Albert Einstein

In this passage, several good points are made. He explains how those who cannot be struck with awe and amazement at something 'mystical' or inexplicable are 'as good as dead'. People who believe that science can and will explain everything, and that there is nothing left permanently beyond human understanding are truly blinded by their own egotistical arrogance. Man is humbled every day by the universe, by miracles, by life, by God. We become so concerned with ourselves that we dismiss these things as things that we can explain and understand through science and with our own minds, when the reality is that there are some things we will never and can never understand. Religion starts with the acceptance that some things are bigger than us, and more complex than we could ever grasp. It begins with the humility to realize that we are only human, and that there are forces acting infinitely beyond our understanding. Those who feel that God is something that should make sense to us, or that we can make sense out of his actions, are as ignorant and arrogant in those beliefs as the people who blindly follow the God and heavenly rules which are professed to them by their community or parents without giving it a second thought.

Henry David Thoreau

I think this passage was trying to point out the importance of things like art, poetry, philosophy...all of the thoughtful and emotional sides of life which people often like to think of as surreal and petty in the grand scheme of things. In our society we put very little value on these types of things, using and appreciating them only as entertainment (ie. movies, paintings, music, etc). We delusion our selves with our idea of what 'reality' is, without realizing that even still much of what we see as 'reality', isn't reality by the way we are trying to distinguish it. He points out that if we were to eliminate all of these feelings and emotions and subjective ways of thinking, we would be left with nothing, or at least nothing recognizable to us. These things are what make us human and what make up life, and are as real as the earth beneath our feet.

Muhammad

This passage contains a few verses and small clips of verses from the Quran. I particularly like the one "Do not despise the world, for the world too is God". So often we look down on the world and talk about what awful immoral things the world is doing and whatnot, and this reminds us that even that, is God. It is all God's will and everything is the way it is for a reason. Though we may not understand it, we must come to terms with it if we ever wish to be happy within ourselves, instead of constantly trying to renounce it and force it to change.

Another good quote from here is "My servant does not cease to come near me until I love him", saying that you never stop getting closer to God until you are one with him. No matter how far you stray you are always on the path to God, and you will always be led naturally towards him. It also goes on to point out that when you truly know God, he is every part of you. You become God, and God becomes you, when you surrender to his will and know him.