“
If nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that—warm things, kind things, sweet things—help and comfort and laughter—and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.
”
”
Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Little Princess)
“
So this is what I will do. I will gather together my past and look. I will see a thing that has already happened. the pain that cut my spirit loose. I will hold that pain in my hand until it becomes hard and shiny, more clear. And then my fierceness can come back, my golden side, my black side. I will use this sharp pain to penetrate my daughter's tough skin and cut her tiger spirit loose. She will fight me, because this is the nature of two tigers. But I will win and giver her my spirit, because this is the way a mother loves her daughter.
”
”
Amy Tan (The Joy Luck Club)
“
If nature has made you a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart. And though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that.
”
”
Frances Hodgson Burnett
“
I felt I could turn the earth upside down with my littlest finger. I wanted to dance, to fly in the air and kiss the sun and stars with my singing heart. I, alone with myself, was enjoying myself for the first time as with grandest company.
”
”
Anzia Yezierska (Bread Givers)
“
Babies are such blank slates. They don’t come into this world with the assumptions their parents have made, or the promises their church will give, or the ability to sort people into groups they like and don’t like. They don’t come into this world with anything, really, except a need for comfort. And they will take it from anyone, without judging the giver. I wonder how long it takes before the polish given by nature gets worn off by nurture.
”
”
Jodi Picoult (Small Great Things)
“
Over and over. They be making me remember everythings. Me old songs, they just be natural. But now they be stuffing new things into me and this poor head hurts horrid.
”
”
Lois Lowry (Gathering Blue (The Giver, #2))
“
If nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open and so is your heart; and thought there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full and you can give things out of that-
”
”
Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Little Princess)
“
Plant the trees just for beauty,
If flowers bloom or fruits ripen,
Enjoy it as a gift and appreciate nature as a universal giver.
”
”
Debasish Mridha
“
If Nature has made you a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that- warm things, kind things, sweet things-help and comfort and laughter- and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.
”
”
Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Little Princess)
“
If Nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and, though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that -- warm things, kind things, sweet things -- help and comfort and laughter -- and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.
”
”
Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Little Princess)
“
The mere seeing of Miss Sara would have been enough without meat pies. If there was time only for a few words, they were always friendly, merry words that put heart into one...Sara--who was only doing what she unconsciously liked better than anything else, Nature having made her for a giver--had not the least idea what she meant to poor Becky, and how wonderful a benefactor she seemed.
”
”
Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Little Princess)
“
The earth sometimes rewards humans who do good works for the planet. Look out for unexpected windfalls of produce from the earth such as baskets of fruit or vegetables given to you unexpectedly, nature handcrafts, or a bunch of flowers picked from a beloved garden. These are all signs that the gifts not only came from the giver but from Mother Earth herself. - Fairy of the woods
”
”
Sarah Rajkotwala (The Year Of Talking To Plants: The plants and fairies talk in their own words)
“
To bestow on your fellow men is a Godlike attribute--So indeed it is and as such not one fit for mortality;--the giver, like Adam and Prometheus, must pay the penalty of rising above his nature by being the martyr of his own excellence.
”
”
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (Mary; Maria / Mathilda)
“
If my gift has a giver other than indifferent Nature and comes with a purpose, then the angel in charge of the Odd Thomas account must be operating on a shoestring budget.
”
”
Dean Koontz (Odd Hours (Odd Thomas, #4))
“
The dreamer is in every soul. Every soul is surrounded by a dream giver, and a dream taker.
”
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Tiffany Desiree (Nature, Sex, and Culture: A Tree of Discombobulated Thoughts)
“
That was the nature of presents. You kept them in the giver's stead. They were a small part of that person to keep.
”
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Paul Magrs (Exchange)
“
A natural saver is great until he never spends and is tight-fisted with giving. A natural spender is great until she finds herself deeply in debt and unable to give. A natural giver is great until there are no savings when a problem arises and there is no personal enjoyment of money.
”
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Dave Ramsey (Smart Money Smart Kids: Raising the Next Generation to Win with Money)
“
Some people are gift givers by nature. They love their tribe, or they respect their art, and so they give. Not for an ulterior motive, but because it gives them joy.
”
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Seth Godin (Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? How to drive your career and create a remarkable future)
“
Humans are givers by nature; that's why it's easier to do something for another than for oneself. Try it, you'll see what I mean.
”
”
Charbel Tadros
“
what other society would have such a natural regard for her privacy and comfort that the giver would intrude only enough to deposit the gift and not inflict her with the donor?
”
”
Frank Herbert (Dune (Dune, #1))
“
While we can all accept that bullying and abuse betray a lack or loss of respect for other human beings, there is a deeper issue: the devaluing of human life; and that in turn indicates a lack or loss of respect for the Giver of human life and dignity, God Himself. The message a bully sends is a mockery of God's handiwork, a lie that slanders God's nature and negates His love for us.
”
”
Frank E. Peretti (The Wounded Spirit)
“
What is it that drew us to the hollow tonight? What crazy kind of species is it that leaves a warm home on a rainy night to ferry salamanders across a road? It's tempting to call it altruism, but it's not. There is nothing selfless about it. This night heaps rewards on the givers as well as the recipients. We get to be there, to witness this amazing rite, and, for an evening, to enter into relationship with other beings, as different from ourselves as we can imagine.
It has been said that people of the modern world suffer a great sadness, a "species loneliness" - estrangement from the rest of Creation. We have built this isolation with our fear, with our arrogance, and with our homes brightly lit against the night. For a moment as we walked this road, those barriers dissolved and we began to relieve the loneliness and know each other once again.
”
”
Robin Wall Kimmerer (Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants)
“
In some quiet way, the expression and feelings of gratitude have a wonderful cleansing or healing nature. Gratitude brings warmth to the giver and the receiver alike. Gratitude expressed to our Heavenly Father in prayer for what we have brings a calming peace—a peace which allows us to not canker our souls for what we don’t have.
”
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Robert D. Hales
“
If Nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that—warm things, kind things, sweet things,—help and comfort and laughter,—and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.
”
”
Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Little Princess)
“
in 3000 b.c....in spain, france, the british isles and old europe, the lives of people centered on nature and motherhood. they honored mother nature, mother earth and mother creator. women were revered as the givers of life. as creators, they were thought to be connected to diety. statues of the goddesses of these early people were of full-breasted women with bodies clearly depicting the ballooning abdomen of women about to give birth. these primal people regarded birthing as the highest manifestation of nature. when a woman gave birth, everyone gathered around her in the temple for the "celebration of life." birthing was a religious rite, and not at all the painful ordeal it came to be years later.
”
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Marie F. Mongan (HypnoBirthing: The Mongan Method)
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Perhaps the most overrated virtue in our list of shoddy virtues is that of giving. Giving builds up the ego of the giver, makes him superior and higher and larger than the receiver. Nearly always, giving is a selfish pleasure, and in many cases it is a downright destructive and evil thing. One has only to remember some of our wolfish financiers who spend two-thirds of their lives clawing fortunes out of the guts of society and the latter third pushing it back. It is not enough to suppose that their philanthropy is a kind of frightened restitution, or that their natures change when they have enough. Such a nature never has enough and natures do not change that readily. I think that the impulse is the same in both cases. For giving can bring the same sense of superiority as getting does, and philanthropy may be another kind of spiritual avarice.
