May 14

Recognizing the divinity of the soul makes you fearless before all of life’s calamities.

1

We know that the soul is divine. I cannot tell if these wonderful qualities which house to-day in this mortal frame shall ever re-assemble in equal activity in a similar frame, or whether they have before had a natural history like that of this body you see before you; but this one thing I know, that these qualities did not now begin to exist, cannot be sick with my sickness, nor buried in any grave; but that they circulate through the Universe: before the world was, they were. I draw from this faith courage and hope.

All things are known to the soul. It is not to be surprised by any communication. Nothing can be greater than it. Let those fear and those fawn who will. The soul is in her native realm, and it is wider than space, older than time, wide as hope, rich as love.

— Emerson

2

God dwells in all people, but not all people dwell in God. This is the cause of people’s suffering.

Just as a lamp cannot shine without a flame, so a human being cannot live without God.

— Ramakrishna

3

You are afraid that you will be despised for your meekness, but those who are just cannot despise you for this, and the rest should not concern you—pay no attention to their judgements. Would a skillful carpenter feel upset if someone who had no understanding of carpentry did not approve of his good work?

Do not think that evil people can harm you. Can anyone really harm your soul? So why do you worry?

I laugh to myself at those who think that they can harm me: they know neither who I am, nor what things I consider to be good and evil; they do not know that they cannot even touch what is truly mine and by which alone I live.

— Epictetus

4

All things of the world belong to me; creation and destruction happen by my will; the world is only a shell, and I am its core, so why should I fear dust returning to dust? I am not dust. Submit to God and live in the world.

— Persian wisdom

5

Reason asks: how and why? Love says: I am love. And, without answering the question, it wholly satisfies the questioner.

Do not be afraid of anyone or anything. No one and nothing can harm that which is most precious in you.