The Infinite, from which comes the impulse that lead us to activity, is not the highest Reason, but higher than reason; not the highest Goodness, but higher than goodness. Felix Adler More Quotes by Felix Adler More Quotes From Felix Adler Every dogma, every philosophic or theological creed, was at its inception a statement in terms of the intellect of a certain inner experience. Felix Adler dogma creeds religious The platform of an Ethical Society is itself the altar; the address must be the fire that burns thereon. Felix Adler ethical addresses fire It is our hope, that men in proportion as they grow more enlightened, will learn to hold their theories and their creeds more loosely, and will none the less, nay, rather all the more be devoted to the supreme end of practical righteousness to which all theories and creeds must be kept subservient. Felix Adler enlightened theory men But even our pleasures are calculated and business like. We measure our enjoyments by the sum expended. Our salons are often little better than bazaars of fashion. Felix Adler enjoyment Love is the expansion of two natures in such fashion that each include the other, each is enriched by the other. Felix Adler inspirational-love fashion relationship We should seek to free the moral life from the embarrassments and entanglements in which it has been involved by the quibbles of the schools and the mutual antagonisms of the sects; to introduce into it an element of downrightness and practical earnestness; above all, to secure to the modern world, in its struggle with manifold evil, the boon of moral unity, despite intellectual diversity. Felix Adler diversity struggle school Ethical religion can be real only to those who are engaged in ceaseless efforts at moral improvement. By moving upward we acquire faith in an upward movement, without limit. Felix Adler real religious god There is a universal element in man which he can assert by so acting as if the purpose of the Universe were also his purpose. It is the function of the supreme ordeals of life to develop in men this power, to give to their life this distinction, this height of dignity, these vast horizons. Felix Adler acting giving men The Ethical Society, therefore, is like a Church in maintaining, and emphasizing the importance of maintaining the custom of public assemblies on Sunday. Felix Adler maintaining sunday church We stand, as it were, on the shore, and see multitudes of our fellow beings struggling in the water, stretching forth their arms, sinking, drowning, and we are powerless to assist them. Felix Adler encouragement struggle water It is the nature of the noble and the good and the wise that they impart to us of their nobility and their goodness and their wisdom while they live, making it natural for us to breathe the air they breathe and giving us confidence in our own untested powers. And the same influence in more ethereal fashion they continue to exert after they are gone. Felix Adler fashion wise air The unique personality which is the real life in me, I can not gain unless I search for the real life, the spiritual quality, in others. I am myself spiritually dead unless I reach out to the fine quality dormant in others. For it is only with the god enthroned in the innermost shrine of the other, that the god hidden in me, will consent to appear. Felix Adler real religious spiritual No religion can long continue to maintain its purity when the church becomes the subservient vassal of the state Felix Adler freedom church long The ethical manifold, conceived of as unified, furnishes, or rather is, the ideal of the whole. Felix Adler manifold ethical ideals People may be said to resemble the pieces of a puzzle, each unique, yet each essential to bring out a complete picture. Felix Adler essentials unique people Few are there that will leave the secure seclusion of the scholar's life, the peaceful walks of literature and learning, to stand out a target for the criticism of unkind and hostile minds. Felix Adler peaceful criticism mind Perhaps a hundred people assembled one evening, May 15, 1876, at the time when the country was celebrating the hundredth anniversary of its political independence. Felix Adler anniversary country people The office of the public teacher is an unenviable and thankless one. Felix Adler thankless office teacher The conception of worth, that each person is an end per se, is not a mere abstraction. Our interest in it is not merely academic. Every outcry against the oppression of some people by other people, or against what is morally hideous is the affirmation of the principle that a human being as such is not to be violated. A human being is not to be handled as a tool but is to be respected and revered. Felix Adler The exercises of our meeting are to be simple and devoid of all ceremonial and formalism. Felix Adler devoid meeting our simple
