34 Quotes by Cliff James

Breathe. Steel yourself, for here ends gravity and there are now no anchors to keep you grounded. Beware, the apeman is not prepared for such leaps of imagination. Life is a kite. Remember to breathe.

Religion does have a tendency to cling to power. That is the nature of the beast. It lends spiritual credibility to barbaric acts, is given protection and sustenance in return.

Actions can be evil: the inversion of truth, power inflicted on the powerless, violence on the full spectrum of psychological to physical, subtle to unsubtle: all these acts, in the right context, can be defined as evil.

Power is the ultimate inauthenticity. It obscures the truth of our common human experience: that we are all equally without essence, that we are all therefore equal.

The temples of empires come tumbling down, the names of the mighty forgotten. Here is a parable: power never lasts.

Power does not simply stop at the locking of a door, even a cell door.

But until we all realise that power – be it that of gods, of kings or of masters – only exists in our minds, dear Venerable, do not tell me to dispense with the concept of freedom.

It is a nerve-racking thing to be nothing, to be free, to be responsible for one’s own becoming at each and every moment. It is to be plunged into anxiety, into angst, to suffer the terror of one who stands at the edge of a lifelong precipice. There are no anchors now, no ropes, no gravity to keep us grounded; things fall apart in the stratosphere.

Those who are most afraid of their own freedom are the ones most desperate to take it from others.