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[[File:Felix-Adler-Hine.jpeg|144px|thumb|right||thumb|right|The Supreme Ethical Rule: Act So As To Elicit the Best In Others and Thereby In Thy Self.]]
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[[File:Felix-Adler-Hine.jpeg|thumb|right||thumb|right|The Supreme Ethical Rule: Act So As To Elicit the Best In Others and Thereby In Thy Self.]]
'''[[w:Felix Adler (Society for Ethical Culture)|Felix Adler]]''' ([[August 13]] [[1851]] – [[April 24]] [[1933]]) was a Jewish professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, popular lecturer, religious leader and social reformer who founded the [[w:Ethical Culture|Ethical Culture]] movement, and is often considered one of the main influences on modern Humanistic Judaism.
'''[[w:Felix Adler (Society for Ethical Culture)|Felix Adler]]''' ([[August 13]] [[1851]] – [[April 24]] [[1933]]) was a Jewish professor of political and social ethics, rationalist, popular lecturer, religious leader and social reformer who founded the [[w:Ethical Culture|Ethical Culture]] movement, and is often considered one of the main influences on modern Humanistic Judaism.
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:[http://aeu.org/adler1.html Founding address of New York Society for Ethical Culture (15 May 1876)]
:[http://aeu.org/adler1.html Founding address of New York Society for Ethical Culture (15 May 1876)]
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[[File:RegenbogenDSCN0352.JPG|144px|thumb|right|The moral improvement of the nations and their individual components has not kept pace with the march of intellect and the advance of industry.]]
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[[File:RegenbogenDSCN0352.JPG|thumb|right|The moral improvement of the nations and their individual components has not kept pace with the march of intellect and the advance of industry.]]
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[[File:IMG 7474 solar glory.JPG|144px|thumb|right|There is a great and crying evil in modern society. It is want of purpose. It is that narrowness of vision which shuts out the wider vistas of the soul. It is the absence of those sublime emotions which, wherever they arise, do not fall to exalt and consecrate existence.]]
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[[File:IMG 7474 solar glory.JPG|thumb|right|There is a great and crying evil in modern society. It is want of purpose. It is that narrowness of vision which shuts out the wider vistas of the soul. It is the absence of those sublime emotions which, wherever they arise, do not fall to exalt and consecrate existence.]]
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[[File:Fogbow glory spectre bridge.JPG|144px|thumb|right|The past speaks to us in a thousand voices, warning and comforting, animating and stirring to action. What its great thinkers have thought and written on the deepest problems of life, shall we not hear and enjoy?]]
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[[File:Fogbow glory spectre bridge.JPG|thumb|right|The past speaks to us in a thousand voices, warning and comforting, animating and stirring to action. What its great thinkers have thought and written on the deepest problems of life, shall we not hear and enjoy?]]
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[[File:Brocken-tanzawa2.JPG|144px|thumb|right|The freedom of thought is a sacred right of every individual man, and diversity will continue to increase with the progress, refinement, and differentiation of the human intellect.]]
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[[File:Brocken-tanzawa2.JPG|thumb|right|The freedom of thought is a sacred right of every individual man, and diversity will continue to increase with the progress, refinement, and differentiation of the human intellect.]]
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[[File:Golden statue.jpg|144px|thumb|right| We are aiding in laying the foundations of a mighty edifice, whose completion shall not be seen in our day, no, nor in centuries upon centuries after us. But happy are we, indeed, if we can contribute even the least towards so high a consummation. ]]
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[[File:Golden statue.jpg|thumb|right| We are aiding in laying the foundations of a mighty edifice, whose completion shall not be seen in our day, no, nor in centuries upon centuries after us. But happy are we, indeed, if we can contribute even the least towards so high a consummation. ]]
* '''When we are about to set forth on a path hitherto untried and likely to lead our lives in a new direction, it appears eminently desirable and proper that we should, in the first place, briefly review the public and private life of the day, in order to determine whether the essential elements that make up the happiness of states and individuals are all duly provided, and if not, where the need lies and how it can best be supplied.'''