”
”
John Steinbeck (The Log from the Sea of Cortez)
“
MAGNITUDE of EXISTENCE
U are a dot
A point
A speck
An image
A stillness
A shadow
A centrifugal force
Turning into itself
Emanating heat
Emanating light
You are a transient warmth
Wave like u exist
Resonating properties
As body
As mind
As heart
As human
You are
One dot in trillions exponentially
Sifting through motion
Expressed as e=motion
You are engulfed in water
From the inside out
Wrapped in the Arms of giver of air
Held ephemerally by the heart of sky
In suspended attraction to the wooing of earth
You are reflecting ash taken to travel
Bathing in sun rays
Resting as moonlight
You are a resonant echo
Given to name matter
Bouncing dot like
You are a distance timber
Specified to forms
A mountain
A valley
A hill
A meadow
A dune
A desert
Exacting measure
You Are
A magnitude of existences
© Olivia Chumacero
”
”
Olivia Chumacero
“
No matter the border, the Mekong has been an indiscriminate giver and taker of life in Southeast Asia for thousands of years. It’s a paradox like civilization’s other great rivers—be it the Nile, Indus, Euphrates, Ganges or China’s Sorrow the Huang He—for without its waters life is a daily struggle for survival; yet with its waters life is a daily bet that natural disasters and diseases will visit someone else’s village, because it’s not if, but when it’s going to happen that’s the relevant question.
”
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Tucker Elliot (The Rainy Season)
“
In Europe then we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also as a great giver of happiness and well-being and delight. drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary, and I would not have thought of eating a meal without drinking either wine or cider or beer.
”
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Ernest Hemingway (A Moveable Feast)
“
The flesh,' as Saint Paul used the term, refers, ironically, not to our bodies but to fallen human nature. The 'carnal' spirit is the one that devours things for itself and refuses to make them an oblation to God. The carnal spirit is cruel, egocentric, avaricious, gluttonous, and lecherous, and as such us fevered, restless, and divided. The spiritual man, on the other hand, is alone the man who both knows what flesh is for and can enter into its amplitude. The lecher, for example, supposes that he knows more about love than the virgin or the continent man. He knows nothing. Only the virgin and the faithful spouse knows what love is about. The glutton supposes that he knows the pleasures of food, but the true knowledge of food is unavailable to his dribbling and surfeited jowls. The difference between the carnal man and the spiritual man is not physical. They may look alike and weigh the same. The different lies, rather, between one's being divided, snatching and grabbing at things, even nonphysical things like fame and power, or being whole and receiving all things as Adam was meant to receive them, in order to offer them as an oblation to their Giver.
”
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Thomas Howard (Evangelical Is Not Enough: Worship of God in Liturgy and Sacrament)
“
The earth offers gift after gift—life and the living of it, light and the return of it, the growing things, the roaring things, fire and nightmares, falling water and the wisdom of friends, forgiveness. My god, the forgiveness, time, and the scouring tides. How does one accept gifts as great as these and hold them in the mind?
Failing to notice a gift dishonors it, and deflects the love of the giver. That's what's wrong with living a careless life, storing up sorrow, waking up regretful, walking unaware. But to turn the gift in your hand, to say, this is wonderful and beautiful, this is a great gift—this honors the gift and the giver of it. Maybe this is what [my friend] Hank has been trying to make me understand: Notice the gift. Be astonished at it. Be glad for it, care about it. Keep it in mind. This is the greatest gift a person can give in return.
'This is your work,' my friend told me, 'which is a work of substance and prayer and mad attentiveness, which is the real deal, which is why we are here.
”
”
Kathleen Dean Moore (Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature)
“
Artemis, along with Selene and Hekate, was one of the Greek triads representing the Old European three-bodied or triune aspect of the Goddess. We can see this represented in this figurine (Fig. 72) of Artemis as part of three-fold Hekate. First you have the pillar—the goddess mother is the axis of the universe herself. Round about are three representations of the Goddess, including Artemis, and Hekate, who represents the chthonic underworld—the magic aspect of the Goddess—and then dancing in a relaxed, fluent manner around about we see the three Graces. Artemis is the giver of abundance: Our Lady of the Wild Things, and the All-Mother of the many breasts, who bears the totality of the entities of the natural world. This is something very, very different from the image of the virgin goddess and the mere huntress that we have normally associated with her.
”
”
Joseph Campbell (Goddesses: Mysteries of the Feminine Divine (The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell))
“
Suppose we give something to someone. With the wisdom of nondiscrimination, we see that there is no giver and no receiver. If we still think that we’re the giver and the other person is the receiver, then that’s not perfect giving. We give because the other person is in need of what we’re giving and the act is very natural. If we’re really practicing generosity, we won’t say, “He’s not grateful at all.” We won’t have these kinds of ideas.
”
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Thich Nhat Hanh (Reconciliation: Healing the Inner Child)
“
Ecopsychologists have shown that the practice of gratitude puts brakes on hyperconsumption. The relationships nurtured by gift thinking diminish our sense of scarcity and want. In that climate of sufficiency, our hunger for more abates and we take only what we need, in respect for the generosity of the giver. Climate catastrophe and biodiversity loss are the consequences of unrestrained taking by humans. Might cultivation of gratitude be part of the solution?
”
”
Robin Wall Kimmerer (The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World)
“
Nature having made her for a giver- had not the least idea what she made meant to poor Becky, and how wonderful a benefactor she seemed. If Nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things you of that- warm things, kind things, sweet things- help and comfort and laughter- and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.
”
”
Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Little Princess)
“
On behalf of those you killed, imprisoned, tortured, you are not welcome, Erdogan!
No, Erdogan, you’re not welcome in Algeria.
We are a country which has already paid its price of blood and tears to those who wanted to impose their caliphate on us, those who put their ideas before our bodies, those who took our children hostage and who attempted to kill our hopes for a better future. The notorious family that claims to act in the name of the God and religion—you’re a member of it—you fund it, you support it, you desire to become its international leader.
Islamism is your livelihood
Islamism, which is your livelihood, is our misfortune. We will not forget about it, and you are a reminder of it today. You offer your shadow and your wings to those who work to make our country kneel down before your “Sublime Door.” You embody and represent what we loathe. You hate freedom, the free spirit. But you love parades. You use religion for business. You dream of a caliphate and hope to return to our lands.
But you do it behind the closed doors, by supporting Islamist parties, by offering gifts through your companies, by infiltrating the life of the community, by controlling the mosques. These are the old methods of your “Muslim Brothers” in this country, who used to show us God’s Heaven with one hand while digging our graves with the other.
No, Mr. Erdogan, you are not a man of help; you do not fight for freedom or principles; you do not defend the right of peoples to self-determination. You know only how to subject the Kurds to the fires of death; you know only how to subject your opponents to your dictatorship.
You cry with the victims in the Middle East, yet sign contracts with their executioners. You do not dream of a dignified future for us, but of a caliphate for yourself. We are aware of your institutionalized persecution, your list of Turks to track down, your sinister prisons filled with the innocent, your dictatorial justice palaces, your insolence and boastful nature.
You do not dream of a humanity that shares common values and principles, but are interested only in the remaking of the Ottoman Empire and its bloodthirsty warlords. Islam, for you, is a footstool; God is a business sign; modernity is an enemy; Palestine is a showcase; and local Islamists are your stunned courtesans.
Humanity will not remember you with good deeds
Humanity will remember you for your machinations, your secret coups d’état, and your manhunts. History will remember you for your bombings, your vengeful wars, and your inability to engage in constructive dialogue with others. The UN vote for Al-Quds is only an instrument in your service. Let us laugh at this with the Palestinians. We know that the Palestinian issue is your political capital, as it is for many others. You know well how to make a political fortune by exploiting others’ emotions.
In Algeria, we suffered, and still suffer, from those who pretend to be God and act as takers and givers of life. They applaud your coming, but not us. You are the idol of Algerian Islamists and Populists, those who are unable to imagine a political structure beyond a caliphate for Muslim-majority societies.
We aspire to become a country of freedom and dignity. This is not your ambition, nor your virtue.
