Schweitzer: “The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives… In every one’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should be thankful for these people who rekindle the inner spirit… who or what will you connect with that will rekindle your inner flame?“
Search and you will find variations of the Schweitzer quote:
“Sometimes our light goes out but is blown again into flame by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.”
“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.“
The consistent word: Rekindle
- rekindle your inner flame
- rekindle this inner light
- rekindle the inner spirit
Another word that repeats: inner
- inner flame
- inner light
- inner spirit
creative meander 
This one speaks to me today after our talk yesterday. Hoping someone important to me has his inner light rekindled soon. ❤️
I hope so too.
Now that I’m in the process of remembering (the journey to Verdun/Paris), I’m recognizing that part of me didn’t die, it was only forgotten/lost during the pandemic years. Odd, how that rekindle quote can help rekindle. The words became enlivened once I began giving them attention. (It wasn’t work!) Maybe the creative currents of music (instead of the work of music) may enliven that important someone.
I just found a quote from Macrina Wiederkehr that speaks to rekindling. I think we can all relate at one time or another to “a deeper drink of the bitter cup we are holding.”
Macrina: “Some mornings I choose to choose life. These are the mornings when I remember that it is not only the shining in the eastern sky that is rekindled at dawn. I remember that I am part of the shining. The spark of light in my own soul is rekindled, and I begin my day in glory. It is all about remembrance—remembrance of God and of good. Each morning as I look out my window, I want to be awake enough to say, Today I will remember to pause.”
… Dear as the gift of a new day may be, when we are passing through a great sorrow, we may understandably find it difficult to praise the dawning of another day. At times like this, the new morning may seem nothing more than a deeper drink of the bitter cup we are holding. I am convinced, though, that even in these dark times it is helpful to look to the heart for guidance. No life holds only joy and gladness, mixed in with delight is grief, doubt, discouragement. Yet there is something very special about joy. It is quite different from the happiness that can be short-lived and fleeting. Joy has the ability to live with and through the sorrows. Perhaps the reason for joy’s persistence is hidden in the definition of joy that comes to us from the novelist, Eugenia Price. “Joy,” she says, “is God in the marrow of our bones.” Joy is a deep well. If, in times of sorrow, we go down under the sorrow, we will discover that joy is still alive. Thus we will be able to raise high the chalice of our lives in any kind of weather.”