"Awe is more than an emotion; it is a way of understanding, insight into a meaning greater than ourselves. The beginning of awe is wonder, and the beginning of wisdom is awe. Awe is an intuition for the dignity of all things, a realization that things not only are what they are but also stand, however remotely, for something supreme. Awe is a sense for transcendence, for the reference everywhere to mystery beyond all things. It enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine, to sense in small things the beginning of infinite significance, to sense the ultimate in the common and the simple: to feel in the rush of the passing the stillness of the eternal. What we cannot comprehend by analysis, we become aware of in awe."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Philosophers from the United StatesJews from the United StatesPhilosophers from PolandTheologians from the United StatesTheologians from Poland
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Ch. 5
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Joshua_Heschel
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Abraham Joshua Heschel l (11 January 1907 β 23 December 1972) was a Polish-born American rabbi, considered by many to be one of the most significant Jewish theologians of the 20th century.
99 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Abraham Joshua Heschel β
Related Quotes
"A return to reverence is the first prerequisite for a revival of wisdom, for the discovery of the world as an allusioβ¦"
"The greatest problem is not how to continue but how to exalt our existence. The call for a life beyond the grave is pβ¦"
"The Biblical words about the genesis of heaven and earth are not words of information but words of appreciation. The β¦"
"Some are guilty, but all are responsible."
"Pagans exalt sacred things, the Prophets extol sacred deeds."
"We forfeit the right to worship God as long as we continue to humiliate negroes. β¦ The hour calls for moral grandeur β¦"
"We do not step out of the world when we pray; we merely see the world in a different setting. The self is not the hubβ¦"
"There is immense silent agony in the world, and the task of man is to be a voice for the plundered poor, to prevent tβ¦"
"Man's sin is in his failure to live what he is. Being the master of the earth, man forgets that he is the servant of β¦"
"He who is satisfied has never truly craved, and he who craves for the light of God neglects his ease for ardor, his lβ¦"