You are an illusion
You have made beautiful Turkey an open prison and a bazaar for your business and loved ones. I hope that this beautiful nation rises above your ambitions. I hope that justice will be restored and flourish there once again, at least for those who have been imprisoned, tortured, bombed, and killed. You are an illusion, Erdogan—you know it and we know it.
You play on the history of our humiliation, on our emotions, on our beliefs, and introduce yourself as a savior. However, you are a gravedigger, both for your own country and for your neighbors. Turkey is a political miracle, but it owes you nothing. The best thing you can do
”
”
Kamel Daoud
“
I confess that I'm a sinner. Just like my old man. In word and in deed I enjoy my sin. In word and in deed my sin enjoys me. There is no one to blame. No one but me. Sin is my nature. I sin instinctually. Sin mimics the gates of paradise. Sin beats me to the floor. Sin is the dark shadow that no one can ignore. Sin screams "What's yours I want". Sin screams. "What's mine I'll keep." Sin is forever knocking, beating at the iron door. Don't even open it for an instant. Sin always wants more. Sin forever stole the key. But you're not locked out forever. In this sinner's Garden of Eden where sin pretends to be a treasure. Sin wants to make you bleed. Sin cuts down every giver. Sin cuts every hand. Sin wants total control. Sin wants to command. Sin just wants to kill you. And yes, for you the bell tolls. So death came before life entered. In death sin was conceived. Sin will linger forever Blameless, it's part of you and me. But there's a silver lining to sin's story. And the silver lining is this-When I was out chasing sin. The truth was out chasing me and when it finally caught me. That truth set me free. Now I've shared it all. Perhaps I've shared too much. But in this you must believe. The only truth I have left is this, my Sinner's Creed.
”
”
Scott Stapp (Sinner's Creed)
“
To refuse any bond of union between man and civil society, on the one hand, and God the Creator and consequently the supreme Law-giver, on the other, is plainly repugnant to the nature, not only of man, but of all created things; for, of necessity, all effects must in some proper way be connected with their cause; and it belongs to the perfection of every nature to contain itself within that sphere and grade which the order of nature has assigned to it, namely, that the lower should be subject and obedient to the higher.
”
”
Pope Leo XIII (Libertas: On the Nature of Human Liberty)
“
Sara--who was only doing what she unconsciously liked better than anything else, Nature having made her for a giver--had not the least idea what she meant to poor Becky, and how wonderful a benefactor she seemed. If Nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that--warm things, kind things, sweet things--help and comfort and laughter--and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.
”
”
Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Little Princess)
“
The reason for the great number and variety of Old European images lies in the fact that this symbolism is lunar and chthonic, built around the understanding that life is in eternal transformation, in constant and rhythmic change between creation and destruction, birth and death. The moon's three phases-new, waxing, and old-are repeated in trinities or triple function deities that recall these moon phases; maiden, nymph, and crone; life-giving, death-giving, and transformational; rising, dying, and self-renewing. Life-givers are also death-wielders. Immortality is secured through the innate forces of regeneration within Nature itself. The concept of regeneration and renewal is perhaps the most outstanding and dramatic theme we perceive in this symbolism.
It seems more appropriate to view all of these Goddess images as aspects of the one Great Goddess with her core functions-life-giving, death-wielding, regeneration, and renewal. The obvious analogy would be to Nature itself; through the multiplicity of phenomena and continuing cycles of which it is made, one recognizes the fundamental and underlying unity of Nature. The Goddess is immanent rather than transcendent and therefore physically manifest.
”
”
Marija Gimbutas (The Language of the Goddess)
“
It is equally natural for us to see the man who helps us without seeing Christ behind him. But we must not remain babies. We must go on to recognize the real Giver. It is madness not to. Because, if we do not, we shall be relying on human beings. And that is going to let us down. The best of them will make mistakes; all of them will die. We must be thankful to all the people who have helped us,we must honor them and love them. But never, never pin your whole faith on any human being; not if he is the best and wisest in the whole world. There are lots of nice things you can do with sand; but do not try building a house on it.
”
”
C.S. Lewis (MERE CHRISTIANITY (Including The Case for Christianity, Christian Behaviour and Beyond Personality): A Classic of Christian Apologetics and One of the Most Influential Books amongst Evangelicals)
“
Nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that—warm things, kind things, sweet things—help and comfort and laughter—and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.
”
”
Frances Hodgson Burnett (A Little Princess [with Biographical Introduction])
“
You have the great gift of understanding, beloved Mary. You are a life-giver, Mary. You are like the Great Spirit, who befriends man not only to share his life, but to add to it. My knowing you is the greatest thing in my days and nights a miracle quite outside the natural order of things.
I have always held, with my Madman, that those who understand us enslave something in us. It is not so with you. Your understanding of me is the most peaceful freedom I have known. And in the last two hours of your last visit you took y heart in your hand and found a black spot in it. But just as soon as you found the spot it was erased forever, and I became absolutely chainless.
”
”
Kahlil Gibran
“
In Europe then we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also as a great giver of happiness and well being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary, and I would not have thought of eating a meal without drinking either wine or cider or beer.
”
”
Ernest Hemingway (A Moveable Feast)
“
According to Locke, “self-interest and the conveniences of this life make many men own an outward profession and approbation” of the moral laws of nature. The actions of rational and virtuous men “sufficiently prove that they very little consider the Law-giver that prescribed these rules, nor the hell he has ordained for the punishment of those that transgress them.”49
”
”
C. Bradley Thompson (America's Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration That Defined It)
“
Again we are all sprung from the same seed, all have the same father, by whom mother earth the giver of increase, when she has taken in from him the liquid drops of moisture, conceives and bears goodly crops and joyous trees and the race of man, bears all kinds of brute beasts, in that she supplies food with which all feed their bodies and lead a pleasant life and continue their race; wherefore with good cause she has gotten the name of mother.
”
”
Lucretius (The Nature of Things)
“
There was a man born among these Jews who claimed to be, or to be the son of, or to be ‘one with’, the Something which is at once the awful haunter of nature and the giver of the moral law. The claim is so shocking—a paradox, and even a horror, which we may easily be lulled into taking too lightly—that only two views of this man are possible. Either he was a raving lunatic of an unusually abominable type, or else He was, and is, precisely what He said.
”
”
C.S. Lewis (The Problem of Pain)
“
Nature having made her for a giver — had not the least idea what she meant to poor Becky, and how wonderful a benefactor she seemed. If Nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that — warm things, kind things, sweet things, — help and comfort and laughter, — and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.
”
”
Frances Hodgson Burnett (Complete Novels of Frances Hodgson Burnett)
“
the quality of the person to whom we give must be examined. Some gifts are smaller than ought to issue from great people, while others are too large for the receiver. Compare the nature of both giver and receiver, and assess too the gift you will give, asking whether it’s too large or too small for the giver, and also whether the one on the receiving end will either disdain it or refuse to accept it. Alexander the Great—a madman, whose mind conceived only on an enormous scale—was
”
”
Seneca (How to Give: An Ancient Guide to Giving and Receiving (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers))
“
According to the myriad images that have survived from the great span of the human prehistory on the Eurasian continents, it was the sovereign mystery and creative power of the female as a source of life that developed into the earliest religious experiences. The Great Mother Goddess, who gives birth to all creation out of the darkness of her womb, became a metaphor for Nature herself, the cosmic giver and taker of life, ever able to renew Herself within the eternal cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
”
”
Marija Gimbutas (The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old Europe)
“
King David in Psalm 37 writes "Take delight in the Giver, and He will give you the desires of your heart," intimating that the secret to finding our way in the world is more about cooperating with God than appeasing God.
That the Giver of life is also the Giver of our desires, which means that life has an invitational co-creative nature to it...
