Michael Novak

Of course. A new consciousness - I that that is the word,' said the old man after he had thought a moment. 'That is what I hope it is. You and your African and Colombian, you are speaking the same language now, you know the same ideas. You are conscious that life on earth is flux. Men are better educated. They are more disciplined than in the past - their schedules are harder, their lives move faster, efficiency digs into them. Men are more sophisticated -every day they have more alternatives to choose among than they can possibly exhaust. Through psychiatry they know their strengths and weaknesses. They know the risks of every choice. This is what I mean by consciousness. Men know so much about everything they do. It was much simpler when they didn't know, when they simply acted out of instinct, believed from instinct, loved from instinct, brought up children by their instincts. Perhaps people were even happier. But now we are more conscious. We have got to live with our greater knowledge. We have got to live with our greater freedom.

Individual freedom is a Jewish idea, but it's one of the functions of Christianity to make this idea universal.

Love is not a feeling of happiness. Love is a willingness to sacrifice.

We really feel happier when things look bleak. Hope is endurance. Hope is holding on and going on and trusting in the Lord.

Command by instinct is swifter subtler deeper more accurate more in touch with reality than command by conscious mind. The discovery takes one's breath away.