Despondency is not religion, whatever else it may be.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Religion does not consist of despair or depression; these states contradict religious life.
- In plain terms
- Religion is not about feeling sad or hopeless.
- What can you take from it?
- Faith should inspire hope, not despair.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does my faith make me feel?
- Am I confusing piety with despair?
Another view
Some traditions value mourning or lamentation as valid spiritual expression.
More from Swami Vivekananda
Desire, ignorance, and inequality-this is the trinity of bondage.
Permalink to quote #69 Do any deserve liberty who are not ready to give it to others? Let us calmly go to work, instead of dissipating our energy in unnecessary fretting and fuming.
Permalink to quote #71 Delusion will vanish as the light becomes more and more effulgent, load after load of ignorance will vanish, and then will come a time when all else has disapp…
Permalink to quote #68
Related quotes
I wonder whether, in the history of all the civilisations that have ever been, a more insanely optimistic notion has ever been entertained than that you and I,…
Malcolm MuggeridgeMalcolm Muggeridge quote #2 I swear that I'm dying slowly but it's happening, and if the perfect spring is waiting somewhere... just take me there.
Conor OberstConor Oberst quote #5 Je parvins a faire s'evanouir dans mon esprit toute l'esperance humaine.
Arthur RimbaudArthur Rimbaud quote #16