Why do we always believe that the path of our deepest desire would be so far from the path that God would have us walk? How is the path of desire so different from the path to the Giver of that desire?
”
”
Scott Erickson (Say Yes: Discover the Surprising Life Beyond the Death of a Dream)
“
You were right. Food is communal. Mom once told me that it was no accident that Jesus's first miracle was at a wedding. It was a sign that he was the Master of the Feast---and all celebrations involve a feast. Some of the best, most thankful moments of our lives involve food----almost all, really."
I tapped Emma, resting on Jane's lap. "You see it in Austen. She only mentions food as a means to bring characters together, reveal aspects of their nature and their moral fiber. Hemingway does the same, though he skews more towards the drinks. Nevertheless, it's never about the food----it's about what the food becomes, in the hands of the giver and the recipient.
”
”
Katherine Reay (Lizzy and Jane)
“
Once upon a time, when “God was a woman”, anywhere from 35000 years ago until about 3500 years ago in some parts of the world, the life-giving power of the Goddess was deeply respected. Consistent with this, women were respected as the life-givers, and the functions of pregnancy, birth, and nurturing were valued as reflections of the Great Mother, the mother of all. The rhythms and cycles of Nature were honoured in ceremonies and rituals, in daily practices that reflected a reverence for the feminine principle. Over the last few thousand years, this has changed so that the world in which we now live has little of this respect and acknowledgement. These changes have resulted in the loss of ancient ways of knowing.
”
”
Kaalii Cargill
“
If our first response to the receipt of gifts is gratitude, then our second is reciprocity: to give a gift in return. What could I give these plants in return for their generosity? I could return the gift with a direct response, like weeding or bringing water or offering a song of thanks that sends appreciation out on the wind. I could make habitat for the solitary bees that fertilized those fruits. Or maybe I could take indirect action, like donating to my local land trust so that more habitat for the gift givers will be saved, speaking at a public hearing on land use, or making art that invites others into the web of reciprocity. I could reduce my carbon footprint, vote on the side of healthy land, advocate for farmland preservation, change my diet, hang my laundry in the sunshine. We live in a time when every choice matters.
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Robin Wall Kimmerer (The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World)
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The Church of Rome is the only brace in this rotten world. The only giver and retainer of form. By enshrining the traditional element "handed down" in its dogmas, as in an icy palace, it abstains and bestows upon its children the license to play round this icy palace, which has spacious grounds, to indulge irresponsibility, even to pardon the forbidden, or to enact it. By instituting sin, it forgives sins. It sees that there is no man without flaw: that is the wonderfully humane thing about it. Its flawless children become saints. By that alone, it concedes the flawed nature of mankind. It concedes sinfulness to such a degree even that it refuses to see beings as human if they are not sinful: they will be sainted or holy. In so doing the Church of Rome shows its most exalted tendacy, namely to forgive. There is no more nobler tendency than forgiveness. And by the same token, there is none more vulgar than to seek revenge. There is no nobility without generosity, just as there is no vengefulness without vulgarity.
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Joseph Roth (The Emperor's Tomb (Von Trotta Family, #2))
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People who prefer to give or match often feel pressured to lean in the taker direction when they perceive a workplace as zero-sum. Whether it’s a company with forced ranking systems, a group of firms vying to win the same clients, or a school with required grading curves and more demand than supply for desirable jobs, it’s only natural to assume that peers will lean more toward taking than giving. “When they anticipate self-interested behavior from others,” explains the Stanford psychologist Dale Miller, people fear that they’ll be exploited if they operate like givers, so they conclude that “pursuing a competitive orientation is the rational and appropriate thing to do.” There’s even evidence that just putting on a business suit and analyzing a Harvard Business School case is enough to significantly reduce the attention that people pay to relationships and the interests of others. The fear of exploitation by takers is so pervasive, writes the Cornell economist Robert Frank, that “by encouraging us to expect the worst in others it brings out the worst in us: dreading the role of the chump, we are often loath to heed our nobler instincts.
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Adam M. Grant (Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success)
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Reply to Objection 2: Equality is measured by greatness. In God greatness signifies the perfection of nature, as above explained (A[1], ad 1), and belongs to the essence. Thus equality and likeness in God have reference to the essence; nor can there be inequality or dissimilitude arising from the distinction of the relations. Wherefore Augustine says (Contra Maxim. iii, 13), "The question of origin is, Who is from whom? but the question of equality is, Of what kind, or how great, is he?" Therefore, paternity is the Father's dignity, as also the Father's essence: since dignity is something absolute, and pertains to the essence. As, therefore, the same essence, which in the Father is paternity, in the Son is filiation, so the same dignity which, in the Father is paternity, in the Son is filiation. It is thus true to say that the Son possesses whatever dignity the Father has; but we cannot argue---"the Father has paternity, therefore the Son has paternity," for there is a transition from substance to relation. For the Father and the Son have the same essence and dignity, which exist in the Father by the relation of giver, and in the Son by relation of receiver.
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Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica (5 Vols.))
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It is terrible to represent God as unrelated to us in the way of appeal to his righteousness. How should he be righteous without owing us anything? How would there be any right for the judge of all the earth to do if he owed nothing? Verily he owes us nothing that he does not pay like a God; but it is of the devil to imagine imperfection and disgrace in obligation. So far is God from thinking so that in every act of his being he lays himself under obligation to his creatures. Oh, the grandeur of his goodness, and righteousness, and fearless unselfishness! When doubt and dread invade, and the voice of love in the soul is dumb, what can please the father of men better than to hear his child cry to him from whom he came, 'Here I am, O God! Thou hast made me: give me that which thou hast made me needing.' The child's necessity, his weakness, his helplessness, are the strongest of all his claims. If I am a whale, I can claim a sea; if I am a sea, I claim room to roll, and break in waves after my kind; if I am a lion, I seek my meat from God; am I a child, this, beyond all other claims, I claim—that, if any of my needs are denied me, it shall be by the love of a father, who will let me see his face, and allow me to plead my cause before him. And this must be just what God desires! What would he have, but that his children should claim their father? To what end are all his dealings with them, all his sufferings with and for and in them, but that they should claim their birthright? Is not their birthright what he made them for, made in them when he made them? Is it not what he has been putting forth his energy to give them ever since first he began them to be—the divine nature, God himself? The child has, and must have, a claim on the father, a claim which it is the joy of the father's heart to acknowledge. A created need is a created claim. God is the origin of both need and supply, the father of our necessities, the abundant giver of the good things. Right gloriously he meets the claims of his child! The story of Jesus is the heart of his answer, not primarily to the prayers, but to the divine necessities of the children he has sent out into his universe.
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George MacDonald (Unspoken Sermons, Series I., II., and III.)
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BEING God is. That is the primordial fact. It is in order that we may discover this fact for ourselves, by direct experience, that we exist. The final end and purpose of every human being is the unitive knowledge of God’s being. What is the nature of God’s being? The invocation to the Lord’s Prayer gives us the answer. “Our Father which art in heaven.” God is, and is ours—immanent in each sentient being, the life of all lives, the spirit animating every soul. But this is not all. God is also the transcendent Creator and Law-Giver, the Father who loves and, because He loves, also educates His children. And finally, God is “in heaven.” That is to say, He possesses a mode of existence which is incommensurable and incompatible with the mode of existence possessed by human beings in their natural, unspiritualized condition. Because He is ours and immanent, God is very close to us. But because He is also in heaven, most of us are very far from God. The saint is one who is as close to God as God is close to him. It is through prayer that men come to the unitive knowledge of God. But the life of prayer is also a life of mortification, of dying to self. It cannot be otherwise; for the more there is of self, the less there is of God. Our pride, our anxiety, our lusts for power and pleasure are God-eclipsing things. So too is that greedy attachment to certain creatures which passes too often for unselfishness and should be called, not altruism, but alter-egoism. And hardly less God-eclipsing is the seemingly self-sacrificing service which we give to any cause or ideal that falls short of the divine. Such service is always idolatry, and makes it impossible for us to worship God as we should, much less to know Him. God’s kingdom cannot come unless we begin by making our human kingdoms go. Not only the mad and obviously evil kingdoms, but also the respectable ones—the kingdoms of the scribes and pharisees, the good citizens and pillars of society, no less than the kingdoms of the publicans and sinners. God’s being cannot be known by us, if we choose to pay our attention and our allegiance to something else, however creditable that something else may seem in the eyes of the world.