* '''When we are about to set forth on a path hitherto untried and likely to lead our lives in a new direction, it appears eminently desirable and proper that we should, in the first place, briefly review the public and private life of the day, in order to determine whether the essential elements that make up the happiness of states and individuals are all duly provided, and if not, where the need lies and how it can best be supplied.'''
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=== ''The Religion of Duty'' (1905) ===
=== ''The Religion of Duty'' (1905) ===
:[http://www.archive.org/details/thereligionofdut00adleuoft Full text online in various formats]
:[http://www.archive.org/details/thereligionofdut00adleuoft Full text online in various formats]
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[[Image:CL0024+17.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Theories of what is true have their day. They come and go, leave their deposit in the common stock of knowledge, and are supplanted by other more convincing theories.]]
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[[Image:CL0024+17.jpg|thumb|right|Theories of what is true have their day. They come and go, leave their deposit in the common stock of knowledge, and are supplanted by other more convincing theories.]]
* '''Theories of what is true have their day. They come and go, leave their deposit in the common stock of knowledge, and are supplanted by other more convincing theories.''' The thinkers and investigators of the world are pledged to no special theory, but feel themselves free to search for the greater truth beyond the utmost limits of present knowledge. So likewise in the field of moral truth, '''it is our hope, that men in proportion as they grow more enlightened, will learn to hold their theories and their creeds more loosely, and will none the less, nay, rather all the more be devoted to the supreme end of practical righteousness to which all theories and creeds must be kept subservient.'''
There are two purposes then which we have in view: To secure in the moral and religious life perfect intellectual liberty, and at the same time to secure concert in action. '''There shall be no shackles upon the mind, no fetters imposed in early youth which the growing man or woman may feel prevented from shaking off, no barrier set up which daring thought may not transcend. And on the other hand there shall be unity of effort, the unity that comes of an end supremely prized and loved, the unity of earnest, morally aspiring persons, engaged in the conflict with moral evil.'''
* '''Theories of what is true have their day. They come and go, leave their deposit in the common stock of knowledge, and are supplanted by other more convincing theories.''' The thinkers and investigators of the world are pledged to no special theory, but feel themselves free to search for the greater truth beyond the utmost limits of present knowledge. So likewise in the field of moral truth, '''it is our hope, that men in proportion as they grow more enlightened, will learn to hold their theories and their creeds more loosely, and will none the less, nay, rather all the more be devoted to the supreme end of practical righteousness to which all theories and creeds must be kept subservient.'''
There are two purposes then which we have in view: To secure in the moral and religious life perfect intellectual liberty, and at the same time to secure concert in action. '''There shall be no shackles upon the mind, no fetters imposed in early youth which the growing man or woman may feel prevented from shaking off, no barrier set up which daring thought may not transcend. And on the other hand there shall be unity of effort, the unity that comes of an end supremely prized and loved, the unity of earnest, morally aspiring persons, engaged in the conflict with moral evil.'''
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=== ''Life and Destiny'' (1913) ===
=== ''Life and Destiny'' (1913) ===
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[[File:Hoag's object.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Here are two kinds of light, the light on the hither side of the darkness and the light beyond the darkness.]]
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[[File:Hoag's object.jpg|thumb|right|Here are two kinds of light, the light on the hither side of the darkness and the light beyond the darkness.]]
:[http://books.google.com/books?id=59IZAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22engaged+in+ceaseless+efforts+at+moral+improvement%22&ei=6iHARoqOLojO6wK1hqGmAw ''Life and Destiny : or Thoughts from the Ethical Lectures of Felix Adler'' (1913) (Downloadable PDF at Google Book Search)]
:[http://books.google.com/books?id=59IZAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22engaged+in+ceaseless+efforts+at+moral+improvement%22&ei=6iHARoqOLojO6wK1hqGmAw ''Life and Destiny : or Thoughts from the Ethical Lectures of Felix Adler'' (1913) (Downloadable PDF at Google Book Search)]
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[[File:Whirpool Galaxy.jpg|144px|thumb|right|The divine in man is our sole ground for believing that there is anything divine in the universe outside of man. Man is the revealer of the divine.]]
