Felix Adler (1851-1933) was the founder of the first Ethical Society, a social reformer, and a professor of political and social ethics at Columbia University.
The Dead Are Not Dead If We Have Loved Them
The dead are not dead if we have loved them truly. In our own lives we give them immortality. Let us arise and take up the work they have left unfinished, and preserve the treasures they have won, and round out the circuit of their being to the fullness of an ampler orbit in our own.
Every dogma
Every dogma, every philosophic or theological creed, was at its inception a statement in terms of the intellect of a certain inner experience.
Religion is a wizard, a sibyl
Religion is a wizard, a sibyl . . .
She faces the wreck of worlds, and prophesies restoration.
She faces a sky blood-red with sunset colours that deepen into darkness, and prophesies dawn.
She faces death, and prophesies life.
No religion can long continue
No religion can long continue to maintain its purity when the church becomes the subservient vassal of the state.
We cannot adopt the way of living
We cannot adopt the way of living that was satisfactory a hundred years ago. The world in which we live has changed, and we must change with it.
The unique personality which is the real life in me
The unique personality which is the real life in me, I can not gain unless I search for the real life, the spiritual quality, in others. I am myself spiritually dead unless I reach out to the fine quality dormant in others. For it is only with the god enthroned in the innermost shrine of the other, that the god hidden in me, will consent to appear.
An Ethical Philosophy of Life
The truth which has made us free
The truth which has made us free will in the end make us glad also.
Love is the expansion of two natures
Love is the expansion of two natures in such fashion that each include the other, each is enriched by the other.
The hero is one who kindles a great light
The hero is one who kindles a great light in the world, who sets up blazing torches in the dark streets of life for men to see by. The saint is the man who walks through the dark paths of the world, himself a light.
The conception of worth
The conception of worth, that each person is an end per se, is not a mere abstraction. Our interest in it is not merely academic. Every outcry against the oppression of some people by other people, or against what is morally hideous is the affirmation of the principle that a human being as such is not to be violated. A human being is not to be handled as a tool but is to be respected and revered.
An Ethical Philosophy of Life
