β
Make improvements, not excuses. Seek respect, not attention.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Let the improvement of yourself keep you so busy that you have no time to criticize others.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
I do not believe in taking the right decision, I take a decision and make it right.
β
β
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
β
One of the best times for figuring out who you are & what you really want out of life? Right after a break-up.
β
β
Mandy Hale (The Single WomanβLife, Love, and a Dash of Sass: Embracing Singleness with Confidence)
β
Shine your light and make a positive impact on the world; there is nothing so honorable as helping improve the lives of others.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett
β
It's a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things that you lack.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
No matter how much experience you have, thereβs always something new you can learn and room for improvement.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Life is like a game of chess.
To win you have to make a move.
Knowing which move to make comes with IN-SIGHT
and knowledge, and by learning the lessons that are
acculated along the way.
We become each and every piece within the game called life!
β
β
Allan Rufus (The Master's Sacred Knowledge)
β
You make the world a better place by making daily improvements to become the best version of yourself.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett
β
Life is like a sandwich!
Birth as one slice,
and death as the other.
What you put in-between
the slices is up to you.
Is your sandwich tasty or sour?
Allan Rufus.org
β
β
Allan Rufus
β
There is no more profitable investment than investing in yourself. It is the best investment you can make; you can never go wrong with it. It is the true way to improve yourself to be the best version of you and lets you be able to best serve those around you.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Integrity is doing what is right and truthful, and doing as you say you would do.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett (The Light in the Heart)
β
Stand out from the crowd, be yourself.
β
β
Stephen Richards
β
You willed yourself to where you are today, so will yourself out of it.
β
β
Stephen Richards
β
No matter whether you believe in luck or chance, the final decision is from yourself.
β
β
Stephen Richards
β
If the great internet connects us all ... then why are so many of us becoming increasingly isolated?
β
β
Stephen Richards
β
Stop comparing yourself to others. Always strive to improve yourself to become better today than you were yesterday to serve those around you and the world.
β
β
Roy T. Bennett
β
Everything is within your power,
and your power is within you.
β
β
Janice Trachtman (Catching What Life Throws at You: Inspiring True Stories of Healing)
β
Never underestimate the power you have to take your life in a new direction.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
Exhaust your worries and they will soon leave you.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Cosmic Ordering Guide)
β
Money can't buy love, but it improves your bargaining position.
β
β
Christopher Marlowe
β
It is important for a husband to understand that his words have tremendous power in his wifeβs life. He needs to bless her with words. Sheβs given her life to love and care for him, to partner with him, to create a family together, to nurture his children. If he is always finding fault in something sheβs doing, always putting her down, he will reap horrendous problems in his marriage and in his life. Moreover, many women today are depressed and feel emotionally abused because their husbands do not bless them with their words. One of the leading causes of emotional breakdowns among married women is the fact that women do not feel valued. One of the main reasons for that deficiency is because husbands are willfully or unwittingly withholding the words of approval women so desperately desire. If you want to see God do wonders in your marriage, start praising your spouse. Start appreciating and encouraging her. Every single day, a husband should tell his wife, βI love you. I appreciate you. Youβre the best thing that ever happened to me.β A wife should do the same for her husband. Your relationship would improve immensely if youβd simply start speaking kind, positive words, blessing your spouse instead of cursing him or her.
β
β
Joel Osteen (Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential)
β
The realisation that limitations are imaginary will make you strong and overpowering.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Think Your way to Success: Let Your Dreams Run Free)
β
Never allow your mind to wander untamed like a wild animal that exists on the basis of survival of the fittest. Tame your mind with consistent focus on your goals and desires.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Think Your way to Success: Let Your Dreams Run Free)
β
Your comfort zone is a place where you keep yourself in a self-illusion and nothing can grow there but your potentiality can grow only when you can think and grow out of that zone.
β
β
Rashedur Ryan Rahman
β
Grateful souls focus on the happiness and abundance present in their lives and this in turn attracts more abundance and joy towards them.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Think Your way to Success: Let Your Dreams Run Free)
β
It is not until you change your identity to match your life blueprint that you will understand why everything in the past never worked.
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
I have my own theory: ignorance is bliss. The less you know, the more confident you can be in tackling things.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Cosmic Ordering Guide)
β
Never surrender your hopes and dreams to the fateful limitations others have placed on their own lives. The vision of your true destiny does not reside within the blinkered outlook of the naysayers and the doom prophets. Judge not by their words, but accept advice based on the evidence of actual results. Do not be surprised should you find a complete absence of anything mystical or miraculous in the manifested reality of those who are so eager to advise you. Friends and family who suffer the lack of abundance, joy, love, fulfillment and prosperity in their own lives really have no business imposing their self-limiting beliefs on your reality experience.
