“To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain the sense of the mystery that animates all beings, the divine margin in all attainments. Prayer is our humble answer to the inconceivable surprise of living. It is all we can offer in return for the mystery by which we live. Who is worthy to be present at the constant unfolding of time?”

—  Abraham Joshua Heschel

"The Holy Dimension", p. 341
Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity: Essays (1997)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Feb. 23, 2024. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain the sense of the mystery that animates all beings, the divine margin…" by Abraham Joshua Heschel?
Abraham Joshua Heschel photo
Abraham Joshua Heschel 130
Polish-American Conservative Judaism Rabbi 1907–1972

Related quotes

Nikos Kazantzakis photo

“All those who actually live the mysteries of life haven't the time to write, and all those who have the time don't live them! D'you see?”

Nikos Kazantzakis book Zorba the Greek

Source: Zorba the Greek

“We know so very little about this strange planet we live on, this haunted world where all answers lead only to more mystery.”

Edward Abbey (1927–1989) American author and essayist
Kenneth Oppel photo

“But chance runs like a river through all our lives, and being prepared for surprise is the best we can do.”

Kenneth Oppel Skybreaker

Source: Skybreaker

Sam Harris photo

“Man is manifestly not the measure of all things. This universe is shot through with mystery. The very fact of its being, and of our own, is a mystery absolute, and the only miracle worthy of the name.”

Sam Harris (1967) American author, philosopher and neuroscientist

Source: The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason

Alicia Witt photo

“All we can do is live every single day and do our best to be present with the ones that we love and with everybody that we come in contact with … The timing of everything seems too divine sometimes to ignore.”

Alicia Witt (1975) American actress

As quoted in "Why Now Is a Divine Time for Alicia Witt", by Sarah Beauchamp at Huffington Post (30 May 2014)

Charbel Makhlouf photo

“A man who prays lives out the mystery of existence, and a man who does not pray scarcely exists.”

Charbel Makhlouf (1828–1898) Lebanese Maronite monk and saint

Love is a Radiant Light: The Life & Words of Saint Charbel (2019)

Jasper Fforde photo

“We all make mistakes at some time in our lives, some more than others. It is only when the cost is counted in human lives that people really take notice.”

Jasper Fforde book The Eyre Affair

Source: The Eyre Affair

Robert M. Sapolsky photo

“The purpose of science in understanding who we are as humans is not to rob us of our sense of mystery, not to cure us of our sense of mystery. The purpose of science is to constantly reinvent and reinvigorate that mystery.”

Robert M. Sapolsky (1957) American endocrinologist

Emperor Has No Clothes Award acceptance speech (2003)
Context: The purpose of science in understanding who we are as humans is not to rob us of our sense of mystery, not to cure us of our sense of mystery. The purpose of science is to constantly reinvent and reinvigorate that mystery. To always use it in a context where we are helping people in trying to resist the forces of ideology that we are all familiar with.

Maimónides photo

“The Prophets even express their surprise that God should take notice of man, who is too little and too unimportant to be worthy of the attention of the Creator; how, then, should other living creatures be considered as proper objects for Divine Providence!”

Maimónides book The Guide for the Perplexed

Source: Guide for the Perplexed (c. 1190), Part III, Ch.17

Related topics