Staircase

As my muscles weakened,
my writing became stronger.
As I slowly lost my speech,
I gained my voice.
As I diminished, I grew.
As I lost so much,
I finally started to find myself.

Neil Selinger

Becoming Young

It takes a long time
to become young.

Pablo Picasso

Man's Search for Meaning

Everything you have in life can be taken from you except one thing: your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation. This is what determines the quality of the life we've lived - not whether we've been rich or poor, famous or unknown, healthy or suffering. What determines our quality of life is how we relate to these realities, what kind of meaning we assign them, what kind of attitude we cling to about them, what state of mind we allow them to trigger.

Viktor Frankl

The Third Act

When you're inside oldness, as opposed to
looking at it from the outside, fear subsides.

Jane Fonda

Without Love I Am Nothing

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

As a Loose Garment

Wear the world as a loose garment,
which touches us in a few places
and there lightly.

St. Francis of Assisi

All is Vanity

"Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher;
"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."

Ecclesiastes 1:2

Forfeiting One's Soul

For what does it profit a man
to gain the whole world and
forfeit his soul?

Jesus Christ (Mark 8:36)

The Way of Love

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Context is God

Content is king,
but context is God.

Gary Vaynerchuk

No Greater Lesson

To ignore context is the greatest source of catastrophe for every generation of man ... There is no greater lesson that needs to be learned to reduce human suffering and bring ignorance to an end.

David Hawkins

Dare to Alter the Context

Life does not change if you only modify
the content. Your life will change if you
will dare to alter the context.

Santosh Kalwar

Leave the Raft Behind

My teaching is like a raft. A raft is meant to
carry you across the river; once you have
crossed the river, you leave the raft behind
on the shore.

The Buddha

Everybody is the Guru

When you know how to listen
everybody is the guru.

Ram Dass

What You Meet

What you meet in another being is
the projection of your own level of evolution.

Ram Dass

Start Where You Are

Start from where you are -
not where you wish you were.
The work you're doing becomes
your path.

Ram Dass

Be All There

Wherever you are,
be all there.

Ram Dass

Every Person a Soul

Once you get to your soul, then
every person you look at is a soul.

Ram Dass

Work to be Done

A feeling of aversion or attachment
toward something is your clue that
there's work to be done.

Ram Dass

Your Path

Don't compare your path with anybody else's.
Your path is unique to you.

Ram Dass

We Are Enough

Our whole spiritual transformation
brings us to the point where we realize
that in our own being, we are enough.

Ram Dass

Rest in Awareness

To rest in awareness also means to stand free of the prejudices of mind that come from identifying with cherished attitudes and opinions. We can listen without being busy planning, analyzing, theorizing ... and especially judging. We can open into the moment fully in order to hear it all.

Ram Dass

The Beloved in Each Person

When we see the Beloved in each person,
it's like walking through a garden, watching
flowers bloom all around us.

Ram Dass

Opposite Things

Across planes of consciousness,
we have to live with the paradox
that opposite things can be
simultaneously true.

Ram Dass

Your Deepest Truth

The spiritual journey is not about acquiring
something outside yourself. Rather, you are
penetrating the layers and veils to return to
the deepest truth of your own being.

Ram Dass

It Will Not Matter

When your center is firm, when your faith is
strong and unwavering, then it will not matter
what company you keep.

Ram Dass

The More I'm Free

The freer I get, the higher I go.
The higher I go, the more I see.
The more I see, the less I know.
The less I know, the more I'm free.

Ram Dass

Let It Go

The world is won by
those who let it go.

Ram Dass

You May Protest

You may protest if you can love
the person you are protesting against
as much as you love yourself.

Ram Dass

Cosmic Humor

Cosmic humor, especially about
your own predicament, is
an important part of your journey.

Ram Dass

Know Your Zip Code

Just because you are seeing divine light,
experiencing waves of bliss, or conversing
with Gods and Goddesses is no reason to
not know your zip code.

Ram Dass

The Secret

The secret isn't that you're not being told.
The secret is that you're not able to hear.

Ram Dass

Exquisite Instrument

The Ego is an exquisite instrument.
Enjoy it, use it - just don't get lost in it.

Ram Dass

I Don't Know

The critical point in all spiritual work is the capacity
to be willing to tell the truth. Very often that truth is
"I don't know," and out of the "I don't know" comes
the willingness to surrender to God.

David Hawkins

The Care of God

Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over
to the care of God as we understood Him.

Third of Twelve Steps

The Best Thing in You

Be careful, lest in casting our your demon
you exorcise the best thing in you.

Friedrich Nietzche

Culture is Not Your Friend

Culture is not your friend. Culture is for other people's convenience and the convenience of various institutions, churches, companies, tax collection schemes, and what have you. It is not your friend. It insults you, it disempowers you, it uses and abuses you. None of us are well-treated by culture.

Terence McKenna

Neurosis Cauldron

The American family is what keeps American
psychotherapy alive and well. This is a cauldron
for the production of neurosis.

Terence McKenna

The Labyrinth is Fully Known

We have not even to risk the adventure alone,
for the heroes of all time have gone before us.
The labyrinth is fully known. We have only to
follow the thread of the hero path. And where
we had thought to find an abomination, we
shall find a god. And where we thought to
slay each other, we shall slay ourselves. And
where we had thought to travel outward, we
shall come to the center of our own existence.
And where we had thought to be alone, we
shall be with all the world.

Joseph Campbell

Exactly As We Are

Knowing that we can be loved exactly as we are
gives us all the best opportunity for growing into
the healthiest of people.

Fred Rogers

Hero With a Thousand Faces

I don't think it would help you to
change the system, but it would help
you to live in the system as a human being.

Joseph Campbell

Yet Somewhat Alone

At first you have to be alone by pulling back from people, before you can understand what the game is. Then, finally you see that the game is to be with people, yet always be somewhat alone.

Ram Dass

Equal Pleasure

Awareness is not driven by goals but instead values
the capacity for equal pleasure in all circumstances.

David Hawkins

Find the Barriers

Your task is not to seek for love,
but merely to seek and find all
the barriers within yourself that
you have built against it.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

Being With

To the ego, gains lie without; to the spirit, they are internal, for the ever-present joy of existence is independent of content or form. To the spirit, a sunny day or a rainy day are the same. Awareness enjoys qualities rather than grasping at form. Thus it can enjoy "being with," without having to own or control.

David Hawkins

Radiance of Unconditional Love

Much like the rising of the sea level lifts all ships,
so the radiance of unconditional love within a
human heart lifts all of life.

Fran Grace

Dark Night of the Soul

The dark night of the soul is from trying to push the envelope. You're trying to push the unconditional love when you haven't let go of what is holding you back from unconditional love.

David Hawkins

Source of One's Power

Putting one's survival on something outside oneself therefore results in states of powerlessness, victimhood, and weakness by virtue of having projected the source of one's power outside of oneself.

David Hawkins