Select a Quest
Then choose an item in the Visionary Society Journey, and click Support.
What should we do with our time, money, skills, talents? How can we maintain our integrity in a world where power, success and money are valued above all else?
Can spirituality reform the acquisitive spirit? Is anything sacred anymore?
Can spirituality reform the acquisitive spirit? Is anything sacred anymore?
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Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Self
Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Self
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Smile with a true smileSelf
Reflect
What would you give your life for?
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Reflect on Self: What would you give your life for?
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What do you care about most?
Personal security
Accumulate money
Your own happiness
Recognition, status, fame
Social justice
Being a decent person
Bring good into the world
What do you find humorous? Do you derive pleasure from the suffering of others? Watch yourself and see if you have this feeling. It may not be obvious, but if it is there you will find that it expresses itself in the impulse to laugh when somebody falls. You want those who are high to be pulled down; you criticize and gossip thoughtlessly about others.
What is the condition of your psyche? Do you judge others by their age, gender, race, attractiveness? Are you quick to anger? Jealous and envious? Lazy and ignorant? Bigoted and self-righteous?
How do you react when someone attacks you? Do you fight back? Are you at peace with yourself? Are you seeking status, position, money, relationship?
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Challenge
Be willing to suffer and sacrifice
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Self Challenge
Do not seek pleasure or security first. Be willing to suffer, even to give up everything, in the service of something greater than yourself. Give until it hurts.
"If you want to help, share something of yourself – not from your abundance – but until it hurts. Give what costs you—make a sacrifice—do without something you like, so you may share what you have saved thus with those who do not even have what they need. Then your giving will be true giving--loving until it hurts.” Mother Teresa
"If you want to help, share something of yourself – not from your abundance – but until it hurts. Give what costs you—make a sacrifice—do without something you like, so you may share what you have saved thus with those who do not even have what they need. Then your giving will be true giving--loving until it hurts.” Mother Teresa
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Action
Become a Visionary Citizen
Supporters will receive updates on the latest Visionary Society activities, and insights (short readigs or video) on this Quest.
We flounder in a sea of superficiality. Our passivity binds us to the existing order. We sought happiness, but received vacuity. An insight became a policy. A position was assumed, a relationship was defined. A dream turned into a bureaucracy.
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Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Society
Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Society
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We have ceased to be shocked by the breakdown in moral inhibitions. Society
Reflect
What are the principles of modern society?
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Reflect on Society: What are the principles of modern society?
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What are the principles of modern society? Science and technology? Materialism, growth, market forces? Pleasure-seeking, lust, greed?
What are the biggest problems we face? Climate change, artificial intelligence, nuclear war? Inequality, injustice, poverty, disease? Loneliness, addiction, meaninglessness?
What is your experience of living in bureaucratic, centralized, organized, technological, materialistic society? Do you accept the ideologies of work, entertainment, politics? Do you accept your life with it and in it?
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Challenge
Exquisite sensitivity and incomparable tenderness.
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Society Challenge
What our civilization needs today. . .is the cultivation of an exquisite sensitivity and an incomparable tenderness…Unnamable horrors have paraded before us and worse evils threaten because we have been unable to wipe the blank stare of indifference from our stony tearless faces. (Lewis Mumford)
“Our victories have come to resemble defeats. In spite of our triumphs, we have fallen victims to the work of our hands; it is as if the forces we had conquered have conquered us.” Abraham Heschel
What is success?
“Our victories have come to resemble defeats. In spite of our triumphs, we have fallen victims to the work of our hands; it is as if the forces we had conquered have conquered us.” Abraham Heschel
What is success?
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Action
Create Visionary Society
Supporters will receive updates on the latest Visionary Society activities, and insights (short readigs or video) on this Quest.
Is it possible to overcome our biases? Is it possible to find the truth of a perspective or person? What is truly important to know?
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Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Understanding
Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Understanding
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The problem is as beautiful as the sunset. Understanding
Reflect
What problem are you unable to solve?
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Reflect on Understanding: What problem are you unable to solve?
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What problem are you unable to solve? What are the peripheral and core elements of the problem? Are your intentions genuine? What are your secret motives? What are you evading? Gently, patiently, humbly and courageously enter into the problem and locate its heart.
