A Cloud Can Never Die

"The idea of annihilation is just an idea; you cannot annihilate anything.   The cloud has come from the water, the river, the ocean, the sunshine, the heat; the birth of a cloud is a new manifestation for before being a cloud the cloud has been many other things.  So to say that from here to here is being; and from here back is non-being and from here on is non-being... we believe from non-being we become being and that is a notion to be thrown away.  Our true nature is no death because nothing can be born from nothing and can become nothing at all.  This meditation, the practice of looking deeply will dissipate our fear, our despair."  ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Character

Truly, it is in darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us.  ~ Meister Eckhart (b 1260 d 1328)

"All forms of self-defeating behavior are unseen and unconscious, which is why their existence is denied." ~ Vernon Howard

"The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises." ~ Leo F. Buscaglia

Throwing Away...

"What is to be thrown away?   In the field of perception, we have learned that wrong perceptions are the ground of all afflictions:  fear, anger, discrimination, despair -- all of these afflictions are born from wrong ideas, notions which are the cause of our suffering... we get caught in an idea, never succeed into realizing how our ideas are a trap... so throwing away is very important; it takes insight, courage in order to throw away an idea.  If we have suffered, that may be because we have entertained one idea we are not able to release, so throwing away... it is very strong... throwing away makes happiness begin to be possible.  ~Thich Nhat Hanh

"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." ~ Eckhart Tolle

“But I do know we’re deficient in some way.  We are too involved in materialistic things, and they don’t satisfy us.  The loving relationships we have, the universe around us, we take these things for granted.”  ~ Mitch Albom, Tuesdays With Morrie

"I have realized that the past and future are real illusions, that they exist in the present, which is what there is and all there is."  ~ Alan Watts

Open-mindedness

“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

"Beauty and kindness and generosity have always been -- and will always be -- a form of salvation." ~ Maryam Montague

“Begin challenging your own assumptions. Your assumptions are your windows on the world.  Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in.” ~ Alan Alda

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” 

 ~ Albert Einstein

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.” ― Mark Twain

"Forgiveness is a gift to the one who forgives, so fortunately you don’t need your ‘friend’ in order to forgive. You would need them to reconcile. The greater the challenge the greater the liberation so there is buried treasure in there for you." 
~ Trish Whynot

"Don't forget: to enjoy the rainbow, you must also enjoy the rain." ~ Paulo Coelho

Nothing stays the same...

You and I are as much continuous with the physical universe 

as a wave is continuous with the ocean. ~ Alan Watts

“The universe is a self-organizing, intelligent, creative, trial-and-error learning, participatory, interactive, non-locally interconnected and evolving system”....

Dr. Edgar Mitchell on the nature of the universe; his reflections of his trip to the moon:

“When I went to the moon, I was as pragmatic a test pilot, engineer, and scientist as any of my colleagues … But there was another aspect to my experience during Apollo 14, and it began with the breathtaking experience of seeing planet earth floating in the vastness of space. The first thing that came to mind as I looked at earth was its incredible beauty …  a splendid blue and white jewel suspended against a velvet black sky.  How peacefully, how harmoniously, how marvelously it seemed to fit into the evolutionary pattern by which the universe is maintained.  In a peak experience, the presence of divinity became almost palpable and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident based on random process... It was knowledge gained through private subjective awareness, but it was - and still is - every bit as real as the objective data upon which, say, the navigational program or the communications system were based. Clearly, the universe has meaning and direction … an unseen dimension behind the visible creation that gives it an intelligent design and that gives life purpose.”

"It's like music. When you play music, it simply disappears. There's nothing left. And for that very reason it is one of the highest and most spiritual of the arts. Because it is the most transient."  ~ Alan Watts 

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness. ~Honoré de Balzac

"People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

"To be loved means to be recognized as existing." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

The human condition: Lost in Thought

"Thinking is no more than a tiny aspect of the totality of consciousness, the totality of who you are." - Eckhart Tolle

Can you be the space for it?

"While we are able to observe the ways of the ego, in particular catch our constant judging and automatic patterns of avoiding situations that cause us an unpleasant feeling, we are able to disentangle our attachments to illusionary thinking to a certain degree.  But as it happens, when the icing of the cake is removed, the structure underground is exposed and we face naked fear and raw emotions...

The way here is 'always forward.'   Always go right into that sensation of fear, disgust or the umpulse of running away from it.  Catch it, where you can and stand up to it.  When conditioning is exposed, it ceases to torment us...

... we only can disentangle from our judging (the thought) and conditioning (emotional reaction) to the degree we become aware of it.  There are many sub-conscious beliefs, identifications and patterns that we do not see and it takes some time – and a good dose of grace – before these deep seated patterns melt and come to the surface...

... It means to allow whatever occurs to happen, without working up a resistance or shutting down." ~  Michaela

Excerpts from Letting Go of Taking Things Personally

Flora and Fauna

"Although the living beings in flora and fauna are below ego, they still point to what Life is all about:   To form a unity out of diversity.  All different plants and animals are expression of Life itself.   None is better than the other.   Instead of manifesting separation they complement each other.   To me, personally, this is a very important realization." ~ Angelika

"Judgment is guilt wearing a moral mask to disguise its pain." ~ Deepak Chopra

"Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends." ~ Shirley MacLaine

"It is a true miracle when a man finally sees himself as his only opposition." ~ Vernon Howard

Wisdom is not a product of thought. ~ Eckhart Tolle

"Man begins to see his own life as a drop in an ever flowing river and is glad to contributed his part to the great stream of life....

...Of the beauty of this universe, the clever artistry of the myriad things of this creation, the mystery of the stars the grandeur of heaven, and the dignity of the human soul he is equally aware.  He accepts death as he accepts pain and suffering and weighs them against the gift of life and the fresh country breeze and the clear mountain moon and he does not complain...he also believes that there is no permanent injustice in this world.  He does not ask for more."

Excerpts from The Importance of Living ~ Lin Yutang

Get Back to Nature

"We seek to cure our loneliness through emotional dependence on people, through gregariousness and noise.  That is no cure." ~ Anthony deMello