β
β
Anthon St. Maarten
β
6 Ways To Give Your Mind A Break:
1. Stop stressing
2. Stop worrying
3. Give rest to the problems weighing you down
4. Lighten up
5. Forgive yourself
6. Forgive others
β
β
Germany Kent
β
I promise you that the same stuff galaxies are made of, you are. The same energy that swings planets around stars makes electrons dance in your heart. It is in you, outside you, you are it. It is beautiful. Trust in this. And you your life will be grand.
β
β
Kamal Ravikant (Live Your Truth)
β
The power behind taking responsibility for your actions lies in putting an end to negative thought patterns. You no longer dwell on what went wrong or focus on whom you are going to blame. You don't waste time building roadblocks to your success. Instead, you are set free and can now focus on succeeding.
β
β
Lorii Myers
β
If you are on social media, and you are not learning, not laughing, not being inspired or not networking, then you are using it wrong.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
A thought is a Cosmic Order waiting to happen.
β
β
Stephen Richards
β
Positive belief in yourself will give you the energy needed to conquer the world and this belief is the power behind all creation.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Think Your way to Success: Let Your Dreams Run Free)
β
Hard work does not go unnoticed,
and someday the rewards will follow
β
β
Allan Rufus (The Master's Sacred Knowledge)
β
Manifesting is a lot like making a cake. The things needed are supplied by you, the mixing is done by your mind and the baking is done in the oven of the universe.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Think Your way to Success: Let Your Dreams Run Free)
β
Inaction creates nothing. Action creates success.
β
β
Stephen Richards
β
What we perceive about ourselves is greatly a reflection of how we will end up living our lives.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Boost Your Self Esteem)
β
If your love for another person doesnβt include loving yourself then your love is incomplete.
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
Convince yourself everyday that you are worthy of a good life. Let go of stress, breathe. Stay positive, all is well.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
Even though your thinking might not be right for others, just so long as it's right for you then that's all what matters.
β
β
Stephen Richards
β
Always have an air of expectancy.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Cosmic Ordering Guide)
β
Some people canβt be in your life because they donβt have the power to help you improve it. That doesnβt mean you donβt wish them well, it just means that you are on Chapter ten of your life, when they are on Chapter five. Maybe, it is just enough to meet at the crossroads in life and agree to take separate paths, then with a cheshire grin you both look back and shout, βBeat you to the top of the mountainβ, followed by the funnest sprint of both of your lives.
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
First steps are always the hardest but until they are taken the notion of progress remains only a notion and not an achievement.
β
β
Aberjhani (Illuminated Corners: Collected Essays and Articles Volume I.)
β
A lot of things are inherent in life -change, birth, death, aging, illness, accidents, calamities, and losses of all kinds- but these events don't have to be the cause of ongoing suffering. Yes, these events cause grief and sadness, but grief and sadness pass, like everything else, and are replaced with other experiences. The ego, however, clings to negative thoughts and feelings and, as a result, magnifies, intensifies, and sustains those emotions while the ego overlooks the subtle feelings of joy, gratitude, excitement, adventure, love, and peace that come from Essence. If we dwelt on these positive states as much as we generally dwell on our negative thoughts and painful emotions, our lives would be transformed.
β
β
Gina Lake (What About Now?: Reminders for Being in the Moment)
β
Poverty: a temporary financial low, curable by money.
β
β
Stephen Richards
β
Shout out to everyone transcending
a mindset, mentality, desire, belief,
emotion, habit, behavior or vibration,
that no longer serves them.
β
β
Lalah Delia
β
Advice to my younger self:
1 Start where you are with what you have
2 Try not to hurt other people
3 Take more chances
4 If you fail, keep trying
β
β
Germany Kent
β
When you stop blaming others for where you are in life, that is when you can start to manifest your dream life!
β
β
Stephen Richards
β
The first place where self-esteem begins its journey is within us.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Boost Your Self Esteem)
β
The difference between being mediocre and achieving excellence is you.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Think Your way to Success: Let Your Dreams Run Free)
β
Hard work is what you do to make ends meet, easy work is getting others to do the hard work for you.