What do you know? Give an example of something obvious, undeniable, certain. Is it a fact, an idea, a feeling? How do you know it is true? What evidence do you have? Is it worth believing in?
Are you able to think? Are you able to listen to views you disagree with? Are you able to see the truths of those you oppose? Are you able to locate the heart of the issue?
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Challenge
When there is love the problem is simple. Otherwise, the problem is complex.
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Understanding Challenge
When you reach the shore, keep going. Press onwards through unknown seas. Hunker down in the wild and forage in the deeps. Don’t disembark at the first truth. It is a truth, but only one pinnacle of truth, a single prominence rising up when the tide recedes. Premature understanding falsifies and slays the truth. Wait a while longer and more islets appear, and finally the base, from which all ascend. Dwelling there, cradling opposites, the primal elements become luminous and speak for themselves: the fruit of the wilds: healing embrace, unknowing of ignorance.
"Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;
Man got to sit and wonder, 'Why, why, why?'
Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land;
Man got to tell himself he understand."
– Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle
“Understanding someone’s suffering is the best gift you can give another person. Understanding is love’s other name. If you don’t understand, you can’t love.” Thich Nhat Hanh.
"Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly;
Man got to sit and wonder, 'Why, why, why?'
Tiger got to sleep, bird got to land;
Man got to tell himself he understand."
– Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle
“Understanding someone’s suffering is the best gift you can give another person. Understanding is love’s other name. If you don’t understand, you can’t love.” Thich Nhat Hanh.
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Action
Undertake your own Learning Journey.
Supporters will receive updates on the latest Visionary Society activities, and insights (short readigs or video) on this Quest.
What is explosive creativity?
Can we combat mass culture? Are there objective standards for culture? What is the purpose of art? What is the difference between outer and inner beauty?
Can we combat mass culture? Are there objective standards for culture? What is the purpose of art? What is the difference between outer and inner beauty?
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Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Culture
Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Culture
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Genius in art is invisible to ordinary eyes.Culture
Reflect
How do you participate in culture?
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Reflect on Culture: How do you participate in culture?
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How actively do you participate in culture? Are you looking for stimulation and pleasure? Do you try to understand the purpose and effect of what you see and hear? Do you seek the good, true and beautiful?
What is your culture IQ?
How much time do you spend watching television, on the Internet, on your phone, or listening to music? How much do you engage in creative work or challenging thought?
How much time do you spend watching television, on the Internet, on your phone, or listening to music? How much do you engage in creative work or challenging thought?
What is beautiful or ugly, moral or immoral, in your community? In public spaces? In politics and the media? Among strangers and friends?
Think of a song, film or work of art you hae enjoyed. How does it make you feel? Does it inflame your ego? Does it reinforce stereotypes? Does it make you compare yourself to others? Or did it recognize the part of you that you admire? Did it make you feel more human? Did it address what is best in you?
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Challenge
Put the fair and good into your mind.
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Culture Challenge
See through the illusion of outer beauty. Support culture that lifts and inspires, informs and transforms. Put the fair and good into your mind. Find out what is explosive creativity.
How do we measure culture? “By how much spiritual substance there is in its everyday existence…We gauge culture by the extent to which a whole people, not only individuals, live in accordance with the dictates of an eternal doctrine or strive for spiritual integrity; the extent to which inwardness, compassion, justice and holiness are to be found in the daily life of the masses.” Abraham Heschel
How do we measure culture? “By how much spiritual substance there is in its everyday existence…We gauge culture by the extent to which a whole people, not only individuals, live in accordance with the dictates of an eternal doctrine or strive for spiritual integrity; the extent to which inwardness, compassion, justice and holiness are to be found in the daily life of the masses.” Abraham Heschel
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Action
Support culture that lifts and inspires, informs and transforms.
Supporters will receive updates on the latest Visionary Society activities, and insights (short readigs or video) on this Quest.
What is the place of money in your life? How much should you sacrifice for material success? Does it limit or free you to do what needs to be done? What is real wealth, true riches?
