Quotes from David H. Rosen

Furthermore, he admonishes us: "If you have nothing at all to create, then perhaps you create yourself."111

Hard to know is the deity of Abraxas.... Abraxas [is] life, altogether indefinite, the mother of good and evil. Abraxas begetteth truth and lying, good and evil, light and darkness. [Abraxas] is the hermaphrodite of the earliest beginning. It is abundance that seeketh union with emptiness. It is holy begetting. It is love and love's murder. It is the appearance and the shadow of man.

The primal spirit loves stillness, and the conscious spirit loves movement.

To kill the heart does not mean to let it dry and wither away, but it means that it has become undivided and gathered

To kill the heart does not mean to let it dry and wither away, but it means that it has become undivided and gathered into one.

Jung discerned that "the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being."100

The sexuality of a man is more of the earth, the sexuality of a woman is more of the spirit. The spirituality of man is more heaven, it goeth to the greater. The spirituality of a woman is more of the earth, it goeth to the smaller.

The origin of the great Way (the Tao) [is] the heavenly heart.... If you can be absolutely quiet then the heavenly heart will spontaneously manifest itself.124

Communion is depth. Singleness is height. Communion giveth warmth, singleness giveth us light.42

Alchemists sometimes say that Buddhism starts with fire while Taoism starts with water."134

but both are necessary for a creative, whole life. "Fire is spirit, water is vitality. Alchemists sometimes say that Buddhism starts with fire while Taoism starts with water."134

The true self] rests in direct intuition. Therefore I said: "Better to abandon disputation and seek the true light."60

Just stay at the center of the circle and let all things take their course."68

Chuang Tzu had an apt view on such quiet receptivity: "There is happiness in stillness.... If you are open to everything you see and hear, and allow this to act through you, even gods and spirits will come to you."6

Jung summarized his work in typology and how it related to the Tao as follows: The book on types yielded the insight that every judgment made by an individual is conditioned by his [or her] personality type and that every point of view is necessarily relative. This raised the question of the unity which must compensate this diversity, and it led me directly to the Chinese concept of Tao.73

was as if a wall of mist were at my back, and behind that wall there was not yet an "I." But at this moment I came upon myself.Previously I had existed, too, but everything had merely happened to me. Now I happened to myself. Now I knew: I am myself now, now I exist. Previously, I had been willed to do this and that; now I willed.20

When a person has found the method of making thoughts and energy harmonize with one another... spirit and energy are pure and clear; the heart is empty, human nature (lising) manifest, and the light of consciousness transforms itself into the light of human nature. If one continues to hold firmly the light of human nature, the Abysmal [water, K'an] and the Clinging (fire, Li) have intercourse spontaneously.

A path is formed by walking on it.... When there is a separation, there is coming together. When there is a coming together, there is dissolution. All things may become one, whatever their state of being. Only he who has transcended sees this oneness. He has no use for differences and dwells in the constant. To be constant is to be useful. To be useful is to realize one's true nature. Realization of one's true nature is happiness.22

But one thing above all gave Bollingen its special quality: silence. Jung was a great one for silence, just as he could on occasion be a torrential talker. The two compensated each other. It was a vital necessity for him to sink himself in profound introversion; this was the fountainhead of helpful and vivifying powers. Creative ideas took shape in the inner and outer stillness.82

The ego, or ordinary mind, is what develops after we are born. In part, it comes from inside but mostly from the outside—through our interactions with our parents, significant others, and our environment. We introject parts of them, which becomes a false self that gets enmeshed with our true self.

In the empty darkness, we will see the light if we just endure.

recorded by Chuang Tzu, but said by Lin Hui: My bond with the child Was the bond of Tao.25

today as then I am a solitary, because I know things and must hint at things which other people do not know, and usually do not even want to know.6

As Chuang Tzu put it: "In the deep dark the person alone sees light."87