Source: The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (1942), p. 134
Context: Brahman and Śakti are identical. If you accept the one, you must accept the other. It is like fire and its power to burn. If you see the fire, you must recognize its power to burn also. You cannot think of fire without its power to burn, nor can you think of the power to burn without fire. You cannot conceive of the sun's rays without the sun, nor can you conceive of the sun without its rays. You cannot think of the milk without the whiteness, and again, you cannot think of the whiteness without the milk. Thus one cannot think of Brahman without Śakti, or of Śakti without Brahman. One cannot think of the Absolute without the Relative, or of the Relative without the Absolute.
Source: Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose
“Relativity theory forced the abandonment, in principle, of absolute space and absolute time.”
Source: 1980s, Laws of Media: The New Science (with Eric McLuhan) (1988), p. 43
“everything is relative, one man’s absolute belief is another man’s fairy tale;”
Source: Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights
“There is no conflict in the absolute universe, but there is conflict in the relative world.”
10 : The principle of non-dissension
Ki Sayings (2003)
Context: There is no conflict in the absolute universe, but there is conflict in the relative world. If we unify our mind and body become one with the universe, others will follow us gladly. Do not say that this is a world where we must struggle to live each day. The true way to success is exactly one and the same as the principle of non-dissension, and that is the way of peace.
“So in the physics of the heart, distance is relative; it’s time that’s absolute.”
Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Shards of Honor (1986), Chapter 6 (p. 97)
“Only the science of the Absolute gives meaning and discipline to the science of the relative.”
[2013, From the Divine to the Human, World Wisdom, 119, 978-1-936597-32-1]
Spiritual path, Knowledge
“Absolute ideas must take relative forms if they are not to fail because of an error in form.”
Our America (1881)
Context: The youth of America are rolling up their sleeves, digging their hands in the dough, and making it rise with the sweat of their brows. They realize that there is too much imitation, and that creation holds the key to salvation. "Create" is the password of this generation. The wine is made from plantain, but even if it turns sour, it is our own wine! That a country's form of government must be in keeping with its natural elements is a foregone conclusion. Absolute ideas must take relative forms if they are not to fail because of an error in form. Freedom, to be viable, has to be sincere and complete. If a republic refuses to open its arms to all, and move ahead with all, it dies.
[1998, Understanding Islam, World Wisdom, 45, 0-941532-24-0]
Spiritual life, Sense of the sacred