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Aldous Huxley (The Divine Within: Selected Writings on Enlightenment)
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First experiences in life are very important. I never analyzed you, I always saw you. I never judged you, I always grasped you. When I left, I became lost. I was working, living, performing but you were missing, I don’t know why? I seriously don't understand why you are impacting so much on me? Can you clear in future if you have answer? We never talked too much but why this pain of departure is there? I have tried to forget you a lot, tried to delete the contact, tried to full concentrate on my life, sometime cried but there was not a single day when I didn't think about you. Am I really over thinker? I failed in your case, I failed. I have to accept the reality that to be good with you is the only solution which can make me happy & stable. Wherever I'll be in life, but this connectivity is necessary now. It is a part of life.
I have so many questions for you. Have you ever missed me like I do? Everyday? I felt it, was that true? Do you really like to hear me? Or you are also in me? Or you are trying to suggest me some future planning? Are you shy? Less talker? You always tried to be open up with me? I always maintained safe distance? Was I too reserved? Was I egoistic? Yes, I was, but only in your case. Whatever you did for me that all was unsaid, pure, clear, fair. You were always nice to me? You never scold me, is this your part of nature? I heard so many cases of your temper? I never asked about you to people, they used to tell me about you by their own. Can I suggest you something? You are smart thinker but be careful from the people. Never be too kind to anyone, not all people have value of it. People never learn from the mistakes; they don’t want to create; they want to copy. I would say, don’t kind to me too, I have said so many things to you. I never seen so calm person. How? Do you have emotions? neutral? You never think on the things? Are you so productive? Are you innocent (in case of people)? Why can’t you understand that people makes show off in front of you only? Why are you giving so much importance to commerce people? Are they intelligent than engineers? Do you think so? Am I asking you so many questions? I really care for you & your selection of people. What are you actually see in the people? Obviously it’s your choice to answer it or not? At least I can ask my questions.
Did I make a mistake according to you? For me, I was right, but I never asked you about you. As you said, I never gave you chance. For me, you are the chance giver & I am chance taker. I was scared by you. Did I hurt you? Hope I never made loss of you in any manner.
I want to clear you one thing that apart from all my shit thinking, if you need any kind of assistance then please feel free to share. So what I have confess my love to you? It’s fine? Right? It’s natural, I had tried to control it a lot. Now I am more transparent, shameless & confident. I can face you in any condition. This change has changed my life.
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Somi
“
All the substances that are the main drugs of abuse today originate in natural plant products and have been known to human beings for thousands of years. Opium, the basis of heroin, is an extract of the Asian poppy Papaver somniferum. Four thousand years ago, the Sumerians and Egyptians were already familiar with its usefulness in treating pain and diarrhea and also with its powers to affect a person’s psychological state.
Cocaine is an extract of the leaves of Erythroxyolon coca, a small tree that thrives on the eastern slopes of the Andes in western South America. Amazon Indians chewed coca long before the Conquest, as an antidote to fatigue and to reduce the need to eat on long, arduous mountain journeys. Coca was also venerated in spiritual practices: Native people called it the Divine Plant of the Incas. In what was probably the first ideological “War on Drugs” in the New World, the Spanish invaders denounced coca’s effects as a “delusion from the devil.”
The hemp plant, from which marijuana is derived, first grew on the Indian subcontinent and was christened Cannabis sativa by the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus in 1753. It was also known to ancient Persians, Arabs and Chinese, and its earliest recorded pharmaceutical use appears in a Chinese compendium of medicine written nearly three thousand years ago. Stimulants derived from plants were also used by the ancient Chinese, for example in the treatment of nasal and bronchial congestion.
Alcohol, produced by fermentation that depends on microscopic fungi, is such an indelible part of human history and joy making that in many traditions it is honoured as a gift from the gods. Contrary to its present reputation, it has also been viewed as a giver of wisdom. The Greek historian Herodotus tells of a tribe in the Near East whose council of elders would never sustain a decision they made when sober unless they also confirmed it under the influence of strong wine. Or, if they came up with something while intoxicated, they would also have to agree with themselves after sobering up.
None of these substances could affect us unless they worked on natural processes in the human brain and made use of the brain’s innate chemical apparatus. Drugs influence and alter how we act and feel because they resemble the brain’s own natural chemicals. This likeness allows them to occupy receptor sites on our cells and interact with the brain’s intrinsic messenger systems. But why is the human brain so receptive to drugs of abuse?
Nature couldn’t have taken millions of years to develop the incredibly intricate system of brain circuits, neurotransmitters and receptors that become involved in addiction just so people could get “high” to escape their troubles or have a wild time on a Saturday night. These circuits and systems, writes a leading neuroscientist and addiction researcher, Professor Jaak Panksepp, must “serve some critical purpose other than promoting the vigorous intake of highly purified chemical compounds recently developed by humans.” Addiction may not be a natural state, but the brain regions it subverts are part of our central machinery of survival.
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Gabor Maté (In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction)
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embedded her theology in song and liturgy, so the simple act of going to church is a big part of how faith and commitment are passed from generation to generation. This brief hymn to the Holy Spirit from the morning service of Matins reminds us that our blessings ultimately come from outside ourselves—a good lesson for any generation to learn. The “divine treasures” we enjoy are not ours by nature but by the grace of the Holy Spirit. The most valuable of those treasures were considered in chapter 3—the truths that the Holy Spirit reveals about the Holy Trinity, about ourselves, and about the Church.
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John Oliver (Giver of Life: The Holy Spirit in Orthodox Tradition)
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To be the ruler of things we have first to shut up all our senses, and turn the currents of thoughts inward, and see ourselves as the centre of the world, and meditate that we are the beings of highest intelligence; that Buddha never puts us at the mercy of natural forces; that the earth is in our possession; that everything on earth is to be made use of for our noble ends; that fire, water, air, grass, trees, rivers, hills, thunder, cloud, stars, the moon, the sun, are at our command; that we are the law-givers of the natural phenomena; that we are the makers of the phenomenal world; that it is we that appoint a mission through life, and determine the fate of man. 3.
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Kaiten Nukariya (The Religion of the Samurai A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan)
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That you – God`s YOU – will be hopeful and kind, a giver who lives with all heart, soul and mind.
A dreamer who dreams in big and small themes, one who keeps dreaming in journeys upstream.
A mover, a shaker, a lover of nature.
A builder of bridges, you, the peacemaker.
A you who views others as sisters ad brothers and lives by three words: love one another.
A confident you, strong and brave too.
You being you is God`s dream come true.
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Matthew Paul Turner (When God Made You)
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That you – God`s YOU – will be hopeful and kind, a giver who lives with all heart, soul and mind.
A dreamer who dreams in big and small themes, one who keeps dreaming in journeys upstream.
A mover, a shaker, a lover of nature.
A builder of bridges, you, the peacemaker.
A you who vies others as sisters ad brothers an lives by three words: love one another.
A confident you, strong and brave too.