β
β
Stephen Richards
β
A failure is always in the passenger seat in his or her life.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Boost Your Self Esteem)
β
The mind is the strongest tool we have to help us secure the riches within the universe.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Cosmic Ordering Guide)
β
If you do not have control over your mouth, you will not have control over your future.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
Each person has got a voice inside them. Communicate with it and take hold of it. Do not let it push and shove you around β you are its master!
β
β
Stephen Richards (Boost Your Self Esteem)
β
To change the world takes time; to change yourself takes courage.
β
β
R.S. Lowel
β
A barrier is a limitation only when you perceive it as one.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Think Your way to Success: Let Your Dreams Run Free)
β
Though money cannot acquire you happiness, it does not mean that both money and happiness cannot exist together.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Think Your way to Success: Let Your Dreams Run Free)
β
Don't ever stop believing in your own transformation. It is still happening even on days you may not realize it or feel like it.
β
β
Lalah Delia
β
Unless we take that first step into the unknown, we will never know our own potential!
β
β
Allan Rufus (The Master's Sacred Knowledge)
β
The most incredible architecture
Is the architecture of Self,
which is ever changing, evolving, revolving and has unlimited beauty and light inside which radiates outwards for everyone to see and feel.
With every in breathe
you are adding to your life
and every out breathe you are releasing what is not contributing to your life.
Every breathe is a re-birth.
β
β
Allan Rufus (The Master's Sacred Knowledge)
β
Part of abandoning the all-or-nothing mentality is allowing yourself room for setbacks. We are bound to have lapses on the road to health and wellness, but it is critical that we learn how to handle small failures positively so that we can minimize their long-term destructive effects. One setback is one setbackβit is not the end of the world, nor is it the end of your journey toward a better you.
β
β
Jillian Michaels
β
It is not enough if you just live life as it comes to you like a floating leaf in a pond. Make use of the powers bestowed in you and soar like an eagle.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Think Your way to Success: Let Your Dreams Run Free)
β
Any day above ground is a good day. Before you complain about anything, be thankful for your life and the things that are still going well.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
Vulnerability really means to be strong and secure enough within yourself that you are able to walk outside without your armor on. You are able to show up in life as just you. That is genuine strength and courage. Armor may look tough, but all it does is mask insecurity and fear.
β
β
Alaric Hutchinson (Living Peace: Essential Teachings For Enriching Life)
β
You tap in to this oneness and become part of the universe as a whole.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Cosmic Ordering Guide)
β
No one else knows exactly what the future holds for you, no one else knows what obstacles you've overcome to be where you are, so don't expect others to feel as passionate about your dreams as you do.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
Note and Quote to Self β What you think, say and do!
Your life mainly consists of 3 things!
What you think,
What you say and
What you do!
So always be very conscious of what you are co-creating!
β
β
Allan Rufus (The Master's Sacred Knowledge)
β
A good self-esteem level is mostly dependant on how we value ourselves without any bias.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Boost Your Self Esteem)
β
How we relate with other people is dependent on how we rate ourselves and what we think about ourselves.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Boost Your Self Esteem)
β
Of course, my socialist colleagues and I werenβt out to hurt anyone β quite the reverse. We were out to improve things β but we were going to start with other people. I came to see the temptation in this logic, the obvious flaw, the danger β but could also see that it did not exclusively characterize socialism. Anyone who was out to change the world by changing others was to be regarded with suspicion. The temptations of such a position were too great to be resisted.
β
β
Jordan B. Peterson (Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief)
β
NOTE TO SELF β BOOMERANG EFFECT
My words, thoughts and deeds have
a boomerang effect.
So be-careful what you send out!
β
β
Allan Rufus (The Master's Sacred Knowledge)
β
Just let go of the need to care about whether it happens or not, then you are free from fear and can then concentrate on focusing.
β
β
Stephen Richards
β
The basic idea is that all things in the universe are intertwined.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Cosmic Ordering Guide)
β
Stop giving people the power to control your smile, your worth, your attitude and your day. Donβt give anyone that much power over your life.
