Quotes from Steve Hagen

Right view is not a concept or belief. … [It] is simply seeing Reality as it is, here and now, moment after moment[;] ... relying on bare attention … before conceptual thought arises[;] … relying on what we actually experience rather than on what we think.

the sense we generally have that it [self] exists somewhere inside us, if not in our bodies, then at least in our minds.

Liberation of mind is realising that we don't need to buy any story at all. It's realising that before our confused thought, there actually is Reality. We can see it. All we have to do it to fully engage in this moment as it has come to be.

Buddhist writings (including this book) can be likened to a raft. A raft is a very handy thing to carry you across the water, from one shore to another. But once you've reached the other shore, you no longer need the raft. Indeed, if you wish to continue your journey beyond the shore, you must leave the raft behind. Our problem is that we tend to fall in love with the raft.

W]hat purpose does it serve to deny actual experience in order to run with an idea instead?

Liberation of mind is realising that we don't need to buy any story at all. It's realising that before our confused thought, there actually is Reality. We can see it. All we have to do is to fully engage in this moment as it has come to be. For this, the eightfold path points the way.

Liberation of mind is realising that we don't need to buy any story at all. It's realising that before our confused thought, there actually is Reality. We can see it. All we have to do is to fully engage in this moment as it has come to be.

When you say, 'When I was six years old, … ' the 'I' refers to something that must have been the same at the age of six as it is now. If it isn't the same, … what in the world does 'I' refer to?

To see doesn't mean to initiate a programme of inaction. … To act or not to act is not the question. The question is whether or not we're awake. (…) [T]o … see what's happening in each moment, and base our actions on what we see, not on what we think.

W]e [also] create a … problem when we put people on a pedestal … . Whenever we make anyone – a minister, a teacher, an athlete, a genius, our ancestors, the Buddha – bigger than life, it's easy … to forget that the person you're discussing is a human being. … You'll forget that you're made of the very same stuff they are.

Clinging to any entity—including self, other, cat, or God—puts us into a conceptual prison. This is true of all beliefs, all grasped concepts. They all obstruct true Religious Experience—direct experience of Reality.

W]e long for something permanent … Yet … experience provides nothing but change.

W]hen we speak about people based on what we think, feel, or hope rather than on what we observe or experience, we deprive them of their humanity. We have replaced what they are, in all their fluid vitality, with our own crystallised ideas, opinions, and beliefs.

We see this repeatedly in the news. We get neat little packaged reports – even on complex issues. We're told who the bad guys are, who the good guys are, who the victims are, who the perpetrators are.

We all know the maxim "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." It's because we want the horse to drink that we become frustrated, because it's literally not in our power to accomplish the job we've set out to do for ourselves.

In short, science is well positioned to properly handle belief. Religion is not.

religion is about seeing or experiencing Truth—not about holding a set of beliefs. Religio comes out of our deeply felt desire to get back to Truth. We don't want to be deceived.

There is no Mystery. You already know Reality. You only need to stop talking to yourself, and learn to wordlessly pay attention.

Furthermore, when we speak about people based on what we think, feel, or hope rather than what we observe and experience, we deprive them of their humanity. We have replaced what they are, in all their fluid validity, with our own crystallized ideas, opinions, beliefs.

As useful as science is, it will never provide a way for us to wake up to Ultimate Reality. Science remains forever in the conceptual. It wouldn't be science otherwise. This isn't a criticism. It's a necessary and unavoidable limitation.

When … days lengthen, spring flowers bloom. … Spring flowers are inseparable from lengthening days; … Indeed, spring flowers are the longer days. … [A]ll phenomena work together as a seamless whole.

Reality … cannot be put into conceptual form.

Neatly packaging everything gives us the illusion we … know something.

H]ow can something cease to exist that has no solid existence in the first place?