“We must distinguish between spirituality in general terms, which aims to make us better people, and religion. Adopting a religion remains optional, but becoming a better human being is essential.”
The Quantum and the Lotus, translated by Ian Monk (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2001), p. 264 https://books.google.it/books?id=F-QpZMJ6b7QC&pg=PA264.
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Matthieu Ricard 9
French writer and Buddhist monk 1946Related quotes
As quoted in The World of the Atom (1966) by Henry Abraham Boorse and Lloyd Motz, p. 741
“To whichever religion you are born, be in that religion and strive to become a better person.”
Jaya Jaya Bhuvi Divi Manava (2002)
Context: The almighty being praised in the Holy Bible, the Holy Koran, and the Holy Bhagavata is one and the same. We are all one. Flowers are many, but Puja is one. Cows are many, but milk is one. Languages are many, but feeling is one. All great men have preached the same message. These saints, noble and enlightened persons have been guiding us. They always say, "Take any religion, the fundamental essence is the same. All religions urge us to follow Dharma, to always speak the truth and not to torment others. The Almighty has given us this wonderful human birth. To whichever religion you are born, be in that religion and strive to become a better person. Become a more religious person. If you are a Christian, become a better Christian. If you are a Muslim, become a better Muslim. If you are a Hindu, become a better Hindu.
Part 2, Chapter 13, “Of Multitudes” (p. 240).
Jack Glass (2012)
Ordeal by Labyrinth, Conversations with Claude-Henri Rocquet (1982), <!-- Chicago Press --> p. 148
Context: The history of religions reaches down and makes contact with that which is essentially human: the relation of man to the sacred. The history of religions can play an extremely important role in the crisis we are living through. The crises of modern man are to a large extent religious ones, insofar as they are an awakening of his awareness to an absence of meaning.
In P. 29
Quote, Memorable Quotes from Rajiv Gandhi and on Rajiv Gandhi
Source: Tabari 17:187
Interview in The Voice of Ethiopia (5 April 1948).
Context: The progress of science can be said to be harmful to religion only in so far as it is used for evil aims and not because it claims a priority over religion in its revelation to man. It is important that spiritual advancement must keep pace with material advancement. When this comes to be realized man's journey toward higher and more lasting values will show more marked progress while the evil in him recedes into the background. Knowing that material and spiritual progress are essential to man, we must ceaselessly work for the equal attainment of both. Only then shall we be able to acquire that absolute inner calm so necessary to our well-being.
It is only when a people strike an even balance between scientific progress and spiritual and moral advancement that it can be said to possess a wholly perfect and complete personality and not a lopsided one.
““We must become better and make ourselves present”
Hymn
“When we blindly adopt a religion, a political system, a literary dogma, we become automatons.”
Source: The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 4: 1944-1947