The most difficult enterprises are easiest at their inception, and the greatest of enterprises have humble origins. Confront difficulties while they are still easy, then, and tackle a big thing when it is still small.

There are two paths which lead to virtue: the first is to be truthful and just, and the second is to do no evil to living beings.

Disguising yourself as a kind person is worse than being nakedly mean.

Christian society, as it now exists, doesn’t follow Christian law in its real meaning.

Almost every effort of the human mind is directed, not toward lightening the work of the laborer, but toward making more pleasant the idleness of the leisured.

If a person could look at our world from a distance he would see so much stupidity and hatred that he would probably cry. We do so many funny and stupid and impoverished hateful deeds. One person hunts wild animals and becomes an animal himself; another feeds donkeys and horses to carry loads, and despises people who die of hunger. Other people spend a great deal of money to create huge houses and do nothing to help the homeless. Some people seek only profits, others spend only for dissipation, and others steal. In all of these excesses, all of this criminal behavior, we see people who only want to take care of themselves, without a thought about what is most necessary in this world.

It defies the laws of nature for a child to rule an adult, or a fool to guide a wise man. Likewise, it is against the law of nature that a small group of people should be overindulged when a huge, hungry crowd’s most basic needs aren’t met.

There is only one thing in this world which is worth dedicating all your life. This is creating more love among people and destroying harriers which exist between them.