β
β
Germany Kent
β
Dear Child,
Sometimes on your travel through hell, you meet people that think they are in heaven because of their cleverness and ability to get away with things. Travel past them because they don't understand who they have become and never will. These type of people feel justified in revenge and will never learn mercy or forgiveness because they live by comparison. They are the people that don't care about anyone, other than who is making them feel confident. They donβt understand that their deity is not rejoicing with them because of their actions, rather he is trying to free them from their insecurities, by softening their heart. They rather put out your light than find their own. They don't have the ability to see beyond the false sense of happiness they get from destroying others. You know what happiness is and it isnβt this. Donβt see their success as their deliverance. It is a mask of vindication which has no audience, other than their own kind. They have joined countless others that call themselves βsurvivorsβ. They believe that they are entitled to win because life didnβt go as planned for them. You are not like them. You were not meant to stay in hell and follow their belief system. You were bound for greatness. You were born to help them by leading. Rise up and be the light home. You were given the gift to see the truth. They will have an army of people that are like them and you are going to feel alone. However, your family in heaven stands beside you now. They are your strength and as countless as the stars. It is time to let go!
Love,
Your Guardian Angel
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
If you take any step, no matter how small it is, towards achieving your dreams then you will surely find the right path and reach the abundance that lies in store for you.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Think Your way to Success: Let Your Dreams Run Free)
β
Limitations are like mirages created by your own mind. When you realise that limitation do not exist, those around you will also feel it and allow you inside their space.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Think Your way to Success: Let Your Dreams Run Free)
β
There is nothing to prove to anyone, just concentrate on your own needs.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Cosmic Ordering Guide)
β
The secret of success is to try always to improve yourself no matter where you are or what your position. Learn all you can. Don't see how little you can do, but how much you can do.
β
β
William Walker Atkinson (The Power of Concentration)
β
Quotes and notes to self β Find your inner peace!
Donβt
be caught up in your outer world.
Pay
greater attention to your inner world
β
β
Allan Rufus
β
With every challenge you face, there is an opportunity hidden that will lead you towards the path of wealth and abundance.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Be First: Achieve Every Dream)
β
A person today who seems to have a great sense of self-esteem has his or her childhood days to thank for it.
β
β
Stephen Richards (Boost Your Self Esteem)
β
Using your mind is a faster method to getting what you want. I mean, all you have to do is sit there. What could be easier?
β
β
Stephen Richards (Cosmic Ordering Guide)
β
If you want to know if someone was meant to be in your future, then remove all the worldly things about them from your mind. Donβt think about their looks, the intimate moments or their personality. Now, think about how they made you feel, how they improved your life and what virtues they possess that push you to want to become better. Did they bring you closer to God? Did they bring you to your life mission? Did they ever lie to you, betray you or made it impossible for you to feel comfortable speaking your mind? When you remove all the shine from a diamond, it becomes a glass rock. What value is it then? See beneath the surface and you will know who your future is with.
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
We are all a little schizophrenic. Each of us has three different people living inside us every dayβwho you were, who you are and who you will become. The road to sanity is to recognize those identities, in order to know who you are today.
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
Reconnect to what makes you happy and brings you Joy. If there is something that used to make you happy which you have stopped doing, do it again. Seek to find deeper meaning and significance rather than living on the surface.
β
β
Susan C. Young
β
Order is not enough. You canβt just be stable, and secure, and unchanging, because there are still vital and important new things to be learned. Nonetheless, chaos can be too much. You canβt long tolerate being swamped and overwhelmed beyond your capacity to cope while you are learning what you still need to know. Thus, you need to place one foot in what you have mastered and understood and the other in what you are currently exploring and mastering. Then you have positioned yourself where the terror of existence is under control and you are secure, but where you are also alert and engaged. That is where there is something new to master and some way that you can be improved. That is where meaning is to be found.
β
β
Jordan B. Peterson (12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos)
β
Nietzsche was the one who did the job for me. At a certain moment in his life,the idea came to him of what he called 'the love of your fate.' Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, 'This is what I need.' It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment--not discouragement--you will find the strength is there. Any disaster you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege! This is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow.
Then, when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments which seemed to be great failures followed by wreckage were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. Youβll see that this is really true. Nothing can happen to you that is not positive. Even though it looks and feels at the moment like a negative crisis, it is not. The crisis throws you back, and when you are required to exhibit strength, it comes.
β
β
Joseph Campbell (A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living)
β
There will be times in your life when things simply have to be replaced because they are tired, broken, worn out, harmful, outdated, or irrelevant. Take an inventory of the things that no longer serve your best and highest good so you can replace them with things which do.
β
β
Susan C. Young
β
Thrill me, chill me I went in search of money and success, all I got was a bellyful of excess! Now that I've realigned myself Iβm on my tip-toes because life is sweet! I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for all the blessings that are manifesting in my life β¦ neat!
