Quote of the Day

Why should we describe the frustrations and turning points in the lab, or all the hours of groundwork and failed images that precede the final outcome?  Because, rarified exceptions aside, our audience is a human one, and humans want to connect.  Personal stories can make the complex more tangible, spark associations, and offer entry into things that might otherwise leave one cold.

-- Rachel Sussman

Quote of the Day

When Nelson Mandela walked out of prison, he vowed to forgive.  He did not, however, vow to stop talking about injustice. 

-- Rachel Held Evans, "On Forgiveness and Abuse"

Quote of the Day

Who then are Jesus' followers: the secular, godless Danes caring for the poor or the don't-tread-on-me Ayn Rand-inspired libertarians and their church-going enablers?  And for all the talk about the "real America" bandied about by right wingers, the humanistic impact of Jesus' thinking was central to America's founding.  The Declaration of Independence is an Enlightenment document containing the words "All men are created equal," a direct extension of Jesus' inclusive vision.  Lincoln built on this idea in his Gettysburg Address.

-- Frank Schaeffer, Why I Am an Atheist Who Believes in God, p. 65

Quote of the Day

When we spend our lives waiting until we're perfect or bulletproof before we walk into the arena, we ultimately sacrifice relationships and opportunities that may not be recoverable, we squander our precious time, and we turn our backs on our gifts, those unique contributions that only we can make.

-- Brene Brown, Daring Greatly, p. 2

Quote of the Day

We do not need more knowledge but more wisdom.  Wisdom comes from our own attention.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 51

Quote of the Day

I write when something makes a strong claim on me.

-- Marilynne Robinson

Quote of the Day

...far too many Christians just don't know how to spot and respond to the signs of abuse -- be it spiritual abuse, abuse of authority, or even the physical/emotional/sexual abuse of women and children.  And I believe the impetus is on denominational leaders and on the media (religious and mainstream) to better educate the Christian public on these matters and to better hold church leaders accountable when they abuse. 

-- Rachel Held Evans, "Changing the Culture that Enabled Mark Driscoll: 6 Ways Forward"

Quote of the Day

Words matter.  Artists love to trot out the tired line, "My work speaks for itself," but the truth is, our work doesn't speak for itself.  Human beings want to know where things came from, how they were made, and who made them.  The stories you tell about the work you do have a huge effect on how people feel and what they understand about your work, and how people feel and what they understand about your work effects how they value it.

-- Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!, p. 93

Quote of the Day

True reconciliation exposes the awfulness, the abuse, the hurt, the truth.  It could even sometimes make things worse.  It is a risky undertaking but in the end it is worthwhile, because in the end only an honest confrontation with reality can bring real healing.

-- Desmond Tutu

Quote of the Day

Fewer than 5 percent of Danes attend church.  In godless Denmark, the national government funds a high quality education for all children, rich and poor alike, while in God-fearing America, education is funded through local property taxes, so neighborhood and income dictate a child's educational opportunities.  Add in race and ethnicity factors to create a perfectly stratified school system segregated by educational opportunity.  Yet American evangelicals would deem most of the compassionate citizens of Denmark -- who are living according to Jesus' teaching about how to treat people -- as "godless" and try to send American missionaries.

-- Frank Schaeffer, Why I Am an Atheist Who Believes in God, p. 64

Quote of the Day

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.  The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is not effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly...

-- Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic"

Quote of the Day

When you eat, eat slowly and listen to your body.  Let your stomach tell you when to stop, not your eyes or your tongue.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 49

Quote of the Day

In both writing and sleeping, we learn to be physically still at the same time we are encouraging our minds to unlock from the humdrum rational thinking of our daytime lives.

-- Stephen King, On Writing

Quote of the Day

Hearing is one of the body’s five senses.  But listening is an art.

-- Frank Tyger

Quote of the Day

Stories are such a powerful driver of emotional value that their effect on any given object's subjective value can actually be measured objectively.

-- Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker, Significant Objects

Quote of the Day

The greatest failure of the church/Christian organizations when it comes to responding to abuse is institutional self-protection.  Too often Christian institutions have been willing to sacrifice the individual human soul in exchange for the protection of their own reputation.  What makes such responses even more heinous is that they are often justified in the name of "protecting the name of Christ."  Such a justification is nothing but a pious attempt at self-protection.

-- Boz Tchividjian, "No More Silence: An interview with Boz Tchividjian of G.R.A.C.E."

Quote of the Day

Although the Enlightenment philosophers' followers rejected the institutional Church and the brutal hypocrites who ran it, they were among the first to challenge society to actually carry out Jesus' vision of compassionate humanism on a large, transformative scale.

-- Frank Schaeffer, Why I Am an Atheist Who Believes in God, p. 63

Quote of the Day

It is in those (thankfully) obscured places where we have the opportunity to objectively better ourselves, make peace with who we are without the fear of failure or judgment. It seems incredibly self-centered, but surprisingly, it can lead to an amazing reaching out toward connecting with others.

-- Jennifer Knapp, "Ask Jennifer Knapp...(Response)"

Quote of the Day

Our body is precious.  It is our vehicle for awakening.  Treat it with care.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 48

Quote of the Day

When it all comes together, a creative life has the nourishing power we normally associate with food, love, and faith.

-- Twyla Tharp

Quote of the Day

I succeeded by saying what everyone else is thinking.

-- Joan Rivers

Quote of the Day

Do what you do best and link to the rest.

-- Jeff Jarvis

Quote of the Day

As Christians, our first impulse should be to protect and defend the powerless, not the powerful, and yet too often, the reverse is the case. 

-- Rachel Held Evans, "On Forgiveness and Abuse"

Quote of the Day

On all levels and in every aspect of our society, the poor are rejected, mistreated, and forced more deeply into their poverty.  Christianity should have taken up the cause of the poor; better yet, it should have identified with the poor.  Instead, during almost the entire course of its history, the Church has served as a prop of the powerful and has been on the side of exploiters and states.

-- Jacques Ellul, Jesus and Marx

Quote of the Day

Being observed is often too great a temptation to imitate the style of characters we want to be rather than investing in the hard work of mindfully becoming our unique selves. Save the spotlight for the celebration, for the moments where connecting MUST occur to move forward.

-- Jennifer Knapp, "Ask Jennifer Knapp...(Response)"

Quote of the Day

No matter how difficult the past, you can always begin again today.

-- Jack Kornfield, Buddha's Little Instruction Book, p. 47

Quote of the Day

I've never believed that one should wait until one is inspired because I think that the pleasures of not writing are so great that if you ever start indulging them you will never write again.

-- John Updike

Quote of the Day

We change, but always at a cost: to win this you lose that.

-- Geoffrey Wolff, A Day at the Beach

Quote of the Day

We all love things that other people think are garbage.  You have to have the courage to keep loving your garbage, because what makes us unique is the diversity and breadth of our influences, the unique ways in which we mix up the parts of culture others have deemed "high" and the "low."

-- Austin Kleon, Show Your Work!, p. 81

Quote of the Day

But confronting bullying and abuse is not “bickering.” It’s the right thing to do. It’s standing in solidarity with the very people Jesus taught us to prioritize—the suffering, the marginalized, the vulnerable ... Defending the defenseless is an essential (and biblical) part of our calling as followers of Jesus. We don't just abandon it when the bully happens to be a Christian. 

-- Rachel Held Evans, "On Forgiveness and Abuse"