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[[File:Whirpool Galaxy.jpg|thumb|right|The divine in man is our sole ground for believing that there is anything divine in the universe outside of man. Man is the revealer of the divine.]]
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[[File:M51 whirlpool galaxy black hole.jpg|144px|thumb|right|The symbols of religion are ciphers of which the key is to be found in moral experience. It is in vain we pore over the ciphers unless we possess the key.]]
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[[File:M51 whirlpool galaxy black hole.jpg|thumb|right|The symbols of religion are ciphers of which the key is to be found in moral experience. It is in vain we pore over the ciphers unless we possess the key.]]
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[[File:Bbrot225x225x24.PNG|144px|thumb|right|Somehow the secret of the universe is hidden in our breast. Somehow the destinies of the universe depend upon our exertions.]]
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[[File:Bbrot225x225x24.PNG|thumb|right|Somehow the secret of the universe is hidden in our breast. Somehow the destinies of the universe depend upon our exertions.]]
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[[File:Jiuhuashan bodhisattva image.jpg|144px|thumb|right|The moral ideal would embrace the whole of life. In its sight nothing is petty or indifferent. It touches the veriest trifles and turns them into shining gold.]]
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[[File:Jiuhuashan bodhisattva image.jpg|thumb|right|The moral ideal would embrace the whole of life. In its sight nothing is petty or indifferent. It touches the veriest trifles and turns them into shining gold.]]
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[[File:Love heart.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Deep down in every human heart is the seed of a diviner life, which only needs the quickening influence of right conditions to germinate.]]
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[[File:Love heart.jpg|thumb|right|Deep down in every human heart is the seed of a diviner life, which only needs the quickening influence of right conditions to germinate.]]
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[[File:La busqueda del angel... (257576369).jpg|144px|thumb|right|It may be impossible for a man by merely willing it to add wings to his body, but it is possible for any man, by merely willing it, to add wings to his soul.]]
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[[File:La busqueda del angel... (257576369).jpg|thumb|right|It may be impossible for a man by merely willing it to add wings to his body, but it is possible for any man, by merely willing it, to add wings to his soul.]]
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[[File:The Realm of Rane - by Jeroen van Valkenburg.PNG|144px|thumb|right|The moral law is the expression of our inmost nature, and when we live in consonance with it we feel that we are living out our true being.]]
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[[File:The Realm of Rane - by Jeroen van Valkenburg.PNG|thumb|right|The moral law is the expression of our inmost nature, and when we live in consonance with it we feel that we are living out our true being.]]
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[[File:Light dispersion conceptual.gif|144px|thumb|right|When the light of the sun shines through a prism it is broken into beautiful colours, and when the prism is shattered, still the light remains.]]
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[[File:Light dispersion conceptual.gif|thumb|right|When the light of the sun shines through a prism it is broken into beautiful colours, and when the prism is shattered, still the light remains.]]
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[[File:Halo in cirrostratus 1.jpg|144px|thumb|right|The condition of all progress is experience. We go wrong a thousand times before we find the right path. We struggle, and grope, and hurt ourselves until we learn the use of things, and this is true of things spiritual as well as of material things.]]
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[[File:Halo in cirrostratus 1.jpg|thumb|right|The condition of all progress is experience. We go wrong a thousand times before we find the right path. We struggle, and grope, and hurt ourselves until we learn the use of things, and this is true of things spiritual as well as of material things.]]
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[[File:Apophysis El Dorado.jpg|144px|thumb|right|The bitter, yet merciful, lesson which death teaches us is to distinguish the gold from the tinsel, the true values from the worthless chaff.]]
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[[File:Apophysis El Dorado.jpg|thumb|right|The bitter, yet merciful, lesson which death teaches us is to distinguish the gold from the tinsel, the true values from the worthless chaff.]]
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[[File:Paradiso Canto 31.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Ethical religion affirms the continuity of progress toward moral perfection.]]
