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Who among you is wise and understanding?
Let him show his works by a good life in the humility that comes from wisdom.
The wisdom from above is first of all, pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant,
full of mercy and good fruits, without inconsistency or insincerity.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.
-Little Office
People whose friendliness and mildness are not a mere pretense never find themselves leading contradictory lives because they're the same both in society and in private.
They know that it might be possible to deceive people, but no one can deceive God.
-Lazarus (1861)
The possibility: training the mind and heart to see through neurotic thought patterns while deepening compassion and wisdom.
-James Baraz
Only the thirst of Jesus for the love of souls;
hearing it, feeling it, answering it with all your heart.
If this is your life, you will be alright.
- Mother Teresa
You will talk yourself into trouble if you don't think before you speak:
hold that tongue, and think a little,
or you'll find out that it is a long whip,
and it's going to hit you from behind.
-Cowboy Hãvamãl
Treat people the way you want them to treat you.
- Jesus
Mankind is often like a fugitive who sits in the driving seat of an automobile,
which is all ready to bear him away to safety,
but who cannot bring himself,
for nervousness,
to grasp the controls and start the car.
-Emmet Fox
Happiness is the last paradise.
This way of life is possible, and it is in your hands.
Moses called it the Promised Land,
Buddha called it Nirvana,
Jesus called it Heaven,
and the Toltecs called it a New Dream.
- Miguel Ruiz
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are your ways,
who trudging through the plains of misery,
finding in them and unexpected spring,
a well deep below the barren ground,
and the pools are filled with water-
They become springs of healing for others,
reservoirs of compassion to those who are bruised.
Strengthened themselves, they lend courage to others,
and God will be there at the end of their journey.
- Psalm 84:4-6
If a thousand suns were to rise in the heavens at the same time,
the blaze of their light would resemble the splendor of the supreme spirit.
-Bhagavad Gita
Simply get accustomed to coming back to the present just as it is for a second, a minute, an hour
- whatever is currently natural-
without it becoming an endurance trial.
Just pausing for two or three breaths is a perfect way to stay present.
This is a good use of our life.
-Pema Chödrön
The second mark of existence is suffering.
There are three types of suffering:
- in the suffering of suffering, there is one problem we are facing and then on top of that another problem comes up.
- in the suffering of change, situations change from pleasure to pain.
- all pervasive suffering is a sense of dissatisfaction, or feeling unfulfilled.
-Chögyam Trungpa
Humanity appeals to its people, but they listen not.
-Kahlil Gibran
Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it.
-Kahlil Gibran
In Memoriam Mae Noblitt
This is just a place:
we go around, distanced,
yearly in a star’s
atmosphere, turning
daily into and out of
direct light and
slanting through the
quadrant seasons: deep
space begins at our
heels, nearly rousing
us loose: we look up
or out so high, sight’s
silk almost draws us away:
this is just a place:
currents worry themselves
coiled and free in airs
and oceans: water picks
up mineral shadow and
plasm into billions of
designs, frames: trees,
grains, bacteria: but
is love a reality we
made here ourselves—
and grief—did we design
that—or do these,
like currents, whine
in and out among us merely
as we arrive and go:
this is just a place:
the reality we agree with,
that agrees with us,
outbounding this, arrives
to touch, joining with
us from far away:
our home which defines
us is elsewhere but not
so far away we have
forgotten it:
this is just a place.
- A.R. Ammons
She stands tall and proud,
amongst perfect pieces,
a broken thing.
Behind the land smiles,
stifled tears she often blinks.
Through metamorphosing pain,
to this blurring hope
she hopelessly clings:
without the agony of change
confined cocoons
simply never get wings.