“You darkness from which I come, I love you more than all the fires that fence out the world, for the fire makes a circle for everyone so that no one sees you anymore. But darkness holds it all: the shape and the flame, the animal and myself, how it holds them, all powers, all sight —
and it is possible: its great strength is breaking into my body. I have faith in the night.”
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
“Experience is like a piece of cloth, woven with strands of coloured yarn. Thoughts, feelings, sensations and perceptions are like the strands – separate and distinct when we look at the colours but one indivisible whole when we look at the cloth.”
“The discovery that peace, happiness and love are ever-present within our own Being, and completely available at every moment of experience, under all conditions, is the most important discovery that anyone can make. ”
“What does seeing clearly mean? It doesn’t mean that you look at something and analyze it, noting all its composite parts; no. When you see clearly, when you look at a flower and really see it, the flower sees you. It’s not that the flower has eyes, of course. It’s that the flower is no longer just a flower, and you are no longer just you.”
“What if you slept And what if In your sleep You dreamed And what if In your dream You went to heaven And there plucked a strange and beautiful flower And what if When you awoke You had that flower in you hand Ah, what then? ”
“In fear or resistance, we are pulled towards a past; in desire or seeking, we are propelled towards a future. Resistance and seeking are the two essential forms of the separate self. The only place they cannot stand is Now.”
“One thing we do know: Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at this moment.”
“Psychological suffering is born of the ‘I-don’t-like-what-is-present-and-I-want-what-is-not-present’ thought; as such, suffering is for thought, not for Awareness. ”
“All negativity is caused by an accumulation of psychological time and denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry - all forms of fear - are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. Guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of non-forgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.”
“I’ve often been struck by the poignancy of meeting old people of great wealth and power, and seeing how frightened they are of losing what they have. The greater their clinging, the greater their pain, realizing how little use the accoutrements of power and worldly position are in helping them age with wisdom and peace. In truth, the Ego’s attachment to power of any kind is linked inextricably to the fear of losing that power, and thus becomes a source of suffering. There is a kind of power that does not give rise to fear, however. It is spiritual power, the power of the enlightened mind. As we begin to emphasize Soul power over worldly power, our perception of the alterations brought on by aging changes proportionately. ”
“The only barrier to peace and happiness is the thought that considers the current situation wrong or inadequate. That thought is like a plant that flowers in our feelings, activities and relationships, but has deep roots. It is not enough to pick the flower.”