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[[File:Paradiso Canto 31.jpg|thumb|right|Ethical religion affirms the continuity of progress toward moral perfection.]]
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[[File:Andreas-bogdain-balance2.jpg|144px|thumb|right|The moral truths which we have inherited from the past need to be expanded and restated.]]
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[[File:Andreas-bogdain-balance2.jpg|thumb|right|The moral truths which we have inherited from the past need to be expanded and restated.]]
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[[File:The Golden Bough - by Jeroen van Valkenburg.PNG|144px|thumb|right|By ceaseless efforts to live the good life we maintain our moral sanity. Not from without, but from within, flow the divine waters that renew the soul.]]
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[[File:The Golden Bough - by Jeroen van Valkenburg.PNG|thumb|right|By ceaseless efforts to live the good life we maintain our moral sanity. Not from without, but from within, flow the divine waters that renew the soul.]]
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[[File:Collage_Auge_im_Himmel_byLöser.jpg|144px|thumb|right|We seek to become morally certain — that is, certain for moral purposes — of what is beyond the reach of demonstration. But our moral optimism must include the darkest facts that pessimism can point to, include them and transcend them.]]
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[[File:Collage_Auge_im_Himmel_byLöser.jpg|thumb|right|We seek to become morally certain — that is, certain for moral purposes — of what is beyond the reach of demonstration. But our moral optimism must include the darkest facts that pessimism can point to, include them and transcend them.]]
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[[File:This morning we caught a rainbow.jpg|144px|thumb|right|We should teach our children nothing which they shall ever need to unlearn; we should strive to transmit to them the best possessions, the truest thought, the noblest sentiments of the age in which we live.]]
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[[File:This morning we caught a rainbow.jpg|thumb|right|We should teach our children nothing which they shall ever need to unlearn; we should strive to transmit to them the best possessions, the truest thought, the noblest sentiments of the age in which we live.]]
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[[File:Glory, spectre.jpg|144px|thumb|right|The frontier of the higher life is everywhere contiguous to the common life, and we can cross the border at any moment. The higher life is as real as the grosser things in which we put our trust. But our eyes must be anointed so that we may see it.]]
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[[File:Glory, spectre.jpg|thumb|right|The frontier of the higher life is everywhere contiguous to the common life, and we can cross the border at any moment. The higher life is as real as the grosser things in which we put our trust. But our eyes must be anointed so that we may see it.]]
* '''Here are two kinds of light, the light on the hither side of the darkness and the light beyond the darkness.''' We must press on through the darkness and the terror of it if we would reach the holier light beyond.
We are here — no matter who put us here, or how we came here — to fulfil a task. We cannot afford to go of our own volition until the last item of our duty is discharged.
* '''Here are two kinds of light, the light on the hither side of the darkness and the light beyond the darkness.''' We must press on through the darkness and the terror of it if we would reach the holier light beyond.
We are here — no matter who put us here, or how we came here — to fulfil a task. We cannot afford to go of our own volition until the last item of our duty is discharged.
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=== ''An Ethical Philosopy of Life'' (1918) ===
=== ''An Ethical Philosopy of Life'' (1918) ===
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[[File:LuMaxArt Golden Family With World Religions .jpg|144px|thumb|right|What I state as certain is certain for me. It has approved itself as such in my experience. Let others consult their experience, and see how far it tallies with that which is here set forth.]]
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[[File:LuMaxArt Golden Family With World Religions .jpg|thumb|right|What I state as certain is certain for me. It has approved itself as such in my experience. Let others consult their experience, and see how far it tallies with that which is here set forth.]]
:[http://books.google.com/books?id=mqsZAAAAMAAJ&dq=Felix+Adler ''An Ethical Philosophy of Life Presented in Its Main Outlines'' (1918) (Downloadable PDF at Google Book Search)]
:[http://books.google.com/books?id=mqsZAAAAMAAJ&dq=Felix+Adler ''An Ethical Philosophy of Life Presented in Its Main Outlines'' (1918) (Downloadable PDF at Google Book Search)]