Top Sam Keen Quotes - Quotesmemo.com

Sam Keen Biography

Sam Keen (born 1931) is an American author, professor, and philosopher who is best known for his exploration of questions regarding love, life, wonder, religion, and being a male in contemporary society. He also co-produced Faces of the Enemy, an award-winning PBS documentary; was the subject of a Bill Moyers' television special in the early 1990s; and for 20 years served as a contributing editor at Psychology Today magazine. He is also featured in the 2003 documentary Flight from Death.

Read about Sam Keen in Wikipedia

Random Authors

Sam Keen Quotes

I try to steer away from high metaphysical belief because I think we humans do best when we realize that we don't know all that much.

Away, Belief, High, Realize, Thinking, Trying

I think we're always in the process of writing and rewriting the story of our lives, forming our experiences into a narrative that makes sense. Much of that work involves demythologizing family myths and cultural myths - getting free of what we have been told about ourselves.

Experiences, Stories, Story, Thinking, Told, Writing

If we don't preserve forest habitat for spotted owls, then soon we won't have trees to refresh the air we breathe. And we're realizing that this applies to social ecology, as well.

Air, Owl, Social, Spotted, Tree, Trees

We all yearn to fly. We are creatures of longing. We do not need to [physically fly] to be airborne. What I call the aerial instinct-the drive to transcend our present condition- is the defining characteristic of a human being. We are restless animals, eternal travelers who are forever in the process of becoming. Consciousness itself is a flight from the here and now to the beyond. Our reach always exceeds our grasp, which is what Heaven is for.

Airborne, Animal, Condition, Creatures, Forever, Heaven

Aristotle said that philosophy begins in wonder. I believe it also ends in wonder. The ultimate way in which we relate to the world as something sacred is by renewing our sense of wonder. That's why I'm so opposed to the kind of miracle-mongering we find in both new-age and old-age religion. We're attracted to pseudomiracles only because we've ceased to wonder at the world, at how amazing it is.

Philosophy, Believe, Miracle, Opposed, Begins, Attracted

A man must go on a quest
to discover the sacred fire
in the sanctuary of his own belly
to ignite the flame in his heart
to fuel the blaze in the hearth
to rekindle his ardor for the earth

Ardor, Blaze, Fire, Heart, Hearth, Men

You don't go through a deep personal transformation without some kind of dark night of the soul.

Dark, Night, Personal Transformation, Soul, Transformation

The sacred is discovered in what moves and touches us, in what makes us tremble.

Discovered, Moves, Moving, Sacred, Touches

Human beings are what I think of as "biomythic" animals: we're controlled largely by the stories we tell. When we get the story wrong, we get out of harmony with the rest of the natural order.

Animal, Thinking, Order, Controlled, Rest, Think

We come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.

Anniversary, Come, Friendship, Love, Perfect

Burnout is nature's way of telling you, you've been going through the motions your soul has departed; you're a zombie, a member of the walking dead, a sleepwalker. False optimism is like administrating stimulants to an exhausted nervous system.

Burnout, Optimism, Soul, Walking, Walking Dead, Zombie

If some incarnation of evil as unambiguous as Hitler appeared again, I would have no moral qualms about killing the enemy. But in the modern world of moral murkiness, I prefer to keep my hands as clean of enemy blood as possible.

Qualms About, Blood, Hands, Enemy, Prefer, Modern

Down to earth advice about the path that leads away from the kingdom of the hollow men.

Advice, Away, Earth, Hollow, Men, Path

The more you become a connoisseur of gratitude, the less you are a victim of resentment, depression, and despair.

Become, Connoisseur, Despair, Gratitude, Resentment

Our minds, bodies, feelings, relationships are all informed by our questions. What you ask is who you are. What you find depends on what you search for. And what shapes our lives are the questions we ask, refuse to ask, or never think of asking.

Bodies, Feelings, Mind, Shapes, Thinking

The abyss beyond our beliefs is something we have to pass through in order to see the world anew, to see it in terms not dictated so much by our culture, our parents, or our religious convictions.

Dictated, Order, Parent, Religious, Terms, World

The major impediment to experiencing the sacred depths of ordinary moments is the speed and distraction of contemporary life that moves to the imperatives of the global economic order. In addition, we increasingly live in a virtual world in which our reality is filtered through media and information technology.

Media, Moving, Order, Reality, Speed, Technology

Neurotic identity crises come when our defense mechanisms have been too successful and we're encapsulated in the fortress we have constructed with nothing to refresh us in our solitary confinement. So we play the old movies with their stale fears and their unrealistic hopes until we become bored enough to risk disarmament and engagement.

Bored, Movies, Old, Play, Solitary, Successful

We [people] may enjoy this fleeting beauty [of life] for such a brief instance. And then we are compost. G - , the creator-destroyer, certainly has a strange sense of humor!

People, Fleeting, May, Strange, Sense, Instance

We learn to fly not by being fearless, but by the daily practice of courage.

Practice, Fearless, Learn To Fly, Fly, Courage

1