“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Do you have more details about the quote "We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but are spiritual beings having a human experience." by Robin S. Sharma?
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Robin S. Sharma 52
Canadian self help writer 1965

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Pierre Teilhard De Chardin photo

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

Pierre Teilhard De Chardin (1881–1955) French philosopher and Jesuit priest

This is attributed to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin in The Joy of Kindness (1993), by Robert J. Furey, p. 138; but it is attributed to G. I. Gurdjieff in Beyond Prophecies and Predictions: Everyone's Guide To The Coming Changes (1993) by Moira Timms, p. 62; neither cite a source. It was widely popularized by Wayne Dyer, who often quotes it in his presentations, crediting it to Chardin, as does Stephen Covey in Living the 7 Habits : Stories of Courage and Inspiration (2000), p. 47. Such statements could be considered paraphrases of Hegel's dictum that matter is spirit fallen into a state of self-otherness. Or any number of thousands of similarly vague quotes by hundreds of predecessors.
Disputed
Variant: We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.
Variant: We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.

Wayne W. Dyer photo
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“We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.”

Stephen R. Covey (1932–2012) American educator, author, businessman and motivational speaker

Pierre Teilhard De Chardin, in The Phenomenon of Man [Le Phénomène Humain] (1955); Covey quotes this in Living the 7 Habits : Stories of Courage and Inspiration (2000), p. 47
Variant: We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.
A paraphrase of De Chardin's statement which has also become misattributed to Covey.
Misattributed
Variant: We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.

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“We are not Human Beings experiencing spiritual lives, we are spiritual beings experiencing human lives.”

Oprah Winfrey (1954) American businesswoman, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist
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“You have to look beyond race because as a human being you have to experience the person from the inside first”

Henrik Larsson http://www.theredcard.ie/news/2006_03_01_archive.html

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“Ministries that focus on manufacturing spiritual experiences may actually be retarding spiritual growth by making people experience-dependent.”

The Divine Commodity: Discovering A Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity (2009, Zondervan)

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