Earth teaches me to forget myself as melted snow forgets its life. Earth teaches me resignation as the leaves which die in the fall… Earth teaches me regeneration as the seed which rises in the spring.
It is inevitable that a tragedy should arouse sorrowful feelings. Still, out of that sorrow itself comes a feeling of triumph – the victory of the human will over the most adverse circumstances. And thus out of sorrow and defeat come joy and victory.
One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted; and a community is infinitely more brutalised by the habitual employment of punishment than it is by the occasional occurrence of crime.
Realise your oneness with God, remaining continually intent on identifying with its nature, and joyfully drink the bliss of God within, for what use is there in other, empty things?
The essence of the offering is that it be analogous to the sin, and that a man offer to God his desires and passions, for this is more acceptable than all.
