evolution now requires that we give the best of ourselves, not because an outer event compels us to do so, but because we choose to do so of our own free will.

When no one takes responsibility for anything but his or her own well-being, a civilization rots from within and finally collapses.

Just as every individual has a spirit, so does society.

a creator has a sense of meaning that can’t be destroyed—he insists on seeing problems as driving him toward something better, something higher in himself. Far from destroying his sense of meaning, problems actually reinforce it.

the driving force of spiritual evolution is personal problems.

Personal problems drive the evolution of the individual.

in the new spirituality, each individual must experience higher forces and arrive at his own conclusions about their nature; external authority figures can no longer define our spiritual reality for us.

Higher forces must be experienced directly, and that takes effort.

“Life has its own hidden forces which you can only discover by living.”