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About this quote

What does it mean?
Worship is an adventurous pursuit of the unattainable, not a safe rule. Repressing this adventure kills religion.
In plain terms
Religion is about adventure and hope, not safety.
What can you take from it?
Keep spiritual life adventurous and hopeful.

Where it applies

  • spiritual practice
  • worship
  • personal growth

Putting it to work

  • take spiritual risks
  • cultivate hope
  • seek deeper meaning

Questions to consider

  • What makes faith risky?
  • Is safety the goal of religion?

Another view

Many seek religion primarily for comfort and safety.

More from Alfred North Whitehead

  1. The religious vision, and its history of persistent expansion, is our one ground for optimism. Apart from it, human life is a flash of occasional enjoyments li…

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  2. It is the business of the future to be dangerous; and it is among the merits of science that it equips the future for its duties.

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  3. Religion is the vision of something which stands beyond, behind and within the passing flux of immediate things; something which is real, and yet waiting to be…

    Permalink to quote #15

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