Principles
Below are a few quotations and poems by philosophers and poets we find inspiring. We hope you will enjoy them too.
TOS Team
The Theosophical ideas of charity mean personal exertion for others; personal mercy and kindness; personal interest in the welfare of those who suffer; personal sympathy, forethought and assistance in their troubles or needs.
H.P. Blavatsky.
A human being is part of the whole, called by us "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
Albert Einstein.
Let not the fierce sun dry one tear of pain before thyself hast wiped it from the sufferer's eye. But let each burning human tear drop on thy heart and there remain, nor ever brush it off, until the pain that caused it is removed.
H.P. Blavatsky.
Theosophy must not represent merely a collection of moral verities, a bundle of metaphysical ethics epitomized in theoretical dissertation. Theosophy must be made practical, and has, therefore to be disencumbered of useless discussion.... It has to find objective expression in an all-embracing code of life thoroughly impregnated with its spirit -- the spirits of mutual tolerance, charity and love. Its followers have to set the example of a firmly outlined and as firmly applied morality before they get the right to point out, even in a spirit of kindness, the absence of a like ethical unity and singleness of purpose in other associations and individuals.
A letter from an Elder Brother from ‘Letters from the Masters of the Wisdom’,
Second Series, edited by C. Jinarajadasa.
I do not think the measure of a civilization is how tall its buildings of concrete are, But rather how well its people have learned to relate to their environment and fellow man.
Sun Bear of the Chippewa Tribe
I slept and dreamed that life was joy;
I awoke and saw that life was service;
I acted and behold, service was joy.
Rabindranath Tagore.
Every Theosophist is bound to do his utmost to help on, by all the means in his power, every wise and well-considered social effort which has for its object the amelioration of the condition of the poor. Such efforts should be made with a view to their ultimate social emancipation, or the development of the sense of duty in those who now so often neglect it in nearly every relation of life.
H.P. Blavatsky.
In the Joy of others, lies our own.
In the progress of others, rests our own.
In the good of others, abides our own.
Know this to be the key to peace and happiness.
Mahatma Gandhi.
So many paths that wind and wind,
While just the art of being kind
Is all the sad world needs.
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
And while I stood there
I saw more than I can tell,
and I understood more than I saw;
for I was seeing in a sacred manner
the shapes of things in the spirit,
and the shape of all shapes as they must
live together like one being.
Black Elk
I have just three things to teach:
simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and in thoughts,
you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all being in the world.
Lao Tzu
On life's journey
Faith is nourishment,
Virtuous deeds are a shelter,
Wisdom is the light by day and
Right mindfulness is the protection by night.
If a man lives a pure life nothing can destroy him;
If he has conquered greed nothing can limit his freedom.
Buddha
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.
If you want to be happy, practice compassion.
The Dalai Lama
Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.
Chief Seattle
Pay no attention to the faults of others,
things done or left undone by others.
Consider only what by oneself
is done or left undone.
The secret of happiness lies in
the mind's release from worldly ties.
Thousands of candles can be lighted
from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared.
Buddha
Pay attention to that unchanging part of yourself.
It is perfect.
At the source of life, and only there,
one finds peace, harmony,
and the undisturbed contentment of bliss.
Deepak Chopra
When all the trees have been cut down,
when all the animals have been hunted,
when all the waters are polluted,
when all the air is unsafe to breathe,
only then will you discover you cannot eat money.
Cree Prophecy
Are you looking for the Holy One?
I am in the next seat.
My shoulder is against yours.
Kabir
The real voyage of discovery
consists not in seeing new landscapes,but in having new eyes.
Marcel Proust
The race of mankind would perish, did they cease to aid each other. From the time that the mother binds the child's head till the moment that some kind assistant wipes the death-damp from the brow of the dying, we cannot exist without mutual help. All, therefore, that need aid have a right to ask it from their fellow-mortals; no one who holds the power of granting can refuse it without guilt.
Sir Walter Scott.