Enjoy the Ride

What if we said, "This is the way it is;
this is what it means to be human," and
decided to sit down and enjoy the ride?

Pema Chodron

Letting Go of Wanting Things

What would it be like to let go of
wanting things to be other than they are?

Byron Katie

The Greatest Gift

You begin to hear the secret, that
being fully in the present moment
is the greatest gift you can give
to each situation.

Ram Dass

To Rise Above

Consciousness is key to getting the mind to rise
above the brain's vulnerabilities, which will kill us.

Dan Siegel

Keeping Pace with the Times

I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws
and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go
hand in hand with the progress of the human mind.
As that becomes more developed, more enlightened,
as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and
manners and opinions change, with the circumstances,
institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times.
We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which
fitted him he a boy as a civilized society to remain ever
under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.

Thomas Jefferson

Then It Happens

Photography is not documentary,
but intuition, a poetic experience.
First, you must lose yourself.
Then it happens.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Enter, Then Exit

Enter through form.
Exit from form.

Martial Arts Saying

Go in Ignorant

The best way to go into
an unknown territory
is to go in ignorant.

Dorothea Lange

Out There

It's out there, man,
don't you hear it?

Dizzy Gillespie

Just a Bonus

I am not looking for anything.
I'm just looking - trying to have
as full an experience as possible.
The point is to have a full experience -
to photograph is just a bonus.

Michael Smith

Make It Your Home

Leap into the boundless
and make it your home.

Chuang Tzu

Much Simpler

Wanting to reform the world without
discovering one's true self is like trying
to cover the world with leather to avoid
the pain of walking on stones and thorns.
It is much simpler to wear shoes.

Ramana Maharshi

Already That Which Is

You are already that which is. But
your mind is frightened to let go
and still has an idea that something
special should happen.

Tony Parsons

Compassion

If your compassion does
not include yourself,
it is incomplete.

Buddha

Just As They Are

If you understand,
things are just as they are.
If you do not understand,
things are just as they are.

Anonymous

Greet What Comes

Mysteriously, wonderfully, I bid farewell to what goes,
I greet what comes; for what comes cannot be denied,
and what goes cannot be detained.

Chuang Tzu

Living in the Everyday

Daily life is consciousness.
Daily life is awareness.
Enlightenment lives in the everyday.

Judy Cohen

Where the Stuff Is

Everything you've got on your plate is
where the stuff for your enlightenment is.

Ram Dass

The Most Important Thing

The most important thing is
remembering the most important thing.

Suzuki Roshi

No Other One

That one, You, the only one that truly is, is

already Conscious Presence. There is no other one.

Rupert Spira

You Remain As You Are

What is Self Realization? A mere phrase.
People expect some miracle to happen,
something to drop from Heaven in a flash.
It's nothing of the sort. Only the notion that
you're the body, that you're this or that,
will go, and you remain as you are.

Ramana Maharshi

Back on Stage

When it's all over, it's time to be
a human being in the world again,
and that means slipping back
into costume and getting back on stage.

Jed McKenna

Before They Will Listen

Humans need to be heard
before they will listen.

Amanda Ripley

Fear of the Call

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

Michael Meade

Why Rob a Bank?

Because that's where
the money is.

Willie Sutton

The Path Itself

You cannot travel the path until
you become the path itself.

Buddha

Come Back

Sometimes you hear a voice through the door calling,
as a fish out of water hears the waves.

Come back. Come back. This turning toward

what you deeply love saves you.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

A Mind That is Stretched

A mind that is stretched to a new idea
never returns to its original dimension.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Art is the Basis

Before a child speaks, it sings.
Before they write, they paint.
As soon as they stand, they dance.
Art is the basis of human expression.

Phylicia Rashad

I Just AM It

If I'm an example then that's great.
But I don't have to preach it.
I don't have to march it.
I don't have to carry signs.
I just AM it.

Dolly Parton

I Have Opinions

I have opinions on everything in this world.
You have your opinions, and I can also express
opinions and judgments on everything.
But my opinion and judgments are no more
important than the opinions and judgments
of your mother or that taxi driver there.

U.G. Krishnamurti

That Which is Not Illusion

Every day, go into the calm quiet where you really belong, face the other way, and turn your gaze back; if you do this over the long years, that which is not illusion will of itself reveal itself before you.

Master Daikaku

Silence Beyond Sound

All final spiritual reference is to the silence beyond sound.
It can be spoken of as the great silence, or as the void, or
as the transcendent absolute.

Joseph Campbell

Regular Visits

Do you make regular visits

to yourself?

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

Truly Ready

When the student is truly ready,
the teacher will disappear.

Lao Tzu

Decency

Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?
Have you left no sense of decency?

Joseph Nye Welsh (to Joe McCarthy)

Clinging

You only lose
what you cling to.

Buddha

Your Own Salvation

Work out your own salvation.
Do not depend on others.

Buddha

Always Flowers

There are always flowers for
those who want to see them.

Henri Matisse

Less More

Still, when asked, I'm willing and happy to keep offering ...

less. Less pretending, less superiority, less words,

less answers, less stringing-along, less ... more.

Oh, yes, there's plenty more where that less came from.
Everyone is welcome to ask for more of that. Anytime.
And I also wish for all askers to enjoy living without
getting it. Which is as rich and enlightening as anyone
could ever get. And who knows, might even
answer every question.

Judy Cohen

Then We Return Home

We are all visitors to this time, this place.
We are just passing through. Our purpose
here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love ...
and then we return home.

Australian Aboriginal Proverb

Your Own Light

Doubt everything.
Find your own light.

Buddha

Only Two Mistakes

There are only two mistakes one
can make along the road to truth:
not going all the way, and not starting.

Buddha

Make Sure You're Not Asleep

Is there anything I can do

to make myself enlightened?
As little as you can do

to make the sun rise in the morning.
Then of what use are

the spiritual exercises you prescribe?
To make sure you're not asleep

when the sun begins to rise.

Anthony de Mello

You May Be the Light

If everything around you seems dark,
look again. You may be the light.

Jalāl al-Dīn Rumi

Only I Can Do That

You cannot hurt me.
Only I can do that.

Byron Katie

The Pause

The pause is
as important
as the note.

Truman Fisher

Before and After

Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.
After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.

Buddha

Emptiness

The usefulness of the cup
is its emptiness.

Bruce Lee

You're All That

What you are basically, deep deep down, is simply
the fabric and structure of existence itself. And
you're ALL that, only you're pretending you're not.

Alan Watts

Experiencing Truth

To accept some idea of truth

without experiencing it

is like a painting of a cake

on paper which you cannot eat.

Suzuki Roshi