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Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Money
Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Money
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Money dictates how we deal with everything – material, intellectual, and emotional.Money
Reflect
"Aren't you ashamed that you give your attention to getting as much money as possible?"
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Reflect on Money: "Aren't you ashamed that you give your attention to getting as much money as possible?"
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“I shall never stop practicing philosophy and exhorting you and elucidating the truth for everyone that I meet. I shall go on saying…Are you not ashamed that you give your attention to acquiring as much money as possible, and similarly with reputation and honor and give no attention to truth and understanding and the perfection of your soul?
What kind of work do you do? – Dysfunctional work, such as military, advertising. – Work that limits choice, such as banking. – Areas of obscene profit, such as education and healthcare. – Work that compensates for dysfunction, such as police, therapy. – Creative functions, such as design, writing, art. – Service providers, such as teachers, health care. – Vital functions, such as food.
What danger does money have for you? "There are some callings where [the ambition to get rich] is a dangerous impediment; among these I would include ministers, teachers, lawyers and physicians." Abraham Heschel
What is the meaning of a product or service you have purchased? What is its true cost? "The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run." Henry David Thoreau
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Challenge
Select a just vocation. Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and nature.
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Money Challenge
Just doing your job is wretched (Public action)
Limit your dependence on money.
Reduce the time and energy you spend earning money.
Establish a maximum level of income.
Work for the good.
"This ingenious instrument of material exchange, money, has turned into the only means or the principal means of human communication…Money is the present-day name for the world of the human ego. Money dictates how we deal with everything – material, intellectual, and emotional things." Jacob Needleman
“There is not wealth but life. Life, including all its powers of love, and joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings; that man is richest who, having perfected the functions of his own life to the utmost, has also the widest helpful influence, both personal, and by means of his possessions, over the lives of others.” John Ruskin
Limit your dependence on money.
Reduce the time and energy you spend earning money.
Establish a maximum level of income.
Work for the good.
"This ingenious instrument of material exchange, money, has turned into the only means or the principal means of human communication…Money is the present-day name for the world of the human ego. Money dictates how we deal with everything – material, intellectual, and emotional things." Jacob Needleman
“There is not wealth but life. Life, including all its powers of love, and joy, and of admiration. That country is the richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings; that man is richest who, having perfected the functions of his own life to the utmost, has also the widest helpful influence, both personal, and by means of his possessions, over the lives of others.” John Ruskin
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Action
Businesses should work for the good. Just doing your job is wretched.
Supporters will receive updates on the latest Visionary Society activities, and insights (short readigs or video) on this Quest.
Are you fed up with politics, but still want to be involved in the issues of the day? Is government that recognizes heart and soul possible? Can the citizen make a difference? Are you worthy of democracy? Does politics have to be adversarial? What does it mean to vote with your life?
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Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Politics
Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Politics
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It is essential for the mind is to be young, fresh, innocent – that is, in a state of revolution. Politics
Reflect
What political issue do you care about?
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Reflect on Politics: What political issue do you care about?
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Think of any issue that you have a stake in, in which you are committed to one side. What is good or true about the side that you oppose? What are their grievances? How are they suffering?
Do you vote? Why or why not?
Repeat the pledge of allegiance:
"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
How does this make you feel?
"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
How does this make you feel?
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Challenge
Look for the good in the other side.
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Politics Challenge
Do not believe what you are told by the government or media.
Do not condemn the other side unthinkingly.
Do not appeal to or blame leaders or authorities.
Reconstruct any hopeless political issue and make it Visionary.
“At every moment of our lives we should be trying to find out, not in what we differ from other people, but in what we agree with them; and the moment we find we can agree as to anything that should be done, kind or good, (and who but fools couldn’t?) then do it; push at it together.” John Ruskin
Do not condemn the other side unthinkingly.
Do not appeal to or blame leaders or authorities.
Reconstruct any hopeless political issue and make it Visionary.
“At every moment of our lives we should be trying to find out, not in what we differ from other people, but in what we agree with them; and the moment we find we can agree as to anything that should be done, kind or good, (and who but fools couldn’t?) then do it; push at it together.” John Ruskin
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Action
Turn a political dilemma into a Quest.
