".... In the meantime a new religion is emerging throughout the world, a religion in which the body is the supreme object of worship to the exclusion of all other aspects of existence. The pursuit of its pleasures has grown into a cult; its masters are the venerated priests; for its ritual no efforts are spared.
We have bartered holiness for convenience, loyalty for success, wisdom for information, joy for pleasure, tradition for fashion.
There is no faith except in the cultivation of the heart, in the depths of the soul, in the ennoblement of the mind. And this cannot be attained amid the vulgarization of life, or without sensitivity and strain, discipline, effort, and contemplation. There is no human being without faith. But some worship idols and others the God of Israel. We are free to choose. An idol is what man creates for himself, in his own image, in the image of his concepts, for the satisfaction of his needs and desires. “Dwell in the land and cherish faith” (Psalm 37:3)—“Lig in der erd, un pasha dich mit emunah” (Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotsk). God is either of no importance or of supreme importance. Without Him all is vain: the state, civilization, the life of the individual and of society. What God means is expressed in the words: “For Your steadfast love is better than life” (Psalm 63:3). God is He whose regard for me I value more than life.
[Insecurity Of Freedom page 265]
