June 10, 2012

I wasn't brought up in any particular religion or spiritual tradition, and I believe this was an advantage in a certain way.  I have always felt free to explore possibilities, without being too much encumbered by those terrible burdens of dogmatically informed fear and guilt that have so badly affected many people. ~ Annie Lennox

May 06, 2012

We need to be able to forgive ourselves when we stumble or forget, and based on that forgiveness, be able to reconnect to our basic intention.  One of the primary tools we have in spiritual life is the understanding that everything is changing all of the time, that nothing is fixed, and nothing is permanent.  Because of that truth, when we make a mistake we realize that we can begin again. ~ Sharon Salzberg (from "The Force of Kindness")

September 12, 2011

I have no war to fight, no great depression.  My war is a spiritual one, my great depression is my life. ~ Chuck Palahniuk

May 01, 2011

The positive power of virtue is enormous.  When we don't live by these precepts, it is said we live like wild beasts; without them, all other spiritual practice is a sham.  Imagine trying to sit down to meditate after a day of lying and stealing.  Then imagine what a different world this would be if everyone kept one precept -- not to kill, not to lie, or not to steal.  We would truly create a new world order. ~ Jack Kornfield ( from "A Path With Heart")

April 17, 2011

The Buddha didn't describe his awakening as an awakening to some absolute truth or absolute reality, perhaps comparable to God as we would find in other religious traditions. Instead, what he woke up to is the unfolding of the phenomenal world itself. This I think is what is so radical in the Buddha’s understanding of spiritual experience. It doesn’t have to do with gaining some privileged access to a higher truth that somehow transcends the messiness of everyday life. Rather, his awakening was an awakening to the flux and the flow, the pain, the beauty, the tragedy, and the joy of life itself. ~ Stephen Batchelor (from "Awakening to Life, Awakening to Death")

January 16, 2011

Religion is for people who are afraid to go to hell.  Spirituality is for those who've already been there. ~ Unknown