Surrendering Your Problems
“The surrender of every problem as it arises to the higher self, the renouncing of personal will in the matter, and the readiness to accept intuitive guidance as and when it comes provide a superior technique and yield better results than the old ways of intellectual handling and personal planning alone.”
–Paul Brunton (a.k.a. Raphael Hurst, English Philosopher, Traveler, Spiritual Teacher and Author, 1898-1981)
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)
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.)
Creating A Legacy
“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
–Albert Pike (American Lawyer, Masonic Author and Historian, 1809-1891)
Resisting Impulses: A Crucial Skill For Everyone!
“There is perhaps no psychological skill more fundamental than resisting impulse. It is the root of all emotional self-control, since all emotions, by their very nature, lead to one or another impulse to act. The root meaning of the word emotion, remember, is “to move.”
–Daniel Goleman (American Psychologist, Journalist, Author and Consultant, 1946-)
“Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ” (Daniel Goleman)
Building Character
“Character isn’t inherited. One builds it daily by the way one thinks and acts, thought by thought, action by action. If one lets fear or hate or anger take possession of the mind, they become self-forged chains.”
–Helen Gahagan Douglas (American Actress and Liberal Democratic Politician, 1900-1980)
What Remains When Your Ego Dissolves Away?
“Think of a vast ocean filled with water on all sides. A jar is immersed in it. There is water both inside and outside the jar; but the water does not become one unless the jar is broken. What is the jar? It is I-consciousness – the ego. When the I disappears, what is, remains.”
–Sri Ramakrishna (a.k.a. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, Indian Hindu Mystic and Promoter of Universal Religion, 1836-1886)
Feeling the Force
“If a man doesn’t delight in himself and the force in him and feel that he and it are wonders, how is all life to become important to him?”
–Sherwood Anderson (American Writer and Poet, 1876-1941)
Committing Your Gifts
“Whatever the Source is, however it is named or imagined, the truth is the same: Our gifts are donated from that originating point. Each interpretive system of spiritual and mystical culture understands this. The crucial point in life is to use these gifts wisely: not to squander them, but to commit them to the benefit of the whole community of life.”
–Wayne Teasdale (American Catholic Monk and Proponent of Interfaith Dialogue, 1945-2004)
“The Mystic Hours: A Daybook of Inspirational Wisdom and Devotion” (Wayne Teasdale)
The Emerging Spirit of the Age
“Every age has, so to speak, its own idea of Zeitgeist. Now it is a commonplace that ideas rule the world. But it is not generally known that they derive their potency from the spiritual force that lies behind them, and prepares the world for their reception.”
–Charles George Harrison (English Theosophist, Anglican Christian, Lecturer and Writer, 1855-1936)