β
β
Stephen Richards
β
It is important not to confuse βpatriotismβ with βnationalism.β As I define it, nationalism is a monologue in which you place your country in a position of moral and cultural supremacy over others. Patriotism, while deeply personal, is a dialogue with your fellow citizens, and a larger world, about not only what you love about your country but also how it can be improved.
β
β
Dan Rather (What Unites Us: Reflections on Patriotism)
β
The question is why one should be so inwardly preoccupied at all. Why not reach out to others in love and solidarity or peer into the natural world for some glimmer of understanding? Why retreat into anxious introspection when, as Emerson might have said, there is a vast world outside to explore? Why spend so much time working on oneself when there is so much real work to be done?
β
β
Barbara Ehrenreich (Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America)
β
Samadhi is the journey from individual to collective consciousness. The steps of Samadhi are the steps towards reaching the collective consciousness. In meditation, the more we radiate love, compassion, peace, harmony and tranquility, the more is our contribution towards the collective consciousness. The more we positively contribute towards the collective consciousness the more is our progress in Samadhi.
β
β
Amit Ray (Yoga and Vipassana: An Integrated Life Style)
β
JUST FOR TODAY, I will live through this day only. I will not brood about yesterday or obsess about tomorrow. I will not set far-reaching goals or try to overcome all of my problems at once.
I know that I can do something for 24 hours that would overwhelm me if I had to keep it up for a lifetime.
JUST FOR TODAY, I will be happy. I will not dwell on thoughts that depress me. If my mind fills with clouds, I will chase them away and fill it with sunshine.
JUST FOR TODAY, I will accept what is. I will face reality. I will correct those things that I can correct and accept those I cannot.
JUST FOR TODAY, I will improve my mind. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration. I will not be a mental loafer.
JUST FOR TODAY, I will make a conscious effort to be agreeable. I will be kind and courteous to those who cross my path, and I'll not speak ill of others. I will improve my appearance, speak softly, and not interrupt when someone else is talking. Just for today, I will refrain from improving anybody but myself.
JUST FOR TODAY, I will do something positive to improve my health. If I'm a smoker, I'll quit. If I'm overweight, I will eat healthfully -- if only for today. And not only that, I will get off the couch and take a brisk walk, even if it's only around the block.
JUST FOR TODAY, I will gather the courage to do what is right and take the responsibility for my own actions.
β
β
Abigail Van Buren
β
Truth changes with the season of our emotions. It is the shadow that moves with the phases of our inner sun. When the nights falls, only our perception can guess where it hides in the dark. Within every solar system of the soul lies a plan of what truth is--- the design God has created, in our own unique story. This is as varying as the constellations, and as turning as the tide. It is not one truth we live to, but many. If we ever hope to determine if there is such a thing as truth, apart from cultural and personal preferences, we must acknowledge that we are then aiming to discover something greater than ourselves, something that transcends culture and individual inclinations. Some say that we must look beyond ourselves and outside of ourselves. However, we donβt need to look farther than what is already in each other. If there was any great plan from a higher power it is a simplistic, repetitious theme found in all religions; the basic core importance to unity comes from shared theological and humanistic virtues. Beyond the synagogue, mosques, temples, churches, missionary work, church positions and religious rituals comes a simple βmessage of truthβ found in all of us, that binds theology---holistic virtues combined with purpose is the foundation of spiritual evolution. The diversity among us all is not divided truth, but the opportunity for unity through these shared values. Truth is the framework and roadmap of positive virtues. It unifies diversity when we choose to see it and use it. It is simple message often lost among the rituals, cultural traditions and socializing that goes on behind the chapel doors of any religion or spiritual theology. As we fight among ourselves about what religion, culture or race is right, we often lose site of the simple message any great orator has whispered through time----a simplistic story explaining the importance of virtues, which magically reemphasizes the importance of loving one another through service.
β
β
Shannon L. Alder
β
At the end of that class Demian said to me thoughtfully: "Thereβs something I donβt like about this story, Sinclair. Why donβt you read it once more and give it the acid test? Thereβs something about it that doesnβt taste right. I mean the business with the two thieves. The three crosses standing next to each other on the hill are almost impressive, to be sure. But now comes this sentimental little treatise about the good thief. At first he was a thorough scoundrel, had committed all those awful things and God knows what else, and now he dissolves in tears and celebrates such a tearful feast of self-improvement and remorse! Whatβs the sense of repenting if youβre two steps from the grave? I ask you. Once again, itβs nothing but a priestβs fairy tale, saccharine and dishonest, touched up with sentimentality and given a high edifying background. If you had to pick a friend from between the two thieves or decide which one youβd rather trust, you most certainly wouldnβt choose the sniveling convert. No, the other fellow, heβs a man of character. He doesnβt give a hoot for βconversionβ, which to a man in his position canβt be anything but a pretty speech. He follows his destiny to itβs appointed end and does not turn coward and forswear the devil, who has aided and abetted him until then. He has character, and people with character tend to receive the short end of the stick in biblical stories. Perhaps heβs even a descendant of Cain. Donβt you agree?"
