“Keep Moving From This Mountain.” Sermon at Temple Israel, Hollywood, California. February 25, 1965.
Each of us lives in two realms, the within and the without. The within of our lives is somehow found in the realm of ends, the without in the realm of means. The within of our lives, the bottom — that realm of spiritual ends expressed in art, literature, morals, and religion for which at best we live. The without of our lives is that realm of instrumentalities, techniques, mechanisms by which we live.
Now the great temptation of life and the great tragedy of life is that so often we allow the without of our lives to absorb the within of our lives. The great tragedy of life is that too often we allow the means by which we live to outdistance the ends for which we live.
We must move on to that mountain which says in substance, “What doth it profit a man to gain the whole world of means — airplanes, televisions, electric lights — and lose the end: the soul?”
You are not your job. You are not your possessions.
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The Thought Experiment 
January 17, 2011 at 2:41 pm |
wonderful words, thank you.. -Kim
January 18, 2011 at 12:20 am |
Great words, and it is nice to read something other than the “I have a dream speech” from this great thinker.
In all humility I wish you wouldn’t have ended with an allusion to Fight Club. I’m not debating the validity of the words, but rather the context in which many people know these words. And they are not befitting of MLKs wisdom in my mind.
Fight Club isn’t a story about enlightenment (especially not in vein of MLK). The story is more of a transfer addicition of blind thinking. Not to mention the violence contained within the story, regardless of what is supposedly achieved or intended by that violence.
January 18, 2011 at 7:39 am |
I forgot that line even came from Fight Club. This was written over a year ago.
January 18, 2011 at 8:12 am |
But what you said is 100% accurate. And well-said. I wish your job afforded you more opportunities to pontificate to large groups. You got a gift. I’m remembering you jumping up on the table to read Kennedy’s inauguration speech in high school. Sway the masses, man!
January 18, 2011 at 7:41 am |
PS I just sent you something incendiary on facebook.