"Let us remember that all reforms are interdependent, and that whatever is done to establish one principle on a solid basis, strengthens all. Reformers who are always compromising, have not yet grasped the idea that truth is the only safe ground to stand upon. The object of an individual life is not to carry one fragmentary measure in human progress, but to utter the highest truth clearly seen in all directions, and thus to round out and perfect a well balanced character."

-- "The Woman's Bible," Elizabeth Cady Stanton

"Four hundred years ago, Galileo challenged the doctrine of the announced idea. On seeing the heavens through his telescope, he discovered that Copernicus was right. The earth was not the center of the universe, but merely one part of a greater whole. A respected part, but no more than a part."

"And what is the great discovery of our age? It is that no one race, no one people, no one land ... is the center of the earth. Rather, all races, all lands, all societies are individual centers, all respected parts of a greater whole -- the Earth."

-- Studs Terkel, "Talking to Myself," pg. 336

"Nations are caught up with the drum major instinct. 'I must be first.' 'I must be supreme.' 'Our nation must rule the world.' (Preach it) And I am sad to say that the nation in which we live is the supreme culprit. God didn't call America to do what she's doing in the world now. (Preach it, preach it) ... But God has a way of even putting nations in their place. (Amen) The God that I worship has a way of saying, 'Don't play with me.' ... And if you don't stop your reckless course, I'll rise up and break the backbone of your power.' (Yes) And that can happen to America (Yes) ....

"Somewhere else I can hear somebody saying, 'In Christ there is no East nor West.' (Yes) And then they go on and talk about, 'In Him there's no North and South, but one great Fellowship of Love throughout the whole wide world.'"

-- "The Major Drum Instinct," Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The only myth that is going to be worth thinking about in the immediate future is one that is talking about the planet ... and everybody on it. That's my main thought for what the future myth is going to be."

-- Joseph Campbell, (interviewed by Bill Moyers) "The Power of Myth," pg. 32

Saint Augustine attacked the idea of private property thus: "The Creator, who alone is Absolute Owner, did not make us human beings so many 'islands,' without any relation to each other, but one human family, 'made from one mud' and sustained 'on one earth.'...We enjoy the same natural conditions: 'born under one law, living by one light, breathing one air and dying one death.'"

-- paraphrased by Charles Avila, "Ownership: Early Christian Teaching," pg. 113-117

"Roots have spread out from the Tree of the Great Peace, one to the north, one to the east, one to the south and one to the west."

-- The Constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy

Touch the Earth. Take the soil in your hand.
Touch the Earth. Take your strength from the land.
For the seeds of tomorrow were just hidden away;
Waiting to blossom in the flower of today.
Take a chance while you may -- you may find a new birth.
Touch the Earth. Touch the Earth.

-- North American folk song

Stand in the place where you live
Now face north
Think about direction
Wonder why you haven't before
Now stand in the place where you work
Now face west
Think about the place where you live
Wonder why you haven't before

If you are confused check with the sun
Carry a compass to help you along
Your feet are going to be on the ground
Your head is there to move you around, so...

-- "Stand," REM

The world is holy! The soul is holy! The skin is holy! ... Everything is holy! Everybody's holy! Everywhere is holy! Everyday is in eternity! Everyman's an angel! ...

Holy the solitudes of skyscrapers and pavements! Holy the cafeterias filled with the millions! Holy the mysterious rivers of tears under the streets! ...

Holy New York Holy San Francisco Holy Peoria & Seattle Holy Paris Holy Tangiers Holy Moscow Holy Istanbul! ...

-- "Footnote to Howl" Allen Ginsberg.

©2003 Sam Husseini, E-mail: sam [at] compassroses.org