The Notebooks of Schubert Ogden

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1. All religions summon one to live realistically, to submit to things as they really are—and in this sense, to be obedient, by understanding oneself and leading one's life accordingly.

2. But among things as they really are, are both "the things that cannot be changed" and "the things that should be changed" (Reinhold Niebuhr).

3. It follows, then, that the only way to submit and to be obedient is not only to accept with serenity, "the things that cannot be changed" but also to act with courage to change " the things that should be changed."

4. Not to do, then, what one can to change "the things that should be changed" is precisely not to submit or to be obedient—every bit as much so to try to change "the things that cannot be changed."

n.d.; rev. 28 October 2009

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