This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
Yehiel Mikhal of Zlotchov, also Yechiel Michel M'Drohobitch Maggid of Zlotchov
Pray for your enemies that everything may be well with them. More than all others prayers, this is truly the service of God.
Cato the Younger, formally Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis NULL
Some men are better served by their bitter-tongued enemies than by their sweet-smiling friends; because the former often tell the truth, the latter, never.
The mystic vision of God, or ecstasy of felt union with Him, is, to those who attain it, an affair of ravishing emotional intensity, of vivid intellectual illumination, and on both of these counts of supreme value.
Friendship being incompatible with truth, only the mute dialogue with our enemies is fruitful.
Truth |
Mahatma Gandhi, fully Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, aka Bapu
Man’s ultimate aim is the realization of God, and all his activities, - social, religious – have to be guided by the ultimate aim of the vision of God. The immediate service of all human beings becomes a necessary part of the endeavor simply because the only way to god is to see Him in His creation and be one with it.
Mahatma Gandhi, fully Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, aka Bapu
If we had attained the full vision of Truth, we would no longer be mere seekers, would have become one with God, for Truth is God. But being only seekers we prosecute our quest and are conscious of our imperfection.
God | Imperfection | Truth | Vision |
If no charismatic emerges, people may be truly bereft and lost in a sea of forces and pressures beyond their adaptive capacity. The society may die. If someone does emerge, the people may understandably attribute his rise to “divine grace.” Indeed, if he exercises leadership, he may well save his community and help it to renew itself. First, he binds people together by powerfully articulating their values, hopes, and pains. Second, he weaves their hopes into some image of the future. And third, he provides energy, strategy, and faith that the vision can be realized.
Capacity | Energy | Faith | Future | Grace | People | Society | Vision | Society |
Philosophy is only a matter of passionate vision rather than of logic - logic only finding reasons for the vision afterwards.
Logic | Philosophy | Vision |
There are only three things to teach: Simplicity, patience, and compassion. Simplicity in action and thoughts, will return you to the source of your being. Patience with friends and enemies alike, will give you harmony with the way things are. Compassion with yourself, will settle all the differences between you and other beings in the world.
Action | Compassion | Harmony | Patience | Simplicity | Teach | Will | World | Friends |