You being you is God`s dream come true.
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Matthew Paul Turner (When God Made You)
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Of course, natural talent also matters, but once you have a pool of candidates above the threshold of necessary potential, grit is a major factor that predicts how close they get to achieving their potential. This is why givers focus on gritty people: it’s where givers have the greatest return on their investment, the most meaningful and lasting impact.
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Adam M. Grant (Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success)
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The mission of the Hitler Youth is neither religious nor racial, nor is it philosophical, political, or economic. It is entirely natural: the young people should be led back to nature, they should recognize nature as the giver of life and energy. And they should strengthen and develop their bodies outdoors, making themselves well and keeping themselves well. For a healthy mind can develop only in a healthy body, and it is only in the freedom of nature that a human being can also open himself to a higher morality and a higher ethic. The consciousness of the growing young man and young woman absorbs those ethical bases that distinguish them from animals and that mark the individual and, over time, the entire Volk with its racial characteristics.
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Otto Wagener (Hitler: Memoirs Of A Confidant)
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Arimas stemme var dyb og syngende. ”Har I aldrig tænkt på, hvordan alle sagn og gamle historier handler om lyset mod mørket, om det gode mod det onde? Dualiteten er ikke sand, men den er nemmere at forklare. Karawianerne er mørket, men de er også lys. De kæmper mod os, fordi de lever mørket. Selv de mennesker eller andre væsener, der kaldes onde, er af lyset. Alt er lyset, men nogle glemmer det mere end andre. De tog mørket som herre, og det giver dem et formål med livet. Før mørket opstod, var de bare mennesker.”
Mayin nikkede på den anden side af bålet, og Soral kiggede hen på hende. ”Der er ikke noget, der af natur er ondt, Mayin,” sagde han. ”Der er ikke noget, der fuldt ud er det modsatte af lys. Som sådan kan man sige, at alt er lys, bare i forskellige nuancer.”
Enilia sendte et skævt smil over bålet til Soral. Det var en god måde at sige det på.
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Louise H.A. Trankjær (Eliors sang)
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There are two Great Forces of human nature: Self Interest and Caring for Others, and people are most successful when they are driven by a Hybrid Engine of the two.’
If Takers are selfish, and Failed Givers are selfless: Successful Givers are ‘otherish’ - They care about benefitting others, but they also have ambitious goals for advancing their own interests.
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Adam M. Grant (Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success)
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If the Church is truly the “newness of life”—the world and nature as restored in Christ—it is not, or rather ought not be, a purely religious institution in which to be “pious,” to be a member in “good standing,” means leaving one’s own personality at the entrance—in the “check room”—and replacing it with a worn-out, impersonal, neutral “good Christian” type personality. Piety in fact may be a very dangerous thing, a real opposition to the Holy Spirit who is the Giver of Life—of joy, movement and creativity—and not of the “good conscience” which looks at everything with suspicion, fear and moral indignation.
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Alexander Schmemann (For the Life of the World)
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and deflects the love of the giver.
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Kathleen Dean Moore (Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature)
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We have granted you everything you demanded of us, we who had always been the givers, but have only now understood it. We have no demands to present to you, no terms to bargain about, no compromise to reach. You have nothing to offer us. We do not need you. “Are you now crying: No, this was not what you wanted? A mindless world of ruins was not your goal? You did not want us to leave you? You moral cannibals, I know that you’ve always known what it was that you wanted. But your game is up, because now we know it, too. “Through centuries of scourges and disasters, brought about by your code of morality, you have cried that your code had been broken, that the scourges were punishment for breaking it, that men were too weak and too selfish to spill all the blood it required. You damned man, you damned existence, you damned this earth, but never dared to question your code. Your victims took the blame and struggled on, with your curses as reward for their martyrdom—while you went on crying that your code was noble, but human nature was not good enough to practice it. And no one rose to ask the question: Good?—by what standard? “You wanted to know John Galt’s identity. I am the man who has asked that question. “Yes, this is an age of moral crisis. Yes, you are bearing punishment for your evil. But it is not man who is now on trial and it is not human nature that will take the blame. It is your moral code that’s through, this time. Your moral code has reached its climax, the blind alley at the end of its course. And if you wish to go on living, what you now need is not to return to morality—you who have never known any—but to discover it.
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Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged)
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its Bill of Rights. Steeped in the belief that the administrative state is the giver and arbiter of rights, with no real concept or appreciation of the idea of natural rights, they then leave their safe spaces and go into the larger world. Miraculously, somehow, even after decades and decades of these bastions of indoctrination existing,
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Ned Ryun (American Leviathan: The Birth of the Administrative State and Progressive Authoritarianism)
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The Shemitah thus deals with a particular flaw of human nature—the tendency to divorce the blessings of life from the Giver of those blessings, to separate the physical realm from the spiritual realm, and then compensate for the loss of the spiritual by increasing its claims over the physical world—pursuing more and more things, increase, gain—materialism. This increase of things, in turn, further crowds out the presence of God. The Shemitah is the antidote to all these things—the clearing away of material attachments to allow the work and presence of God to come in.
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Jonathan Cahn (The Mystery of the Shemitah: The 3,000-Year-Old Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future, the World's Future, and Your Future!)
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The Shemitah is a reminder that God is the source of all blessings, spiritual and physical alike. But when God is removed from the picture, the removal of blessings will ultimately follow. The Shemitah thus deals with a particular flaw of human nature—the tendency to divorce the blessings of life from the Giver of those blessings, to separate the physical realm from the spiritual realm, and then compensate for the loss of the spiritual by increasing its claims over the physical world—pursuing more and more things, increase, gain—materialism. This increase of things, in turn, further crowds out the presence of God. The Shemitah is the antidote to all these things—the clearing away of material attachments to allow the work and presence of God to come in.
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Jonathan Cahn (The Mystery of the Shemitah: The 3,000-Year-Old Mystery That Holds the Secret of America's Future, the World's Future, and Your Future!)
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As Charles Darwin once wrote, a tribe with many people acting like givers, who “were always ready to aid one another, and to sacrifice themselves for the common good, would be victorious over most other tribes; and this would be natural selection.
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Adam M. Grant (Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success)
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Workplaces and schools are often designed to be zero-sum environments, with forced rankings and required grading curves that pit group members against one another in win-lose contests. In these settings, it’s only natural to assume that peers will lean in the taker direction, so people hold back on giving. This reduces the actual amount of giving that occurs, leading people to underestimate the number of people who are interested in giving. Over time, because giving appears to be uncommon, people with giver values begin to feel that they’re in the minority.
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Adam M. Grant (Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success)
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God bestowed upon these antediluvians many and rich gifts; but they used his bounties to glorify themselves, and turned them into a curse by fixing their affections upon the gifts instead of the Giver. They employed the gold and silver, the precious stones and the choice wood, in the construction of habitations for themselves, and endeavored to excel one another in beautifying their dwellings with the most skillful workmanship. They [91] sought only to gratify the desires of their own proud hearts, and reveled in scenes of pleasure and wickedness. Not desiring to retain God in their knowledge, they soon came to deny his existence. They adored nature in place of the God of nature. They glorified human genius, worshiped the works of their own hands, and taught their children to bow down to graven images.
