I am convinced that living in an enclave shapes the personality, and living alone shapes the personality too.

When we are reflecting on terrorism we can grieve for many things we do and have done.

It seems true that the growth of science and secularism made organized Christianity feel under threat.

Hierarchy works well in a stable environment.

Any great organization can go through sectarian phases.

Inequality can have a bad downside, but equality, for its part, sure does get in the way of coordination.

An escalating, violent tit-for-tat may lead to terrorism.

Pretensions to moral superiority are devastatingly destructive.

I am sure it must be true that people opt out of the mainstream society because they feel that there are going to be no rewards for them, if they stay.

Every year the progress of advanced capitalist society makes our population consist of more and more isolates. This is because of the infrastructure of the economy, especially electronic communications.

What did our nation ever do to provoke these madly vicious enemies? What is seen as injustice in one place is seen as just requital in the other.

I have increasingly, over the years, felt that religion today does our civilization more harm than good.

If people want to compete for leadership of a religious group, they can compete in piety. A chilling thought. Or funny.

The theory of cultural bias... is the idea that a culture is based on a particular form of organization. It can't be transplanted except to another variant of that organization.

I am convinced that living in an enclave shapes the personality, and living alone shapes the personality too.

Enclave life becomes very tense, Even when they do elect a leader, the factions remain, with the threat of splitting off.

Hierarchy is is much reviled in the present day.

The natural response of the old-timers is to build a strong moral wall against the outside. This is where the world starts to be painted in black and white, saints inside, and sinners outside the wall.

The history of the Church of Rome is a constant leakage of members into such breakaway cults, which go on splitting.

Just in our lifetime our society has become looser and more private, it becomes extremely difficult to hold to any permanent commitment whatever, least of all to organized religion.

Our technological infrastructure alienates us from each other. No need to form a workplace community, everybody there will be out in a year or two, and so will you, looking for a better place.

Religion can make it worse. Are you supposing that if people were encouraged to believe in a transcendent reality, and to be encouraged by grand rituals and music and preaching, to love their neighbors, then they would put jealousy and frustration aside?

Inside a religious body you get sects and hierarchies, inside an information network you get bazaars and cathedrals, it is the same, call them what you like. They survive by pointing the finger of blame at each other.

Some scholars have been arguing that a civilizational clash between organized religions is the next step in human history.

Islam is in principle egalitarian, and has always had problems with power.

Yes, disappointment over perceived unfairness, injustice, promises not kept, tends to go hand in hand with increasing prosperity. Expectations are dashed. What can I say!

It's unlikely that the organized religions will get more sectarian... or is it? I am not at all sure.

Real equality is immensely difficult to achieve, it needs continual revision and monitoring of distributions. And it does not provide buffers between members, so they are continually colliding or frustrating each other.

Since 1970, relationships can be more volatile, jobs more ephemeral, geographical mobility more intensified, stability of marriage weaker.

Behind a leader there must be followers, but they should always be on the lookout for the main chance and ready to change sides if the current leader doesn't deliver.

Mormons... are so strong, they can handle wealth, they are confident. I think it is because they are not bogged down by rules for equality, but have a firmly defined system of relative status and responsible command.

It is only partly true that religion does more harm than good in society. The community makes God into the image it wants, vengeful, or milky sweet, or scrupulously just, and so on.

If you want to change the culture, you will have to start by changing the organization.

Without that assured American largesse Israel would have been obliged to come to an accommodation with her neighbours.

It is very reasonable to worry about the harm done by organized religion, and to prefer looser and more private arrangements.

The theory of cultural bias is the idea that a culture is based on a particular form of organization. It cant be transplanted except to another variant of that organization.

If you want to change the culture you will have to start by changing the organization.

Where there is dirt there is system. Dirt is the byproduct of a systematic ordering and classification of matter.

At the end, the realization is that she had to get to a place in her life where she could drop her guard and make peace with the fact that whether she had a small amount of time, that she had to kind of live it completely through, instead of living by the rules.

It is living and ceasing to live that are imaginary solutions. Existence is elsewhere.

You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.

I love living on that stage. Without that, I'd die.

There is always a type of man who says he loves his fellow men, and expects to make a living at it.

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.

Death comes not to the living soul, nor age to the loving heart.

The association promotes a way of life, not causes; a harmony in living, not political faiths; a bilateral loyalty, not commercial or social projects. Yet it is an association for as noble a purpose as any involved in any prior decisions.

Every true prayer is a prayer of the Church; by means of that prayer the Church prays, since it is the Holy Spirit living in the Church, Who in every single soul 'prays in us with unspeakable groanings'.

It seems difficult, sometimes, to believe that there was a time when sentiments now become habitual, sentiments that imply not only the original imperative of conduct, but the original metaphysic of living, were by no means altogether habitual.

Nature is a temple in which living columns sometimes emit confused words. Man approaches it through forests of symbols, which observe him with familiar glances.