Theology in Biology
“We have a theology in our biology. It is instinctual, just as birds know their paths, beavers build dams, and whales communicate with one another. We are born with knowledge of natural laws, through which the divine reveals or animates its presence in our bones, blood, tissues – our cellular beings.”
–Caroline Myss (American Medical Intuitive, Mystic and Author, 1952-)
“Entering the Castle: Finding the Inner Path to God and Your Soul’s Purpose” (Caroline Myss)
Truth, Beauty and Harmony
“When the universe is in harmony with man – the eternal, we know it as truth but we feel it as beauty.”
–Rabindranath Tagore (Indian Poet, Playwright, Essayist, Painter and, in 1913, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, 1861-1941)
Salvation Through Love
“I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.”
–Viktor E. Frankl (Austrian Psychiatrist, 1905-1997)
The Tests of the Quest
“The psychic experiences that may come to him on the Quest may be important preliminary phases in which some truths are passed on from the Overself in the form of mental pictures. Such a probationary period is usually filled with tests and ordeals, temptations and tribulations. In this connection, the events themselves are important to his personal life; but his reactions to them are what is important to his spiritual life.”
–Paul Brunton (a.k.a. Raphael Hurst, English Philosopher, Traveler, Spiritual Teacher and Author, 1898-1981)
Pride and Duality
“Pride implies duality, and all duality must be rooted out forever. Therefore the disciple is reminded that it is not as a personal refuge from the sorrows and pains of life that he must enter the fortress. Brahman is One and the same in all.”
–Sri Krishna Prem (a.k.a. Ronald Henry Nixon, a.k.a. Gopal Da, English-born Hindu Teacher, 1898-1965)
Recognizing the Spark
“In recognizing the Divine Spark in another human being, we also awaken it and activate it in ourselves; and the wheel turns as well the other way, knowing it in ourselves, we recognize it in others.”
–Peter Roche de Coppens (American Writer and Professor of Sociology, Anthropology and Psychotherapy at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania)
The Challenge of Our Nature
“Till now man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his own nature.”
–Dennis Gabor (Hungarian-born British Scientist, Developer of Holography and, in 1971, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, 1900-1979)
Learning to Breathe
There are few skills more valuable than learning to breathe properly. And I say that as someone who used to have a terrible way of moving air in and out of myself!
For the last three decades I have routinely offered to teach patients and students how to help themselves with simple breathing exercise. If you are interested, I have recorded some of my methods.
Sadly some people have scant interest in learning. I recently saw a patient with a chronic problem with anxiety. I asked her if anyone had tried to help her to help herself with some breathing techniques. She told me, rather tartly, that I was “talking “Bull ****” and that she just wanted me to give her a “narcotic.”
Oh well, you can’t help everyone.
“Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness: which unites your body to your thoughts. Whenever your mind becomes scattered, use your breath as the means to take hold of your mind again.”
–Thich Nhat Hanh (Vietnamese Buddhist Monk, 1926-)
Temples in Nature
“Thoughtful seekers among the ancients and Orientals found fitter temples in Nature, in open desert spaces with the sky overhead and the sand underneath, than in elaborate structures resounding to the chants of professional men who had exhausted their divine mandate.”
–Paul Brunton (a.k.a. Raphael Hurst, English Philosopher, Traveler, Spiritual Teacher and Author, 1898-1981)
The Book of Five Rings
“Everything can collapse. Houses, bodies, and enemies collapse when their rhythm becomes deranged.
In large-scale strategy, when the enemy starts to collapse you must pursue him without letting the chance go. If you fail to take advantage of your enemies’ collapse, they may recover.”
–Miyamoto Musashi (a.k.a. Shinmen Takezō, a.k.a. Miyamoto Bennosuke, a.k.a Niten Dōraku, Japanese Samurai, Swordsman and Founder of the Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū or Niten-ryū style of Swordsmanship and Author of The Book of Five Rings (五輪書 Go Rin No Sho), on Strategy, Tactics, and Philosophy, c.1584-1645)
