There's not a day that goes by that I don't bless myself with holy water and then get in my car and rub the medal of the Virgin Mary that she gave me and say a Hail Mary for my mother. And then I kiss her Mass card that's right there on the dashboard.
We despise all reverences and all objects of reverence which are outside the pale of our list of sacred things. And yet, with strange inconsistency, we are shocked when other people despise and defile the things which are holy to us.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910
I've never considered musical equipment very sacred.
My Uncle Nissim studied Kabbalah. Just before he died, he gave this tiny book, its pages yellow with age. He said it had special powers. I had a feeling that the book helped to keep me safe. My daughter is called Nissim after him.
While I do not believe in idol worship, I believe in energy.
I always pray. I'm quite religious. I've had the beads since I can remember.
Before a big event, I usually go to church and light a candle for St. Sebastian, who is the patron saint of athletes.
To be selected was an honor, and in respect of the family member chosen to run, families held feasts and gave away prized beaver coats, quilled tobacco bags and buffalo hides.
My faith is in God. If it's a little statue of Buddha or whatever works for you, brilliant.
Whether we're looking at the burial box of St. James, a fragment of the True Cross, the Shroud of Turin, or some bones supposedly belonging to John the Baptist, there is always excitement and distrust, faith and doubt.
The sacred tree, the sacred stone are not adored as stone or tree; they are worshipped precisely because they are hierophanies, because they show something that is no longer stone or tree but sacred, the ganz andere or 'wholly other.'
No graven images may be Worshipped, except the currency.
Long before it was 'Raided' and 'Lost' with Indiana Jones, the Ark of the Covenant was originally stolen from the Israelites by The Philistines; The Ark of the Covenant was the nuclear bomb of its age: when activated, it was devastating.
Religion, Credit, and the Eye are not to be touched.
You know the Ark of Israel and the calf of Belial were both made of gold. Religion has never yet changed the metal of her one adoration.
The presumptuous sin of Uzzah was that He assumed his hands were less polluted than the dirt.
Since World War II, Japan has spawned enormous numbers of new religions featuring the supernatural.... In Thailand, diseases are treated with pills manufactured from pulverized sacred Scripture. Witches are today being burned in South Africa.... The worldwide TM [Transcendental Meditation] organization has an estimated valuation of $3 billion. For a fee, they promise to make you invisible, to enable you to fly.
Culture' and 'cult' derive from the same word; what a culture worships defines it.
Crucifixes are sexy because there's a naked man on them.
I'm in awe of the universe, but I don't necessarily believe there's an intelligence or agent behind it. I do have a passion for the visual in religious rituals, though, even though they may be completely empty and bereft of substance. The incense is powerful and provocative, whether Buddhist or Catholic.
My father when I was a kid was so deeply involved with Native Americans, he used to bring home these extraordinary headdresses and pipes.
SACRED, adj. Dedicated to some religious purpose; having a divine character; inspiring solemn thoughts or emotions; as... the Cow in India; the Crocodile, the Cat and the Onion of ancient Egypt.
I believe inanimate objects have a spirit.
My desk is covered with talismans: pieces of rose quartz, wishing stones from a favorite beach.
Art class was like a religious ceremony to me. I would wash my hands carefully before touching paper or pencils. The instruments of work were sacred objects to me.