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Share in the accounts and discoveries of the many individuals who, just like you, set out to find new, true answers that could stand up to the test of passing time with its ever-changing conditions. Welcome these inward and uplifting thoughts as if they were your own, for in one sense… they are.
There is an immense ocean over which the mind can sail, upon which the vessel of thought has not yet been launched… Let us haul it over the belt of land, launch on the ocean, and sail outwards. There is much beyond all that has ever yet been imagined.
The eternal stars shine out as soon as it is dark enough.
The sage attends to the inner, and not to the outer.
We would gain more by letting ourselves be seen as we really are, than by attempting to appear what we are not.
We must try to penetrate our most secret self, and examine our being from all sides… And so, for the first time in my life perhaps (although I am supposed to meditate every day!), I took the lamp and, leaving the zone of everyday occupations and relationships where everything seems clear, I went down into my inmost self, to the deep abyss whence I feel dimly that my power of action emanates. But as I moved further and further away from the conventional certainties by which social life is superficially illuminated, I became aware that I was losing contact with myself. At each step of the descent a new person was disclosed within me of whose name I was no longer sure, and who no longer obeyed me. And when I had to stop my exploration because the path faded from beneath my steps, I found a bottomless abyss at my feet, and out of it came — arising I know not from where — the current which I dare to call my life.
Sweet are the uses of adversity.
He who knows not,
And knows not that he knows not,
Is a fool — shun him.
He who knows not,
And knows that he knows not,
Is a child — teach him.
He who knows,
And knows not that he knows,
Is asleep — wake him.
He who knows,
And knows that he knows,
Is wise — follow him.
Where there is plenty of light there is strong shadow.
The realization of Truth is brought about by perception, and not in the least by ten millions of acts.
Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead.
Ring the bell that still can ring.
Forget the perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything.
That’s how the light gets in.
Awakening begins when a man realizes that he is going nowhere and does not know where to go.
You have no freedom or power of will to assume any holy temper, or take hold of such degrees of goodness, as you have a mind to have… But you have a true and full freedom of will and choice… to leave and give up your helpless self to the operation of God on your soul. This is the truth of the freedom of your will.
Keep knocking, and the joy inside
will eventually open a window
and look out to see who’s there.
Origen says the soul’s quest of God comes by self-observation. If she knew herself she would know God also.
Without going out of doors, one may know the whole world; without looking out of the window, one may see the way of heaven. The further one travels, the less one may know. Thus it is that without moving you may know; without looking you shall see; without doing you shall succeed.
“Is there anything that 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 are not asleep when the sun begins to rise.”
One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.
Those who come to seek truth with such a spirit of love and veneration, to them the Lord of Truth reveals the most wonderful things regarding Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.
A little time alone in your own room will prove more valuable than anything else that could even be given to you.
Happiness is your nature. It is not wrong to desire it. What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.
And this is a miracle: the moment that you realize that there is no way to make a home, then this whole existence is home. Then wherever you are, you are at home.
Take care how you listen to the voice of the flatterer, who, in return for his little stock of words, expects to gain considerable advantages from you. If one day you do not comply with his wishes, he charges you with two hundred defects, instead of perfections.
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
We are no longer happy so soon as we wish to be happier.
