
The Kitáb-I-Asmá
Source: Knots Untied (1877), Ch. XIII: "Worship", p. 295
The Kitáb-I-Asmá
Notes from Devotional Authors of the Middle Ages (1873-1874)
Context: That Religion is not devotion, but work and suffering for the love of God; this is the true doctrine of Mystics — as is more particularly set forth in a definition of the 16th century: "True religion is to have no other will but God's." Compare this with the definition of Religion in Johnson's Dictionary: "Virtue founded upon reverence of God and expectation of future rewards and punishments"; in other words on respect and self-interest, not love. Imagine the religion which inspired the life of Christ "founded" on the motives given by Dr. Johnson!
Christ Himself was the first true Mystic. "My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work." What is this but putting in fervent and the most striking words the foundation of all real Mystical Religion? — which is that for all our actions, all our words, all our thoughts, the food upon which they are to live and have their being is to be the indwelling presence of God, the union with God; that is, with the Spirit of Goodness and Wisdom.
Muhammad al-Hur al-Aamili, Wasā'il al-Shī‘ah, vol.11, p. 206.
Religious wisdom
Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 163.
A Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of St. John (1593), The First and Introductory Treatise
Source: The Art of Loving (1956), Ch. 2
Context: In the dominant Western religious system, the love of God is essentially the same as the belief in God, in God’s existence, God’s justice, God’s love. The love of God is essentially a thought experience. In the Eastern religions and in mysticism, the love of God is an intense feeling experience of oneness, inseparably linked with the expression of this love in every act of living.
Source: From Bethlehem to Calvary (1937), Chapter One
1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Priest
“Religion is not 'doctrinal knowledge,' but wisdom born of personal experience.”
Holborn, Hajo; A HISTORY OF MODERN GERMANY: The Reformation; 1959/1982 Princeton university Press