I was dismayed. Until now I had felt completely at home in the story of the Crucifixion. Now I saw for the first time with how little individuality, with how little power of imagination I had listened to it and read it. Still, Demianβs new concept seemed vaguely sinister and threatened to topple beliefs on whose continued existence I felt I simply had to insist. No, one could not make light of everything, especially not of the most Sacred matters.
As usual he noticed my resistance even before I had said anything.
"I know," he said in a resigned tone of voice, "itβs the same old story: donβt take these stories seriously! But I have to tell you something: this is one of the very places that reveals the poverty of this religion most distinctly. The point is that this God of both Old and New Testaments is certainly an extraordinary figure but not what he purports to represent. He is all that is good, noble, fatherly, beautiful, elevated, sentimentalβtrue! But the world consists of something else besides. And what is left over is ascribed to the devil, this entire slice of world, this entire half is hushed up. In exactly the same way they praise God as the father of all life but simply refuse to say a word about our sexual life on which itβs all based, describing it whenever possible as sinful, the work of the devil. I have no objection to worshiping this God Jehovah, far from it. But I mean we ought to consider everything sacred, the entire world, not merely this artificially separated half! Thus alongside the divine service we should also have a service for the devil. I feel that would be right. Otherwise you must create for yourself a God that contains the devil too and in front of which you neednβt close your eyes when the most natural things in the world take place.
β
β
Hermann Hesse (Demian)
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To begin with, we have to be more clear about what we mean by patriotic feelings. For a time when I was in high school, I cheered for the school athletic teams. That's a form of patriotism β group loyalty. It can take pernicious forms, but in itself it can be quite harmless, maybe even positive. At the national level, what "patriotism" means depends on how we view the society. Those with deep totalitarian commitments identify the state with the society, its people, and its culture. Therefore those who criticized the policies of the Kremlin under Stalin were condemned as "anti-Soviet" or "hating Russia". For their counterparts in the West, those who criticize the policies of the US government are "anti-American" and "hate America"; those are the standard terms used by intellectual opinion, including left-liberal segments, so deeply committed to their totalitarian instincts that they cannot even recognize them, let alone understand their disgraceful history, tracing to the origins of recorded history in interesting ways. For the totalitarian, "patriotism" means support for the state and its policies, perhaps with twitters of protest on grounds that they might fail or cost us too much. For those whose instincts are democratic rather than totalitarian, "patriotism" means commitment to the welfare and improvement of the society, its people, its culture. That's a natural sentiment and one that can be quite positive. It's one all serious activists share, I presume; otherwise why take the trouble to do what we do? But the kind of "patriotism" fostered by totalitarian societies and military dictatorships, and internalized as second nature by much of intellectual opinion in more free societies, is one of the worst maladies of human history, and will probably do us all in before too long.
With regard to the US, I think we find a mix. Every effort is made by power and doctrinal systems to stir up the more dangerous and destructive forms of "patriotism"; every effort is made by people committed to peace and justice to organize and encourage the beneficial kinds. It's a constant struggle. When people are frightened, the more dangerous kinds tend to emerge, and people huddle under the wings of power. Whatever the reasons may be, by comparative standards the US has been a very frightened country for a long time, on many dimensions. Quite commonly in history, such fears have been fanned by unscrupulous leaders, seeking to implement their own agendas. These are commonly harmful to the general population, which has to be disciplined in some manner: the classic device is to stimulate fear of awesome enemies concocted for the purpose, usually with some shreds of realism, required even for the most vulgar forms of propaganda. Germany was the pride of Western civilization 70 years ago, but most Germans were whipped to presumably genuine fear of the Czech dagger pointed at the heart of Germany (is that crazier than the Nicaraguan or Grenadan dagger pointed at the heart of the US, conjured up by the people now playing the same game today?), the Jewish-Bolshevik conspiracy aimed at destroying the Aryan race and the civilization that Germany had inherited from Greece, etc.
That's only the beginning. A lot is at stake.
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Noam Chomsky