Teeth Collection

"In taking a personal inventory of ourselves, we have to face facts as they really are.  We have to stop running away.  We must face reality.  We must see ourselves as we really are.  We must admit our faults openly and try to correct them.  We do not do this once and forget it.  We do it every day of our lives, as long as we live.  We are never done with checking up on ourselves."

"We were not made so that we could see God.  That would be too easy for us and there would be no merit in obeying Him.  It takes an act of faith.  We are in a box of space and time and we can see neither our souls nor God.  God and the human spirit are both outside the limitations of space and time."

"Faith in God should bring you a deep feeling of happiness and security, no matter what happens on the surface of your life."

"Our demand for emotional security, for our own way, had constantly thrown us into unworkable relations with other people.  Though we were sometimes unconscious of this, the result always had been the same.  Either we had tried to play God and dominate those about us, or we had insisted on being overdependent upon them.  It became clear that if we ever were to feel emotionally secure among grown-up people, we would have to put our lives on a give-and-take basis; we would have to develop the sense of being in partnership or brotherhood with all those around us.  We saw that we would need to give constantly of ourselves without demands for repayment."

I've always liked the inclusion of the word "unconscious" when the book talks about our tendencies.  I'm often an asshole with no self-awareness.  Just because I don't think I'm controlling or judging or suggesting or correcting doesn't mean I'm not doing it.

"We discovered the best possible source of emotional stability to be God Himself."

The idea that there is something out there that is collecting teeth from children blows me away.  What is it constructing with those teeth?  What is its problem?

    My mandate is to love people.  I don't necessarily have to like them although that's nice, too.  And I'm good with that coming right back at me.  It's a great relief to not have to be liked by everyone.  It sure has relieved me of the people pleasing thing.