The Language of God

Silence is the language of god,
all else is poor translation.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

Learning About Fear

It is not that you must be free from fear. The moment you try to free yourself from fear, you create a resistance against fear. Resistance, in any form, does not end fear. What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it, not how to resist it through courage and so on.

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Our Real Journey

When we no longer know what to do,
we have come to our real work and
when we no longer know which way
to go, we have begun our real journey.

Wendell Berry

Genius

Genius does what it must.
Talent does what it can.

Fortune Cookie

Most Responsive

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor
the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change.

Charles Darwin

For the First Time

We shall not cease from exploration.
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

T.S. Eliot

One Does Not Know

To be free is to know
that one does not know.

Wu Hsin

What Stands in the Way

The impediment to action advances the action.
What stands in the way becomes the way.

Marcus Aurelius

Returning the Favor

God created man in His own image, and man,
being a gentleman, returned the favor.

Mark Twain

To Understand It, Be It

To understand it, you
must not face it

but be it.

Alan Watts

Fear of Responding

The problem in most situations
is not a lack of calling, but a fear
of responding to the call.

Michael Meade

Re-examine All

Re-examine all that you have been told.
Dismiss that which insults your soul.

Walt Whitman

That Which is Sought

Explanations do not provide
that which is sought.

Wu Hsin

Also Self-Centered

Whatever you do to be free from the self
also is a self-centered activity.

U.G. Krishnamurti

No Other One

It is not necessary to identify oneself as
Conscious Presence. Who is the one that
would do that? That one, You, the only one
that truly is, is already Conscious Presence.
There is no other one.

Rupert Spira

Feast on Your Life

Peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

Derek Walcott

Your Power

No one is you and
that is your power.

Gabriel Keczan

The Best Way

Slowing down is sometimes
the best way to speed up.

Mike Vance

The House We Live In

The words we speak
become the house we live in.

Hafiz

No Other Way

Nature loves courage, and it shows you that it loves courage because it will remove obstacles. You make the commitment, and nature will respond to that commitment by removing impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream, and the world will not grind you under, it will lift you up. This is the trick! This is what all these teachers and philosophers who really counted, who really touched the alchemical gold, this is what they understood, this is the shamanic dance in the waterfall, this is how magic is done: it’s done by hurling yourself into the abyss, and discovering that it’s a feather bed. There’s no other way to do it.

Terence McKenna

Your Personal Drama

This preoccupation with
Your personal drama is
The cloud that masks
The sun

Wu Hsin

Unlearning

Unlearning is how
the vastness reveals itself.

Byron Katie

Wholehearted Living

Wholehearted living is about engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness. It means cultivating the courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think, no matter what gets done and how much is left undone, I am enough.

Brené Brown

The Core of Your Life

If you don’t know your purpose, discover it, now. The core of your life is your purpose. Everything in your life, from your diet to your career, must be aligned with your purpose if you are to act with coherence and integrity in the world. If you know your purpose, your deepest desire, then the secret of success is to discipline your life so that you support your deepest purpose and minimize distractions and detours.

David Deida

A Good Day

Today is a good day
to die.

Attributed as a Native American Saying

Who Hesitates

He who hesitates
is lost.

Cato

Live Each Day

Live each day like it's your last,
'cause one day you gonna be right.

Ray Charles

Holy Ground

Where there is sorrow,
there is holy ground.

Oscar Wilde

Whole Over Good

I'd rather be whole
than good.

Carl Jung

On the Other Side

We want to sit with doubt.
We want to savor it.
We want to follow it where it leads.
Because on the other side is truth.

Ryan Holiday

All the Difference

Just think. Just be quiet and think.
It'll make all the difference in the world.

Fred Rogers

Conquering the Mind

For one who has conquered the mind,
the mind is the best of friends;
but for one who has failed to do so,
his mind will remain the greatest enemy.

Bhagavad Gita

Poverty of Attention

A wealth of information
creates a poverty of attention.

Herbert Simon

Iron Sharpens Iron

As iron sharpens iron, so
one person sharpens another.

Proverbs 27:17

Be Graceful

When times are good, be grateful.
In times like these, be graceful.

Dustin Poirier

Doomed to Repeat

Those who cannot learn from history
are doomed to repeat it

George Santayana

Justice, Truth, Self-Control, Courage

If at some point in your life you should come across
anything better than justice, truth, self-control, courage -
it must be an extraordinary thing indeed.

Marcus Aurelius

Another Matter

I am prepared to meet my Maker.
Whether my Maker is prepared for
the great ordeal of meeting me
is another matter.

Winston Churchill

Except in Silence

Thought will not work
except in silence.

Thomas Carlyle

Listen More and Talk Less

The reason why we have two ears and only one mouth
is that we may listen the more and talk the less.

Zeno of Citium

A Little While Alone

Which is worth more, a crowd of thousands,
or your own genuine solitude?
Freedom, or power over an entire nation?
A little while alone in your room
will prove more valuable than anything else
that could ever be given you.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

Humanity's Problems

All of humanity's problems

stem from man's inability
to sit quietly in a room alone.

Blaise Pascal

To See a World

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
and Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

William Blake

The Proposition

The proposition here is just to empty the self.
To be able to be present.

Marina Abramovic

Unlimited Patience

Keep strong, if possible. In any case, keep cool. Have
unlimited patience. Never corner an opponent, and
always assist him to save face. Put yourself in his shoes
so as to see things through his eyes. Avoid self-
righteousness like the devil - nothing so self-binding.

B.H. Liddell Hart

The Living Present

Trust no future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act, -- act in the living present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Child is Father of the Man

My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So it is now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

William Wordsworth

What Other Creature

What other creature, large or small,
feels that it's not enough just to be alive?

Judy Cohen

Dramatic

Only the ego makes
its own demise
seem dramatic.

Adyashanti

We Don't Like It

When we imagine that
we have found it,
we don't like it.

Alan Watts

Short Bursts of Truth

In the future, no one will be heard who
doesn't speak in short bursts of truth.

Saul Bellow