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Ellen Gould White (Patriarchs and Prophets)
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5. Although Sanders and especially Pinnock often speak of the importance of faith, they rarely listen to what the New Testament has to say about the content of faith, about the object of faith. Consider, for example, the following statements: “people can receive the gift of salvation without knowing the giver or the precise nature of the gift.”77 Inclusivism “denies that Jesus must be the object of saving faith.”78 “‘Saving faith’…does not necessitate knowledge of Christ in this life. God’s gracious activity is wider than the arena of special revelation. God will accept into his kingdom those who repent and trust him even if they know nothing of Jesus.”79 “Faith in God is what saves, not possessing certain minimum information.”80 “A person is saved by faith, even if the content of faith is deficient (and whose is not?). The Bible does not teach that one must confess the name of Jesus to be saved.”81 “The issue that God cares about is the direction of the heart, not the content of theology.”82 Some of this argument is slanted by the form of the proferred antitheses. For example: “Faith in God is what saves, not possessing certain minimum information.” At one level that is surely correct: merely possessing information, minimal or otherwise, does not save. Christians are not gnostics. On the other hand, the form of the antithesis may allow the unwary to overlook the fact that faith has content, or an object. Does faith in, say, a ouija board save? How about sincere faith in astrology? Pinnock says it is “faith in God” that saves. But which God? The Buddhist impersonal God? And even if we assume we are dealing with the true God, does all faith in this God save, when we are told that even the devils believe? Again: “The issue that God cares about is the direction of the heart, not the content of theology.” At one level, I would strenuously agree. Yet at the same time, I would want to add that if the direction of the heart is truly right, one of the things it will be concerned about is the content of theology. Does Paul sound as if he does not care about the content of theology in Galatians 1:8-9? Does John, in 1 John 4:1-6? Far from resorting to antitheses, John purposely links sound doctrine, transparent obedience, and love for the brothers and sisters in Christ, as being joint marks of the true believer (and thus of true faith!).
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D.A. Carson (The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism)
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Christianity still makes sense because it was Christ who:
- Never Judged a person by his/her appearance [Mark 10:46-51]
- Never Looked down with disdain on someone just because
that person does not come to His church [John 4:1-26]
- Never kept back his miracle of Healing, just because the person
does not belonged to His own community [Matthew 15:25-28]
- Shared His Love and Grace with both poor [Luke 14:13] and rich equally [Mark 10:21]
- Chose to Forgive even those whom 'His chosen ones' looks down with contempt. [Luke 7:36-50]
- Proclaim the Truth about Gospel to a lost soul even if there is
no one to acknowledge Him publicly [John 3:1-3]
- Preferred to keep quiet even if He was 'wrongly accused'. [Matthew 27:12]
- Who ranks the Giver on the basis if his/her Intent of giving
and not just Extent of giving [Luke 21:1-4]
- Chose to empty His pockets and desist resources available to Him,
so that He can teach to Serve First [John 13:14] and lead later.
- Eagerly listened to the one who came asking for help and delivered them from
their issues rather than opening His book of sorrows and
issues to make them feel awkward and ignored. [Mark 7:31-37]
...Its a shame that it is we Christians, who at times Disappoint our Christ and Dishonor His name by acting just opposite to His nature and character in our lives.
"World is not disappointed by Christianity, its tired of, us Christians.
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Santosh Thankachan
“
you giver of light.
you lover of love.
you beautiful
beautiful
human being
you.
”
”
AVA. (you are safe here.)
“
God is consistent with his nature and declared purposes in Scripture, but he is not limited to our finite understanding of him or the ways we think he should work.
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Craig S. Keener (Gift and Giver)
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We tend to stereotype agreeable people as givers, and disagreeable people as takers. When a new contact appears affable, it’s natural to conclude that he has good intentions. If he comes across as cold or confrontational, this seems like a sign that he doesn’t care about what’s in our best interests.*
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Adam M. Grant (Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success)
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When people focus on others, as givers do naturally, they’re less likely to worry about egos and miniscule details; they look at the big picture and prioritize what matters most to others.
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Adam M. Grant (Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success)
“
Edwards wrote in his Religious Affections that most thoughtful human beings feel a sense of gratitude for God’s gifts: life, health, a crisp, sky-blue day. He called it natural gratitude. That, while a common good, is not enough to stir us to true, deep love for the Giver. If people love God only because of what He gives, Edwards points out that “even a dog will love his master that is kind to him.”1 As Betty Howard wrote, there is a deeper, more mysterious, more sustaining sense of thankfulness: gratitude to God not for what He gives, but who He is. Edwards denoted this as supernatural gratitude, and said that it is the mark of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. This radical, gracious gratitude can thrive even in the midst of times of pain, trouble, and distress. It is relational, rather than conditional, drawing the human being who knows God into closer intimacy with Him.
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Ellen Vaughn (Becoming Elisabeth Elliot)
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The various arguments for God show that there is only one God, not many. This God must be infinite since He is beyond the finite world He made. Further, He must be personal because He is both intelligent and moral, being the Intelligent Designer and the Moral Law Giver. Further, this God is spiritual and supernatural since He is beyond the physical and natural world. He can do miracles because He has already done the greatest miracle of all—He has created the world.
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Norman L. Geisler (Twelve Points That Show Christianity Is True: A Handbook On Defending The Christian Faith)
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No, Sonia, that’s not it... ...that’s not it! Better … imagine—yes, it’s certainly better—imagine that I am vain, envious, malicious, base, vindictive and … well, perhaps with a tendency to insanity. (Let’s have it all out at once! They’ve talked of madness already, I noticed.) I told you just now I could not keep myself at the university. But do you know that perhaps I might have done? My mother would have sent me what I needed for the fees and I could have earned enough for clothes, boots and food, no doubt. Lessons had turned up at half a rouble. Razumihin works! But I turned sulky and wouldn’t. (Yes, sulkiness, that’s the right word for it!) I sat in my room like a spider. You’ve been in my den, you’ve seen it.… And do you know, Sonia, that low ceilings and tiny rooms cramp the soul and the mind? Ah, how I hated that garret! And yet I wouldn’t go out of it! I wouldn’t on purpose! I didn’t go out for days together, and I wouldn’t work, I wouldn’t even eat, I just lay there doing nothing. If Nastasya brought me anything, I ate it, if she didn’t, I went all day without; I wouldn’t ask, on purpose, from sulkiness! At night I had no light, I lay in the dark and I wouldn’t earn money for candles. I ought to have studied, but I sold my books; and the dust lies an inch thick on the notebooks on my table. I preferred lying still and thinking. And I kept thinking … And I had dreams all the time, strange dreams of all sorts, no need to describe! Only then I began to fancy that.… No, that’s not it! Again I am telling you wrong! You see I kept asking myself then: why am I so stupid, that if others are stupid—and I know they are—yet I won’t be wiser? Then I saw, Sonia, that if one waits for every one to get wiser it will take too long.… Afterwards I understood that that would never come to pass, that men won’t change and that nobody can alter it and that it’s not worth wasting effort over it. Yes, that’s so. That’s the law of their nature, Sonia, … that’s so!… And I know now, Sonia, that whoever is strong in mind and spirit will have power over them. Anyone who is greatly daring is right in their eyes. He who despises most things will be a law-giver among them and he who dares most of all will be most in the right! So it has been till now and so it will always be. A man must be blind not to see it!... ...I divined then, Sonia... ...that power is only vouchsafed to the man who dares to stoop and pick it up. There is only one thing, one thing needful: one has only to dare! Then for the first time in my life an idea took shape in my mind which no one had ever thought of before me, no one! I saw clear as daylight how strange it is that not a single person living in this mad world has had the daring to go straight for it all and send it flying to the devil! I … I wanted to have the daring … and I killed her. I only wanted to have the daring, Sonia! That was the whole cause of it!
”
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Fyodor Dostoevsky (Crime and Punishment)
“
When it comes to prosperity, we need God’s revelation of His purpose for it in our lives. Prosperity is not a formula where we observe certain rules and obtain wealth; nor is it a reward system whereby we get rewarded for being obedient children. Prosperity is one aspect of the nature and character of God; as His royal children, it is ours as we walk in agreement and unity with our Father. When, in faith, we receive God’s grace of giving, we become Christlike givers who prosper.
