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The existential attitude is one of involvement in contrast to a merely theoretical or detached attitude. “Existential” in this sense can be defined as participating in a situation, especially a cognitive situation, with the whole of one’s existence.

— Paul Tillich The Courage to Be (1952)

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Philosophy

More quotes by Paul Tillich

Where the New Reality appears, one feels united with God, the ground and meaning of one’s existence.

The New Being (1955)

Knowledge of that which concerns us infinitely is possible only in an attitude of infinite concern.

The Courage to Be (1952)

The anxiety of fate is conquered by the self-affirmation of the individual as an infinitely significant microcosmic representation of the universe.

The Courage to Be (1952)

He who loves God is also able to accept life and to love it.

The New Being (1955)

In all existential knowledge both subject and object are transformed by the very act of knowing.

The Courage to Be (1952)

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The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.

H. P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu (1926)

There is no governor anywhere; you are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped.

Robert Anton Wilson

Every morning
I shall concern myself anew about the boundary
Between the love-deed-Yes and the power-deed-No
And pressing forward honor reality.

Martin Buber Power and Love (1926)

In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true is true or becomes true, within certain limits to be found experientially and experimentally. These limits are further beliefs to be transcended.

John C. Lilly The Human Biocomputer (1974)

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Paul Tillich (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.