Your Spiritual Journey
“The spiritual journey is one of continuous learning and purification. When you know this, you become humble.”
–Sogyal Rinpoche (Tibetan-born Buddhist Teacher, Dzogchen Master of the Nyingma Tradition and Founder of the Rigpa Network, c.1950-)
If Your Heart Is Large Enough
“If your heart is large enough to envelop your adversaries, you can see right through them and avoid their attacks. And once you envelop them, you will be able to guide them along the path indicated to you by heaven and earth.”
–Morihei Ueshiba (Japanese Martial Artist and Founder of Aikido, 1883-1969)
Expressing Spirituality
“The spiritual life finds its most potent expression in the man who lives the ordinary life of men in the strength of the Yoga…”
–Sri Aurobindo (a.k.a. Aurobindo Ghose, Indian Nationalist Leader, Mystic, Philosopher and Creator of Purna (Integral) Yoga, 1872-1950)
Moving From Material to Spiritual
“In proportion as men become enlightened in regard to spiritual things, they attach less value to things material.”
–Allen Kardec (a.k.a. Hippolyte Leon Denizard Rivail, French Professor and Founder of the Doctrine of Spiritism, 1804-1869)
Walking the Path
“We can know the path to heaven to some extent simply by considering what the people who make up heaven are like, realizing that no one can become an angel or get to heaven unless he or she arrives bringing along some angelic quality from the world. Inherent in that angelic quality is a knowing of the path from having walked it and a walking in the path from the knowing of it.”
–Emanuel Swedenborg (Swedish Scientist, Mystic and Philosopher, 1688-1772)
The Vastness of the Path
“The Path is exceedingly vast. From ancient times to the present day, even the greatest sages were unable to perceive and comprehend the entire truth; the explanation and teachings of masters and saints express only part of the whole. It is not possible for anyone to speak of such things in their entirety.
Just head for the light and heat, learn from the gods, and through the virtue of devoted practice of the Art of Peace, become one with the Divine.”
–Morihei Ueshiba (Japanese Martial Artist and Founder of Aikido, 1883-1969)
The Value of the Quest
“But the important thing is not the finding, it is the seeking, it is the devotion with which one spins the wheel of prayer and scripture, discovering the truth little by little. If this machine gave you the truth immediately, you would not recognize it, because your heart would not have been purified by the long quest.”
–Umberto Eco (Italian Writer and Semiologist, 1932- )
The Victorious Path of Non-Resistance
“The Art of Peace is the principle of nonresistance. Because it is nonresistant, it is victorious from the beginning. Those with evil intentions or contentious thoughts are instantly vanquished. The Art of Peace is invincible because it contends with nothing.”
–Morihei Ueshiba (Japanese Martial Artist and Founder of Aikido, 1883-1969)
Attempt the “Impossible”
“A man may fulfill the object of his existence by asking a question he cannot answer, and attempting a task he cannot achieve.”
–Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (American Physician, Writer, Poet and Speaker, 1809-1894)
Guidance On the Path
“Trying to do good to people without God’s help is no easier than making the sun shine at midnight. You discover that you’ve got to abandon all your own preferences, your own bright ideas, and guide souls along the road our Lord has marked out for them. You mustn’t coerce them into some path of your own choosing.”
–Saint Theresa of Lisieux (French Carmelite Nun and Saint, who died of tuberculosis when only 24 years old, 1873-1897)
