Alex Noel

“There is no thought, prayer, or action that is not radically cosmic in its foundations, expressions, and effects. Hence, there is no sacredness apart from the secularity of the world. The mistake of Western thought, Panikkar says, was to begin with identifying God as the Supreme Being, which resulted in God being turned into a human projection. But the divine dimension of reality is not an object of human knowledge; it is, rather, the depth-dimension to everything that exists. Panikkar called this complex reality a cosmotheandric whole, in which divinity, humanity, and cosmos form a trinitarian reality. By insisting on Scholastic theology as the basis of religious thinking, religion has cut itself off from the related disciplines of science and philosophy. Today we have three loosely related disciplines—theology, philosophy, and science—each with its own methods, language, and concepts. Instead of having a cosmo-religious myth to provide meaning and purpose to human life, we have independent myths of science, religion, and philosophy. We can study each area and get a degree in one particular area without ever having to think about the other two areas. God remains locked up in Scholastic categories rather than being encountered as the immanent ground of dynamic being and cosmic life. To separate theology from science and philosophy is to destroy the cosmic genetic code.”
― Ilia Delio, The Hours of the Universe: Reflections on God, Science, and the Human Journey

“In recent years, a robust body of new research has demonstrated that when we experience distress, engaging in introspection often does significantly more harm than good. It undermines our performance at work, interferes with our ability to make good decisions, and negatively influences our relationships. It can also promote violence and aggression, contribute to a range of mental disorders, and enhance our risk of becoming physically ill. Using the mind to engage with our thoughts and feelings in the wrong ways can lead professional athletes to lose the skills they’ve spent their careers perfecting. It can cause otherwise rational, caring people to make less logical and even less moral decisions. It can lead friends to flee from you in both the real world and the social media world. It can turn romantic relationships from safe havens into battlegrounds. It can even contribute to us aging faster, both in how we look on the outside and in how our DNA is configured internally. In short, our thoughts too often don’t save us from our thoughts. Instead, they give rise to something insidious. Chatter.”
― Ethan Kross, Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It

“When I take you to the Valley, you’ll see the blue hills on the left and the blue hills on the right, the rainbow and the vineyards under the rainbow late in the rainy season, and maybe you’ll say, “There it is, that’s it!” But I’ll say. “A little farther.” We’ll go on, I hope, and you’ll see the roofs of the little towns and the hillsides yellow with wild oats, a buzzard soaring and a woman singing by the shadows of a creek in the dry season, and maybe you’ll say, “Let’s stop here, this is it!” But I’ll say, “A little farther yet.” We’ll go on, and you’ll hear the quail calling on the mountain by the springs of the river, and looking back you’ll see the river running downward through the wild hills behind, below, and you’ll say, “Isn’t that the Valley?” And all I will be able to say is “Drink this water of the spring, rest here awhile, we have a long way yet to go and I can’t go without you.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, Always Coming Home

“Our verbal development goes hand in hand with our emotional development. As toddlers, speaking to ourselves out loud helps us learn to control ourselves. In the early twentieth century, the Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky was one of the first people to explore the connection between language development and self-control. He was interested in the curious behavior of children who talk to themselves out loud, coaching themselves along while also doling out self-critiques. As anyone who has spent significant time around kids knows, they often have full-blown, unprompted conversations with themselves. This isn’t just play or imagination; it’s a sign of neural and emotional growth.”
― Ethan Kross, Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It