Quotes by James Castleton, MD, Mending of a Broken Heart

“Happiness is the sense that my life is good because my biological needs are being met. Meaning is the sense that my life is significant because it has met the needs of another. Happiness bestows th...”

“Because I did not understand the difference between meaning and happiness, I did not appreciate that life could be meaningful without being happy. I didnt understand that meaning and happiness are ...”

“Thoroughly selfish individuals can be entirely happy. They will be unlikely to find life very meaningful. To such individuals, meaning often seems accidental, coincidental, or tangential The reaso...”

“The major dilemma in life arises when it is assumed that meaning is simply a greater degree of happiness, such that the more one indulges physiological needs, the more likely it is that life will b...”

“Happiness is true, even though it fades, and meaning is also true, despite the fact that it endures. Those experiences that define what it most means to be human are true not because they endure, t...”

“Happiness fades by design, precisely because its a means to an end, not an end in itself. We continually need to meet our psychological, emotional, and physical needs to remain healthy. If one meal...”

“Holiness doesnt demand denial of happiness, only selfishness. Where unhappiness exists in a relationship, I would submit that such isnt the price of holiness but a sign of sin. It is an indication ...”

“Natural lovers remain committed to the circumstances of their marriage as long as it continues to work for them. Because persons of faith remain committed to their marriage, regardless of circumsta...”

“I pray for insight where the path is veiled, fortitude where the obstacles appear insurmountable, endurance where the destination seems unattainable, and equanimity when all that remains is to acce...”

“The question is not whether our life is purposeful, but whether that purpose leads to a hope which is proper to our nature as human beings, for only then will life be meaningful.”

“The journey to faith is the most marvelous and sobering of all journeys, for the transformation of ones heart transforms the questions one asks, the values one holds, the world one perceives, and t...”

“Faith is about what we know, not what we feel. Yet, what we know will influence and direct what we feel. A strong knowledge of God will yield feelings of confidence in Him.”

“Love may be the most excellent way, but it is also a difficult path to follow and one on which we will most assuredly stumble and fall. If we are not to lose our way, Humility must be our guide, an...”

“The measure of a mans character may be the manner in which he treats the one who can do him no good, but the measure of his heart is the manner in which he loves the one who has hurt him. He who is...”

“Great hardship always seems to be the prerequisite to meaningful spiritual growth.”

“Too many seek the good life, whereas only a life of meaning will satisfy the existential ache within our breasts that begs the question of why we are here, what we are to do with this life, and acc...”

“There is not a true happiness and a false happiness. Only happiness and meaning. The key to happiness is to realize that it is not the same thing as meaning. The key to meaning is to realize that i...”

“The journey to faith begins in a yearning for meaning and ends in love. Love is born out of the gratitude of a heart broken over its own sin and mended by grace. I would wish for a heart so broken ...”

“God will spare no pains necessary to bring us into relationship with Himself, even as that may mean permitting whatever pain is necessary to do so. Suffering is the grist by which the mill of faith...”

“God is not indifferent to suffering. In suffering He created us knowing, in the moment of creation, the necessity of the crucifixion. Christ suffered that we might have confidence that God understa...”