The Human Condition

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"The two great graces essential to a saint in this life, are faith and repentance. These are the two wings by which he flies to heaven."

— Thomas Watson

The Doctrine of Repentance
"Ask your fears, “What are you saying to me about what is real?” “What are you trying to teach me?"

— Richard Rohr

Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer
"“What makes us human?” These are the nature of the human being, its interiority, its exteriority and the self."

— Attributed to Saint Augustine of Hippo

What makes us human? Augustine on interiority, exteriority and the self
"Art… embodies a successful interior wrestling with experience; in its being, art is a fruit of interiority."

— Inez Martinez

Interiority
"Our own story is our greatest gift to life."

— Lewellyn Vaughn-Lee

Sufi Conference 2008 - Opening Talk with Pir Zia Inayat-Khan & Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
"Values serve as our guiding lights as we travel the path of life, showing us the way, illuminating what is important to us."

— Wyatt R. Evans, Robyn D. Walser, Kent D. Drescher and Jacob K. Farnsworth

The Moral Injury Workbook
"Shame persists when self-acceptance remains out of reach."

— Patricia A. DeYoung

Understanding and Treating Chronic Shame
"Acts of kindness and generosity are powerful social safety signals that function to bind us together rather than tear us apart."

— Thomas R. Lynch

Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy
"Acceptance is the first step toward cultivating forgiveness and understanding, but it’s also the first step toward effecting change. By acknowledging and accepting that we are doing the best we can right now and that we would like to do better, we can begin (without judgment or shame) to set personal goals and work toward them."

— Erin Olivo

The Self-Acceptance Project
"Psychological work ultimately leads us to closure and to the goal of change…"

— David Richo

How to Be an Adult