Prayer, Harmony and Resilience
We hear an awful lot about the importance of integrating ourselves. One of the key questions, is how? Is it something that can simply arise on its own or do we need to find some kind of “ring master”? What, then, could be the unifying or integrating principle? Here is just one answer:
“Only in prayer do we achieve that complete and harmonious assembly of body, mind, and spirit which gives the frail human reed its unshakable strength.”
–Alexis Carrel (French-born American Surgeon, Experimental Biologist and, in 1912, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology, 1873-1944)
Steps Toward Mastery
“Order and simplification are the first steps towards the mastery of a subject.”
–Thomas Mann (German Writer and, in 1929, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, 1875-1955)
Facing Danger
“If a bird is flying for pleasure it flies with the wind, but if it meets danger it turns and faces the wind, in order that it may rise higher.”
–Corrie ten Boom (Dutch Watchmaker, Evangelist, Protector of Jewish Refugees and Holocaust Survivor, 1892-1983)
Do We, Maybe, Enjoy a Bit of Suffering?
“We enjoy suffering, at least in small doses . . . It makes us feel alert, wide awake. And of course it gives happiness definition.”
–John W. Gardner (American Writer and Government Official, 1912-2002)
With the Right Nourishment, We Can Make Anything Grow
“There was a time when the trees were luxuriant on Ox Mountain.
Because it is on the outskirts of a great metropolis, the trees are constantly lopped by axes. Is it any wonder that they are no longer fine? With the respite they get during the day and night, and with moistening by rain and dew, there is certainly no lack of new shoots which emerge, but then cattle and sheep come to graze upon the mountain. That is why it is as bald as it is. People, seeing only its baldness, tend to think that it never had any trees. But can this possibly be the nature of a mountain? Can what is in man be completely lacking in moral inclinations?
A man ‘s letting go of his true heart is like the case of the trees and the axes…
If, in spite of the respite a man gets during the day and night and of the effect of the morning air upon him, scarcely any of his likes and dislikes resemble those of other men, it is because what he does in the course of the day once again dissipates what he has gained…
Others, seeing his resemblance to an animal, will be led to think that he never had any native endowment. But can this be what a man is genuinely like?
Given the right nourishment, there is nothing that will not grow.”
–Mencius (a.k.a. Mengzi Meng-tse, Chinese Philosopher, c.370-284 B.C.)
The First Step: Sitting Still!
“All human evil comes from a single cause, man’s inability to sit still in a room.”
–Blaise Pascal (French Scientist and Religious Philosopher, 1623-1662)
“Pensées and Other Writings (Oxford World’s Classics)” (Blaise Pascal)
The Feng Shui of Enlightenment
“It is impossible for the mental life of man to unfold naturally and normally toward a state of enlightenment unless the physical environment be simplified in every possible way.”
–Manly P. Hall (American Theosophist, Freemason, Writer and Lecturer, 1901-1990)
Love Is the Way Spirit Expresses Its Truth
“For human beings, love is the most important fruit of experience in the sensory world. Once we really understand the nature of love, or compassion, we will find that love is the way spirit expresses its truth in the world of the senses….”
–Rudolf Steiner (Croatian-born Austrian Mystic, Occultist, Social Philosopher, Architect and Founder of Anthroposophy, 1861-1925)
Thoughts On Evil
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence, the other is to believe and to feel an unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or magician with the same delight.”
–C. S. Lewis (a.k.a. Clive Staples (Jack) Lewis, British Scholar and Novelist, 1898-1963)
God Has Lit Your Mind
“God has lit your mind Himself, and keeps your mind lit by His Light because His Light is what your mind is.”
–A Course in Miracles (Book of Spiritual Principles Scribed by Dr. Helen Schucman between 1965 and 1975, and First Published in 1976)