Supporters will receive updates on the latest Visionary Society activities, and insights (short readigs or video) on this Quest.
Good Morning, Dear Beloved
Why is it we all so desperately want to be loved? Is true friendship possible?
Why is it we all so desperately want to be loved? Is true friendship possible?
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Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Relationship
Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Relationship
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Try to find out how you agree with othersRelationship
Reflect
What is the closest thing to love you have ever experienced?
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Reflect on Relationship: What is the closest thing to love you have ever experienced?
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What is the closest thing to love you have ever experienced? What was universal about that – not tied to the particular person or experience?
Give an example of illusory love. Have you fallen in love with or been infatuated with someone for reasons that you later realized were false?
What are you willing to do for a friend? What are willing to sacrifice? What would you never give or sacrifice?
How are you the same as others? What do you have in common with other human beings? With all of life, animals and plants? With inanimate things, like rocks and air?
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Challenge
Look for the higher nature in anyone, the grandeur of any living being.
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Relationship Challenge
Look for the higher nature in anyone, the grandeur of any living being.
Do not mislead or take advantage of others for your own benefit.
Never give up on anyone.
Find one or two profound qualities in every person you meet.
Learn to see those who are invisible. For example, older people or those in poverty.
Focus on how you agree with others, not on how you differ.
Instead of fighting those causing harm, try help them.
Look upon harm-doers with the eyes of a mother.
Ask for depth in every relationship, at least a little.
"Most of us are lonely, and the older we get, the more lonely. We discover our emptiness, what it means to be lonely, to have no friend at all because you have led a superficial life and invested your thought, your feelings in another. Can you see all this and learn from it? Learn what it means to be lonely and not escape from it; look at it, live with it, see what is implied so that psychologically you depend on nobody. Then only will you know what it means to love."
Jiddu Krishnamurti
“What is important is to find out if you’re one of those with whom love wishes to dwell.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti
Do not mislead or take advantage of others for your own benefit.
Never give up on anyone.
Find one or two profound qualities in every person you meet.
Learn to see those who are invisible. For example, older people or those in poverty.
Focus on how you agree with others, not on how you differ.
Instead of fighting those causing harm, try help them.
Look upon harm-doers with the eyes of a mother.
Ask for depth in every relationship, at least a little.
"Most of us are lonely, and the older we get, the more lonely. We discover our emptiness, what it means to be lonely, to have no friend at all because you have led a superficial life and invested your thought, your feelings in another. Can you see all this and learn from it? Learn what it means to be lonely and not escape from it; look at it, live with it, see what is implied so that psychologically you depend on nobody. Then only will you know what it means to love."
Jiddu Krishnamurti
“What is important is to find out if you’re one of those with whom love wishes to dwell.”
Jiddu Krishnamurti
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Action
New Valentine's Day and Visionary Friendship Pledge
Supporters will receive updates on the latest Visionary Society activities, and insights (short readigs or video) on this Quest.
Why do we fight our own brothers and sisters? Can conflict be resolved at the root? Is understanding between strangers, political parties, and nations, even possible? Can we put an end to war in ourselves?
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Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Peace
Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Peace
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"Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love." Peace
Reflect
What share do you have in the world’s confusion and wickedness?
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Reflect on Peace: What share do you have in the world’s confusion and wickedness?
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How peaceful are you? How much peace is there in your life? And how much conflict? When you are in conflict, do you use force or love?
Are you at war with yourself? Do you sometimes act with cruelty or brutality? In what ways are you narrow, superficial, fragmented? In what ways? Are you responsible for wars? What share do you have in the world’s confusion and wickedness?’
How do you get along with your parents, siblings, partners? How do you feel waiting in a supermarket line when there is an unexp
How do you lead your life? Do you participate in violent cultural activities, use respectful language? What would it mean to lea
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Challenge
Peace challenge... ... ... ... ... ... Put an end to war in yourself.
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Peace Challenge
Put an end to war in yourself
Understand your own role in conflict and aggression.
Admit your need for power, prestige, money.
Recognize your own brutality.
Atone as far as possible for the wrongs you inflict on others.
Don't participate in violent cultural activities.
Reduce indirect complicity in harm, such as overconsumption and greed.
Respect the sanctity of human life and all life.
“War is the spectacular and bloody projection of our everyday life, is it not? War is merely an outward expression of our inward state, an enlargement of our daily action. It is more spectacular, more bloody, more destructive, but it is the collective result of our individual activities.”
"Hitler and Mussolini were only the primary spokesmen for the attitude of domination of craving for power that are in the heart of almost everyone. Until the source is cleared, there will always be confusion and hate, wars and class antagonisms.”
– J. Krishnamurti
Understand your own role in conflict and aggression.
Admit your need for power, prestige, money.
Recognize your own brutality.
Atone as far as possible for the wrongs you inflict on others.
Don't participate in violent cultural activities.
Reduce indirect complicity in harm, such as overconsumption and greed.
Respect the sanctity of human life and all life.
“War is the spectacular and bloody projection of our everyday life, is it not? War is merely an outward expression of our inward state, an enlargement of our daily action. It is more spectacular, more bloody, more destructive, but it is the collective result of our individual activities.”
"Hitler and Mussolini were only the primary spokesmen for the attitude of domination of craving for power that are in the heart of almost everyone. Until the source is cleared, there will always be confusion and hate, wars and class antagonisms.”
– J. Krishnamurti
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Action
Form a Peace Brigade for any conflict.
Supporters will receive updates on the latest Visionary Society activities, and insights (short readigs or video) on this Quest.
Is there something greater than we ourselves? Does truth, good and beauty exist?
Can spirituality reform the acquisitive spirit? Can it exist without dogma, authority or belief? Is anything sacred anymore?
Can spirituality reform the acquisitive spirit? Can it exist without dogma, authority or belief? Is anything sacred anymore?
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Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Spirituality
Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Spirituality
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Spirituality means aliveness. It’s a communal affair, and it’s revolutionary.Spirituality
Reflect
What was the most sacred experience in your life?
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Reflect on Spirituality: What was the most sacred experience in your life?
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What was the most sacred experience in your life?
“Was it a moment of love? A moment of beholding the awe of nature’s beauty or being moved by a stirring song, the birth of a child or being in the presence of a wise person?”
In what ways are you devoted to a false god?
Another person? A country, religion, race, idea? How do you identify with it? How have you made it sacred, holy? Is it through fear of being inadequate yourself?
Another person? A country, religion, race, idea? How do you identify with it? How have you made it sacred, holy? Is it through fear of being inadequate yourself?
What is sacred to you? The sacred is reality, purpose, being. What is most real to you? What lies in the secret chambers of your heart, in your unconscious? Money? Family? Success? Happiness?
Look for the good. Think of the worst person you know. Do you say bad things about them? Do you treat them with contempt? Can you say one good thing about them?
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Challenge
Stake your life on the existence of a transcendent reality.
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Spirituality Challenge
Stake your life on the existence of a transcendent reality. Decide to become capable of spirituality, freedom, love, good.
Begin with humility. Assume that you are ignorant, that every one of your assumptions are incorrect. That everything constructed by society is false. Begin by admitting that you are bewitched, seduced by whatever you are most fond of. Fight the idea that the greatest thing in life is to satisfy your interests or needs.
“By foregoing beauty for goodness, power for love, grief for gratitude, by entreating the Lord for help to understand our hopes, for strength to resist our fears, we may receive a gentle sense of the holiness permeating the air."
Abraham Heschel
Begin with humility. Assume that you are ignorant, that every one of your assumptions are incorrect. That everything constructed by society is false. Begin by admitting that you are bewitched, seduced by whatever you are most fond of. Fight the idea that the greatest thing in life is to satisfy your interests or needs.
“By foregoing beauty for goodness, power for love, grief for gratitude, by entreating the Lord for help to understand our hopes, for strength to resist our fears, we may receive a gentle sense of the holiness permeating the air."
Abraham Heschel
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Action
Spiritual community for the modern world
Supporters will receive updates on the latest Visionary Society activities, and insights (short readigs or video) on this Quest.
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Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Culture
Visionary Society Journey
for the Quest Culture
Supporters will receive updates on the latest Visionary Society activities, and insights (short readigs or video) on this Quest.