Inquire Into Your Beliefs

 

Inquiry is fatal to certainty.
- Will Durant

Examine, inquire.
Look into the nature of things.
Search out the grounds of your opinions,
the for and against.
Know why you believe, understand what you believe,
and possess a reason for the faith that is in you.
- Frances Wright

Doubt is the incentive to truth, and inquiry leads the way.
- Hosea Ballou

If you would be a real seeker after truth,
it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt,
as far as possible, all things.
- Rene Descartes

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea.
It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience,
something that never has been and never could
have been experienced by anyone else.
- Joseph Campbell

It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
- Thomas Paine Look Deeply, Doubt What You Have Long Believed.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Assumptions

Practice Conscious Awareness

Analysis AND Emotion

Quotations as a Spur for Inquiry
   

Inquiry is fatal to certainty

Inquiry is fatal to certainty.
- Will Durant

Examine, inquire.
Look into the nature of things.
Search out the grounds of your opinions,
the for and against.
Know why you believe, understand what you believe,
and possess a reason for the faith that is in you.
- Frances Wright

Doubt is the incentive to truth, and inquiry leads the way.
- Hosea Ballou

If you would be a real seeker after truth,
it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt,
as far as possible, all things.
- Rene Descartes

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea.
It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience,
something that never has been and never could
have been experienced by anyone else.
- Joseph Campbell

It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
- Thomas Paine Look Deeply, Doubt What You Have Long Believed.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Assumptions

Practice Conscious Awareness

Analysis AND Emotion

Quotations as a Spur for Inquiry
   

A Person's Religion

A person's religion is what they do and say all day, seven days a week -
not what they say and do at 10 am on Sunday.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

You hold onto religion, you know,
rules, regulations, traditions.
I think what God is interested in
is people's hearts, and that's hard enough.
- Bono

We can never be the better for our religion
if our neighbor is the worse for it.
- Anonymous

I reject any religious doctrine that does not appeal
to reason and is in conflict with morality.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

The world is my country,
all mankind are my brethren,
and to do good is my religion.
- Thomas Paine

We must be ready to learn from one another,
not claiming that we alone possess all truth
and that somehow we have a corner on God.
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Further reading: Everything is God

How To Know What To Do

Perspectives on the Nature of God
    

Look Deeply, Doubt What You Have Long Believed

 

Inquiry is fatal to certainty.
- Will Durant

Examine, inquire.
Look into the nature of things.
Search out the grounds of your opinions,
the for and against.
Know why you believe, understand what you believe,
and possess a reason for the faith that is in you.
- Frances Wright

Doubt is the incentive to truth, and inquiry leads the way.
- Hosea Ballou

If you would be a real seeker after truth,
it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt,
as far as possible, all things.
- Rene Descartes

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea.
It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience,
something that never has been and never could
have been experienced by anyone else.
- Joseph Campbell

It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
- Thomas Paine 

Look Deeply, Doubt What You Have Long Believed.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Assumptions

Practice Conscious Awareness

Analysis AND Emotion

Quotations as a Spur for Inquiry
   

We are Defined by the Actions We Take

 

A person's religion is what they do and say all day, seven days a week -
not what they say and do at 10 am on Sunday.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

You hold onto religion, you know,
rules, regulations, traditions.
I think what God is interested in
is people's hearts, and that's hard enough.
- Bono

We can never be the better for our religion
if our neighbor is the worse for it.
- Anonymous

I reject any religious doctrine that does not appeal
to reason and is in conflict with morality.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

The world is my country,
all mankind are my brethren,
and to do good is my religion.
- Thomas Paine

We must be ready to learn from one another,
not claiming that we alone possess all truth
and that somehow we have a corner on God.
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Further reading: Everything is God

How To Know What To Do

Perspectives on the Nature of God
    

Examine Your Beliefs

 

Inquiry is fatal to certainty.
- Will Durant

Examine, inquire.
Look into the nature of things.
Search out the grounds of your opinions,
the for and against.
Know why you believe, understand what you believe,
and possess a reason for the faith that is in you.
- Frances Wright

Doubt is the incentive to truth, and inquiry leads the way.
- Hosea Ballou

If you would be a real seeker after truth,
it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt,
as far as possible, all things.
- Rene Descartes

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea.
It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience,
something that never has been and never could
have been experienced by anyone else.
- Joseph Campbell

It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
- Thomas Paine

Further reading: Assumptions

Practice Conscious Awareness

Analysis AND Emotion

Quotations as a Spur for Inquiry
   

You Are What You Do

 

A person's religion is what they do and say all day, seven days a week -
not what they say and do at 10 am on Sunday.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

You hold onto religion, you know,
rules, regulations, traditions.
I think what God is interested in
is people's hearts, and that's hard enough.
- Bono

We can never be the better for our religion
if our neighbor is the worse for it.
- Anonymous

I reject any religious doctrine that does not appeal
to reason and is in conflict with morality.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

