Some of you may know that Leo Tolstoy; great Russian thinker for the late 1800s, is my favourite intellectual. He used to be an aristocrat, a rich snob, arrogant, seeking the world but his experiences in the Crimean war made him think about how senseless all those things truly are. He pondered deeply about what spirituality is in comparison to the shell of an institution that the church can be. Here are some amazing quotes, some of his, some that he quoted in his work "What is Religion, of What Does its Essence Consist?"
"True religion is that relationship, in accordance with reason and knowledge which man establishes with the infinite world around him, and which binds his life to that infinity and guides his actions."
- Tolstoy
And here are some descriptions of great thinkers who influenced Tolstoy:
"Friedrich Ernst Schleiermacher (1768-1834). German philosopher and theologian who, rather than defining religion in terms of reason or morality, sees it as a feeling of the absolute dependence of oneself as a finite being on the infinite. The infinite whole, taken as a set of things, is God, and the individual is beliebed to gain his identity, or life-unity, by developing an awareness of his particular place in nature and history..."
"Ludwig Feurbach (1804-72). Bavarian philospher and theologian... He defined religion as "the dream of the human mind", and viewed all spiritual development as properly relating to man, rather than to God. He advocated this as a conscious activity conducive to the well-being of the human speices".
Anyways, some of these thoughts inspire me because religion is not defined as a system of beliefs that you inherit or subsribe to but rather an innate human desire, passion, something that comes from within, that connects us to eternity... to existence... to God... to whatever you want to call it..... Lovin it.
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