Quotes from “Always looking up” - “Faith” Chapter

“You could say that my willingness to hear them out was an expression of my faith, my instinct that it’s always good to give something when I can. I like to think that I’m open to other people, unafraid of new ideas. (...) there was no reason why I couldn’t surrender a few minutes of my time. This was an opportunity to hear their point of view, not defend my own. All I had to do was sit down and listen.
Listening to people espouse beliefs different from mine is informative, not threatening, because the only thing that can alter my worldview is a new and undeniable truth, and contrary to what Jack Nicholson says in A Few Good Men, “I can handle the truth” ” (Page 160)

“I’ve always considered faith to be an aspect or facet of optimism, a cousin of, if not a synonym for, hope. A discussion of faith as religion is a more daunting proposition. I haven’t made and kept as many friends as I have by offering up my attitudes and opinions about religion. I am not a theologian, seminarian, or student of divinity. I have no argument with those who see in organized religion a template or an imperative to live life according to a prescribed set of beliefs. Just give others the room, within the laws of civil society, to believe or not believe whatever they like.” (Page 161)

“”The opposite of fear is faith” is an adage I heard often when I quit drinking. The thinking is that fear is paralyzing or even regressive, causing you to retreat in defense, while faith inspires forward progress. So why, I always wondered, does fear feature so prominently in our discussions and practice of faith? We talk about fear of God as a good thing—and being God fearing as a desirable state. I know I’m not the first to say this, and smarter people have given it more thorough examination and more eloquent expression, but that just makes no sense to me. It’s counterintuitive and, I think, confuses fear with respect. As a way of motivating people, cultivating fear is easier than investing the time and effort necessary to engender respect. Respect requires greater knowledge, and in my experience, the more you know, the less you fear.” (Page 162)

“The purpose that you wish to find in life, like a cure you seek, is not going to fall from the sky. (...) It requires the faith to take risks and a rejection of the bonds of fear. I believe purpose is something for which one is responsible; it’s not just divinely assigned.” (Page 178)

“...in some ways, the world is as simple as I sometimes see it and often wish it to be. In other ways, it is complicated beyond any understanding.” (Page 178)


“My world as I knew it had changed in the instant the doctor pronounced my condition. As an actor, I am used to processing other people’s opinions of me—auditioners, audiences, and critics. You can take an opinion, rationalize it, and turn it back on those who offer it up as being their projections onto your reality. But it’s rare that someone can present you with some great immutable truth about yourself—something so surprising, out of left field, that you don’t even have the luxury of denial.
We do so much to protect ourselves from the truth, but what I have learned and drawn strength and comfort from, especially over the last seventeen years or so, is that the truth protects us from ourselves. That is, of course, if we can recognize it and trust it.” (Pages 179-180)

Quoting Henry David Thoreau: “In accumulating property for ourselves or our posterity, in founding a family or a state, or acquiring fame even, we are mortal; but in dealing with truth we are immortal, and need dear no change nor accident.” (Page 180)

“(... ) there are realities that occur in life over which I have no control or influence, realities that I can negotiate, or charm.” (Page 180)

“Whether you wield the pin yourself, (...), or the bubble is popped for you, the truth flows outside of it, and it will take you places you’d otherwise drift past.” (Page 181)

“We all have a responsibility to do what we can for those living among us, those we love and those we’ve never met.” (Page 186)

“I think one of the keys to my happiness is that I try to catch my mistakes and transgressions as quickly as possible after the fact and minimize the period of reflection.” (Page 199)

“I came to accept that any disease or condition beyond my control is, in effect, a power greater than myself. To survive this destructive energy, I must look to an even higher power. For my purposes, I need neither define it nor have others define it for me, only accept its existence. It is evident in Tracy’s love and inexhaustible friendship, the toothless gap in Esmé’s smile, Aquinah’s grace, Schuyler’s grit, Sam’s intrepid curiosity. So much to savor, so much to be grateful for. And since I’m not sure of the address to which to send my gratitude, I put it out there in everything I do.” (Page 201)

“Chris Reeve wisely parsed the difference between optimism and hope. Unlike optimism, he said, “Hope is the product of knowledge and the projection of where knowledge can take us.” If optimism is a happy-go-lucky expectation that the odds are in my favor, that things are likely to break my way, and if hope is an informed optimism, facts converting desire into possibility, then faith is the third leg of the stool.” (Page 201)
“Empathy is always better than sympathy, especially from family.” (Page 204)