The world is my country,
all mankind are my brethren,
and to do good is my religion.
- Thomas Paine

We must be ready to learn from one another,
not claiming that we alone possess all truth
and that somehow we have a corner on God.
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Further reading: Everything is God

How To Know What To Do

Perspectives on the Nature of God
    

Examine, Inquire - Look into the Nature of Things

 

Inquiry is fatal to certainty.
- Will Durant

Examine, inquire.
Look into the nature of things.
Search out the grounds of your opinions,
the for and against.
Know why you believe, understand what you believe,
and possess a reason for the faith that is in you.
- Frances Wright

Doubt is the incentive to truth, and inquiry leads the way.
- Hosea Ballou

If you would be a real seeker after truth,
it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt,
as far as possible, all things.
- Rene Descartes

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea.
It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience,
something that never has been and never could
have been experienced by anyone else.
- Joseph Campbell

It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
- Thomas Paine

Further reading: Assumptions

Practice Conscious Awareness

Analysis AND Emotion

Quotations as a Spur for Inquiry
   

Each Person's True Religion is Displayed in How They Live

A person's religion is what they do and say all day, seven days a week -
not what they say and do at 10 am on Sunday.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

You hold onto religion, you know,
rules, regulations, traditions.
I think what God is interested in
is people's hearts, and that's hard enough.
- Bono

We can never be the better for our religion
if our neighbor is the worse for it.
- Anonymous

I reject any religious doctrine that does not appeal
to reason and is in conflict with morality.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

The world is my country,
all mankind are my brethren,
and to do good is my religion.
- Thomas Paine

We must be ready to learn from one another,
not claiming that we alone possess all truth
and that somehow we have a corner on God.
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Further reading: Everything is God

How To Know What To Do

Perspectives on the Nature of God
    

Inquire, Examine

Inquiry is fatal to certainty.
- Will Durant

Examine, inquire.
Look into the nature of things.
Search out the grounds of your opinions,
the for and against.
Know why you believe, understand what you believe,
and possess a reason for the faith that is in you.
- Frances Wright

Doubt is the incentive to truth, and inquiry leads the way.
- Hosea Ballou

If you would be a real seeker after truth,
it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt,
as far as possible, all things.
- Rene Descartes

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea.
It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience,
something that never has been and never could
have been experienced by anyone else.
- Joseph Campbell

It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
- Thomas Paine

Further reading: Assumptions

Practice Conscious Awareness

Analysis AND Emotion

Quotations as a Spur for Inquiry
   

To Do Good Is My Religion

We can never be the better for our religion
if our neighbor is the worse for it.
- Anonymous

The world is my country,
all mankind are my brethren,
and to do good is my religion.
- Thomas Paine, One of the Founding Fathers of the United States and author of "Rights of Man" (1792)

More people have been slaughtered in the name of religion
than for any other single reason.
That, my friends, that is true perversion.
- Harvey Milk

We must be ready to learn from one another,
not claiming that we alone possess all truth
and that somehow we have a corner on God.
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Re-examine all that you have been told...
dismiss that which insults your soul.
- Walt Whitman

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

Religion is a blessing when, and only when,
it provides a focus for a compassionate community
to minister to its members and to the world at large.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: True Religion is about Helping Others

Everything is God

A Common Denominator of All Religions...
    

Beyond Sameness

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it
a superficial appearance of being right.
- Thomas Paine,
[Likewise, A long habit of not thinking a thing right gives it
a superficial appearance of being wrong.]

The most dangerous phrase in the language is,
"We've always done it this way."
- Grace Hopper

Habit and routine have an unbelievable power to waste and destroy.
- Henri de Lubac

What is it about sameness that so draws me,
and how could I begin to have
that same kind of attraction to change?
- Mary Anne Radmacher

"Never quit" is one of those very common expressions that contains only one aspect of an important larger truth. Persistence is a virtue only when the goal is both desirable and attainable. There is no dishonor in redirecting your energies to more worthy or achievable goals.

Sadly, there is comfort in what we find familiar,
even when it causes us pain and suffering.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Don't Be Too Sure

What You've Always Done

The Good Old Ways

Your Whole Toolkit
    

Integrity Matters

If you have integrity, nothing else matters.
If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters.
- Alan K. Simpson

You can easily judge the character of others
by how they treat those who can
do nothing for them or to them.
- Malcolm S. Forbes

'Tis the business of little minds to shrink,
but they whose heart is firm,
and whose conscience approves their conduct,
will pursue their principles unto death.
- Thomas Paine

All the great things are simple,
and many can be expressed in a single word:
freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.
- Winston Churchill

To be a person of true greatness...
Live with honor.
Respect yourself.
Respect others.
Act honorably.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Setting an Impeccable Example

Ethics Requires Respecting Others

Do Good Now

Earning a Good Reputation
       

Religion: A Reservoir of Kindness or Nothing

The world is my country,
all mankind are my brethren,
and to do good is my religion.
- Thomas Paine

We must be ready to learn from one another,
not claiming that we alone possess all truth
and that somehow we have a corner on God.
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

We can never be the better for our religion
if our neighbor is the worse for it.
- Anonymous

Re-examine all that you have been told...
dismiss that which insults your soul.
- Walt Whitman

More people have been slaughtered in the name of religion
than for any other single reason.
That, my friends, that is true perversion.
- Harvey Milk

Religion is a blessing when, and only when,
it provides a focus for a compassionate community
to minister to its members and to the world at large.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Everything is God

A Common Denominator of All Religions...