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Ché Ahn (The Grace of Giving: Unleashing the Power of a Generous Heart)
“
Us women
We are nurturers,
Daughters, sisters, wives and mothers.
It’s in our nature to be givers.
And often passed through generations is this sense of duty.
We are blessed with divinity to be creators of life.
But never should that hold us back from our dreams, We also have a right to find personal fulfilment.
We must be brave enough to say, I deserve that
I can do that
I can dream,
I can make it happen.
Because, we can.
”
”
Janice Ruth Gracias (Chapter 13: Poetry | Musings and Aphorisms)
“
With every breath you take, a tiny particle of water is present in the heart, the female and male characters in the body are within 50 to 85 percent of the water! There is a lot of water with all the elements in this whole vast universe! Men and women who are afraid of disease and death will be involved in regular recitation of mantras as a result of this. There is an opportunity to associate with wise Guru. As a result, religion means work, salvation, health, life, and many paths of life. Wise Guru should keep on doing virtuous, religious deeds. The life of fire is also Shreeom, and the seed of water breath is also Shreeom. The living creatures life is also Shreeom, religious, spiritual, ascetic saint, Pandit, Guru, female and male personality's soul is also Shreeom and Karma Yogis's soul is also Shreeom. Shreeom's dearest love or natures are Mahalakshmi, Pratipriti Vaishnavi Kamala and Bhavani. Those who think that the soul is the killer of the soul and those who think that the soul dies with the body not understand life properly because the soul is immortal and the soul does not kill anyone and the soul is immortal in every Era because the soul is the embodiment of the Lord, teacher of God and his power and the Sun, the Guru, the Divine God. The sweet fragrance of the earth is Shreeom, the happiness, peace, prosperity, joy, success is Shreeom. Shreeom love the most to the social workers, donation givers, knowledgeable Sadhus, Sant, Pandits, helpful ladies and gentlemen, simultaneously positive approach humanitarian and protector of Dharma.:- Shreeom
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”
Shreeom
“
Our victories were pyrrhic because we failed to address the values, assumptions and beliefs that underlie our destructive demands and activities. The way we see the world shapes the way we treat it. If we regard a mountain as a deity rather than a pile of ore, a forest as a sacred grove rather than lumber and pulp, other species as our biological kin rather than resources, the planet as our mother and life-giver and not an opportunity, then our actions will reflect far greater humility, respect and responsibility.
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David Suzuki (The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature)
“
To be truly man means to be fully oneself. The confirmation is the confirmation of man in his own, unique "personality". It is, to use again the same image, his ordination to be himself, to become what God wants him to be, what he has loved in me from all eternity. It is the gift of vocation. If the Church is truly the "newness of life" - the world and nature as restored in Christ - it is not, or rather ought not be, a purely religious institution in which to be "pious,” to be a member in "good standing,” means leaving one's own personality at the entrance - in the "check room” - and
replacing it with a worn-out, impersonal, neutral "good Christian" type personality. Piety in fact may be a very dangerous thing a real opposition to the Holy Spirit who is the Giver of Life - of joy, movement, and creativity - and not of the "good conscience" which looks at everything with suspicion, fear, and moral indignation.
Confirmation is the opening of man to the wholeness of divine creation, to the true catholicity of life. This is the "wind,” the ruah of God entering our life, embracing it with fire and love, making us available for divine action, filling everything with joy and hope...
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Alexander Schmemann (For the Life of the World)
“
A grove of beech trees ensures communal flourishing by sharing nutrients through the hidden mycorrhizae that help to equalize the strong and the weak. Trees feed one another. We know that certain species of trees support even sick individuals, sending them additional nutrients, just as we bring soup to ailing friends (and know that one day the giver may become the receiver). Some will rush to help even a stump.
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Lyanda Lynn Haupt (Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit)
“
True spirituality is based on the mother, ISIS, the giver of life, the light of the world and fundamental education throughout one's life.
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Mwanandeke Kindembo
“
Buck counted 27 different names for ‘Io.30 A few of these names and their meanings, listed below, are compared with Biblical descriptions of God. ‘Io-matua: he is the parent of all things, natural phenomena, plants, animals, man, and gods. Colossians 1:16—“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible” ‘Io-matua-kore: He had no parents, “he was nothing but himself.” (Hebrew) Yahweh: meaning. The Self- existent One. Exodus 3:14, “I AM THAT I AM.” ‘Io-te-wananga: He is the source of all knowledge. Colossians 2:3—“In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” ‘Io-mata-ngaro: His face is hidden and unseen. Exodus 33:20, “And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” ‘Io-te-waiora: He is the source and giver of life. Psalm 36:9, “For with thee is the fountain of life:” ‘Io-mata-wai: ‘Io, the God of love. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
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Daniel Kikawa (Perpetuated In Righteousness: The Journey of the Hawaiian People from Eden (Kalana I Hauola) to the Present Time (The True God of Hawaiʻi Series))
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It’s not easy to stand up against those we love and care about. The urge to be well-liked and admired by others is deeply rooted in our nature. Yet since almost every Dream is rejected by at least one strong Bully, especially in the early stages, you will face a choice. You must decide who you want to please more—your Border Bullies or God.
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Bruce H. Wilkinson (The Dream Giver: Following Your God-Given Destiny)
“
The theory of karma should not be confused with so-called 'moral justice' or 'reward and punishment'. The idea of moral justice, or reward and punishment, arises out of the conception of a supreme being, a God, who sits in judgment, who is a law-giver and who decides what is right and wrong. The term 'justice' is ambiguous and dangerous, and in its name more harm than good is done to humanity. The theory of karma is the theory of cause and effect, of action and reaction; it is a natural law, which has nothing to do with the idea of justice or reward and punishment. Every volitional action produces its effects or results. If a good action produces good effects and a bad action bad effects, it is not justice, or reward, or punishment meted out by anybody or any power sitting in judgment on your action, but this is in virtue of its own nature, its own law.
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Walpola Rahula (What the Buddha Taught)
“
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, agents for land companies had swept through the [Kentucky] mountain region buying up mineral rights from residents, sometimes for as little as 50 cents per acre . . . the broad form deeds often signed over the rights to “dump, store and leave upon said land any and all muck, bone, shale, water or other refuse,” to use and pollute water courses in any manner, and to do anything “necessary and convenient” to extract subsurface minerals. • CHAD MONTRIE, “To Have, Hold, Develop, and Defend”: Natural Rights and the Movement to Abolish Strip Mining in Eastern Kentucky
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”
Jojo Moyes (The Giver of Stars)
“
The point of waiting is to enjoy
To love and worship God
In every act of your life
Including the waiting.
And in the waiting
Remember His nature
That He is the Giver of every every perfect gift
That He desires to lavish you with such treasures
Treasures that are worth the wait
Solely because he is in them.
Rest in this:
He is going to give you
Exactly what you need
At exactly the time you need it.
That is a reason to smile.
That is the reason to breathe easy
And rest in Him.
Let go of “when” and “if
Because His ways
Are so much higher than yours.
His thoughts
Beyond what you could ever fathom
Because He loves you.
Oh, how He loves you.
And that is the point
Of your entire existence
To experience His presence
His love
Inside every moment
Especially in the waiting.
---Josiah Schwartz
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”
Josiah Schwartz
“
There’s one boxing match I saw on TV:
One was aggressive, the other’s lazy.
At bout’s end, waiting for the decision,
oh how the lazy prayed it’s he who won.
Action can defeat a million prayers,
yet many see prayers like wish-givers.
If prayers can well move hills and mountains,
why yet work when praying is more certain.
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”
Rodolfo Martin Vitangcol