The self is not the hub but the spoke of the revolving wheel. It is precisely the function of prayer to shift the center of living from self-consciousness to self-surrender.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHELPrayer may not save us. But prayer may make us worthy of being saved.
More Abraham Joshua Heschel Quotes
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Being points beyond itself. Accustomed to think in terms of space, the expression “being points beyond itself” may be taken to denote a higher point in space.
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Awe is a sense for transcendence, for the reference everywhere to mystery beyond all things. It enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine.
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It is gratefulness which makes the soul great.
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Faith like Job’s cannot be shaken becasue it is the result of having been shaken.
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There is a war to wage against the vulgar, the glorification of the absurd, a war that is incessant, universal.
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Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.
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Wonder, or radical amazement, is a way of going beyond what is given in thing and thought, refusing to take anything for granted, to regard anything as final.
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Prayer is meaningless unless it is subversive, unless it seeks to overthrow and to ruin the pyramids of callousness, hatred, opportunism, falsehoods.
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The degree to which one is sensitive to other people’s suffering, to other (people’s) humanity, is the index of one’s own humanity
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To abstain completely from all enjoyments may be easy. Yet to enjoy life and retain spiritual integrity – there is the challenge.
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The primary purpose of prayer is not to make requests. The primary purpose is to praise, to sing, to chant. Because the essence of prayer is a song, and man cannot live without a song.
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All events are secretly interrelated; the sweep of all we are doing reaches beyond the horizon of our comprehension.
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The answers are questions in disguise, every new answer giving rise to new questions.
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As civilization advances, the sense of wonder declines. Such decline is an alarming symptom of our state of mind.
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A soul can create only when alone.
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL