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The Inspiration of a Good Quotation As many of my readers know, I’m working on my Ph.D. in theology and the human sciences at Chicago Theological Seminary. This semester, I’m involved in two teaching assistant positions, one with Professor Robert Moore, a Jungian psychologist and theologian. In that course, entitled “Psychopathology in Theological Perspective,” I am giving two lectures, one on theologian Paul Tillich’s Dynamics of Faith (1957) and the other on his Courage to Be (1952). It comes as no great surprise that I have turned to the Internet to help enliven my lectures. For example, Tillich defines faith as: “Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned: the dynamics of faith are the dynamics of man’s ultimate concern.” He also states: “The ultimate concern gives depth, direction and unity to all other concerns, and, with them, to the whole personality. A personal life which has these qualities is integrated, and the power of a personality’s integration is his faith.” The word power popped out at me and I made an immediate connection between that and a poster I had recently seen that said: “Due to the Energy Crisis, the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been Turned Off.” Energy is power and faith is power — the connection was made. I researched the saying on the Internet and discovered that it first began popping up on bulletin boards and walls throughout the San Jose/Silicon Valley area in California during their infamous energy crisis (Dataquest, 9/1/01, www.dqindia.com/content/ebiz/101090104.asp). For Tillich, the power of faith can be genuine or distorted. Tillich calls this the difference between true faith and idolatrous faith. Faith is true if it adequately expresses an ultimate concern and if its content is really ultimate. The really ultimate is that which transcends our finite existence. Distorted or idolatrous faith can’t transcend, can’t go beyond. In Dynamics of Faith, Tillich points out a number of idolatrous faiths including extreme nationalism and the quest for success to the exclusion of all else. The poster reminded me of one of the other false “gods” or ultimacies of our modern society: Technology. Granted the saying was said tongue in cheek. But within our humor, we can often find the seeds of our true anxieties. Therefore, it was easy to make an analogy between the “god” of our technology and the light at the end of the tunnel, which is often used as a symbol of God, the infinite, the ground of being. When that light, that false “god” is turned off, we are left unfulfilled. And, according to Tillich, when unfulfilled, the promise of this kind of idolatrous or false faith proves to be empty. My next lecture is on Tillich’s Courage to Be. On Thursday, September 11, 2003, I happened to catch the speech given by the Governor of New Jersey during the 9/11 Memorial Service at the World Trade Center site. During that speech he quoted Eleanor Roosevelt on courage: “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” “Aha,” I thought, “I could use that to illustrate a point in my lecture.” I went to the Internet to try to find the quote. Not only did I find that, but I discovered a number of wonderful sites that are filled with inspiring quotations. Here are a few of them: Wisdom Quotes (www.wisdomquotes.com): This site is full of quotations that inspire and challenge. There is also a Wisdom Quotes Email List that you can subscribe to. The home page includes a few random quotes and then there is an extensive list of categories that you can select from including courage, ceremony, creativity, death, forgiveness, joy, love, power, and wonder. One of the random quotes is from M. Scott Peck, and it, too speaks to courage: There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community. The Quotations Page (www.quotationspage.com): The home page of this site states: “You’ve reached the oldest quotation site on the Web, established 1994. We have over 18,000 quotations online from over 2300 authors, and more are added daily. Don’t forget to stop by our Forums for answers to your quotation questions.” The home page also features a selected quotation book, news and updates, and a place where you can browse by author or subject. Authors include Shakespeare, Einstein, Aristotle, Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, Gandhi, Confucius, Nietzsche, etc. and subjects include Life, Love, Success, Change, Friendship, Dreams, etc. When I clicked on the Gandhi link in the Author’s section, the first quote was: Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well. Quoteland (www.quoteland.com): This site states that is has “all the right words.” Selection categories on the home page include Topics, Resources, and User Groups. The Resource category helps you identify quotes and find other quote-oriented Internet resources. The User Groups category includes areas like I Need a Quote, Debate Forum, and Writers’ Club. The first quote in the Literary Quotes subcategory under Topics is from the “Bhagavad Gita”: If the radiance of a thousand suns I have bookmarked these sites and plan to use them whenever I need some words of inspiration. I suggest that you do likewise. Mary Montgomery-Clifford is a certified web author and developer. Her company, Montgomery Media Enterprises ("Freelancing with Finesse!"), specializes in public relations, events, promotions, writing project and web authoring, development and publicity. Ms. Montgomery-Clifford has a Master's Degree in religious studies from Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) in June 2002 and is working on a Ph.D. with a focus on the new scholarship of Unlimited Love and the Other Regarding Virtues in the Fall of 2002. She is also in the process of completing the Morris Pratt Institute Course on Modern Spiritualism. Contact her via e-mail at Monty764@aol.com, by phone at 773-235-8821 or at her web site at www.montymedia.com. Next Article |
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