True Religion is about Helping Others
    

My Religion

The world is my country,
all mankind are my brethren,
and to do good is my religion.
- Thomas Paine

My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

We can never be the better for our religion
if our neighbor is the worse for it.
- Anonymous

You hold onto religion, you know,
rules, regulations, traditions.
I think what God is interested in
is people's hearts, and that's hard enough.
- Bono

I reject any religious doctrine that does not appeal
to reason and is in conflict with morality.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

We must be ready to learn from one another,
not claiming that we alone possess all truth
and that somehow we have a corner on God.
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

A person's religion is what they do and say all day, seven days a week -
not what they say and do at 10 am on Sunday.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: How To Know What To Do

Everything is God

Perspectives on the Nature of God
    

Habit vs. Thinking

A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it
a superficial appearance of being right.
- Thomas Paine,
[Likewise, A long habit of not thinking a thing right gives it
a superficial appearance of being wrong.]

A habit is something you can do without thinking -
which is why most of us have so many of them.
- Frank Howard Clark

The most dangerous phrase in the language is,
"We've always done it this way."
- Grace Hopper

What we call human nature in actuality is human habit.
- Jewel

What is it about sameness that so draws me,
and how could I begin to have
that same kind of attraction to change?
- Mary Anne Radmacher

Sadly, there is comfort in what we find familiar,
even when it causes us pain and suffering.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Don't Be Too Sure

What You've Always Done

The Good Old Ways

Your Whole Toolkit
    

A Clear Conscience

When will our consciences grow so tender
that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?
- Eleanor Roosevelt

I think it better to do right, even if we suffer in so doing,
than to incur the reproach of our consciences and posterity.
- Robert E. Lee

'Tis the business of little minds to shrink,
but they whose heart is firm,
and whose conscience approves their conduct,
will pursue their principles unto death.
- Thomas Paine

The man who has won millions at the cost of his conscience is a failure.
- B. C. Forbes

There are only two ways to achieve happiness on this terrestrial ball.
One is to have a clear conscience,
and the other is to have no conscience at all.
- Ogden Nash (paraphrase)

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position
that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular;
but one must take it BECAUSE it is right.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today's picture is of a Yazidi refugee camp.

Further reading: Passing the Torch

Your Choices Determine Everything

Character

Martin Luther King, Jr.
    

Right Conduct

Laws control the lesser man.
Right conduct controls the greater one.
- Mark Twain

Important principles may, and must, be inflexible.
- Abraham Lincoln

Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt

We must adjust to changing times
and still hold to unchanging principles.
- Jimmy Carter

'Tis the business of little minds to shrink,
but they whose heart is firm,
and whose conscience approves their conduct,
will pursue their principles unto death.
- Thomas Paine

Further reading: Keep the Golden Rule

The Center of Your Being

Your Choices Determine Everything

Your Most Important Values
   

Reconsider Certainty

Inquiry is fatal to certainty.
- Will Durant

If you would be a real seeker after truth,
it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt,
as far as possible, all things.
- Rene Descartes

Examine, inquire.
Look into the nature of things.
Search out the grounds of your opinions,
the for and against.
Know why you believe, understand what you believe,
and possess a reason for the faith that is in you.
- Frances Wright

What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea.
It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience,
something that never has been and never could
have been experienced by anyone else.
- Joseph Campbell

I believe that truth has only one face: that of a violent contradiction.
- Georges Bataille

Doubt is the incentive to truth and inquiry leads the way.
- Hosea Ballou

It is error only, and not truth, that shrinks from inquiry.
- Thomas Paine

Further reading: Practice Conscious Awareness

Assumptions

Analysis AND Emotion

Quotations as a Spur for Inquiry
   

Your Choices Determine Everything

It is our choices ... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
- J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets)

Life is 10 percent what happens to me
and 90 percent how I react to it.
- Charles Swindoll

Laws control the lesser man.
Right conduct controls the greater one.
- Mark Twain

'Tis the business of little minds to shrink,
but they whose heart is firm,
and whose conscience approves their conduct,
will pursue their principles unto death.
- Thomas Paine

Make your important choices in life
based on your values and your long-term objectives
rather than on a need for approval.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Further reading: Thinking for Yourself

Bad Habits

Embrace Change

Choosing to Love Life

The Price of Standing for Something Important