Quotes About Contemplation

A maior parte das coisas que importam na nossa vida acontece na nossa ausência.

Five mysteries hold the keys to the unseen: the act of love, and the birth of a baby, and the contemplation of great art, and being in the presence of death or disaster, and hearing the human voice lifted in song. These are the occasions when the bolts of the universe fly open and we are given a glimpse of what is hidden; an eff of the ineffable.

For an instant, silence, nosier than a waterfall.

Her thoughts, loosen by solitude, often burst these days through her unconscious lips; and often contradict one another (...)

Ez az istenimádat-dolog, az énnek e megtagadása a Mindenható színe elÅ'tt csak figyelemelterelés, hamis nyom. Akárhol rejlik is a jóság, semmikép nem egy istenségnek szóló szertartásos, gondolkodás nélküli tiszteletadásban, hanem inkább az egyéni vagy közös út lassú, esetlen, hibákkal tarkított keresésében.

In the evenings they sat in pools of yellow light, books on their laps, lost in words. They looked like figures in a Rembrandt painting, Two Philosophers Deep in Meditation, and they were more valuable than any canvas; maybe members of the last generation of their kind, and we, we who are post-, who come after, will regret we did not learn more at their feet.

Most of what matters in our lives takes place in our absence:

As manuals for contemplative understanding, the Bible and the Koran are worse than useless. Whatever wisdom can be found in their pages is never best found there, and it is subverted, time and again, by ancient savagery and superstition.

There is now little question that how one uses one's attention, moment to moment, largely determines what kind of person one becomes. Our minds—and lives—are largely shaped by how we use them.

From the contemplative point of view, being lost in thoughts of any kind, pleasant or unpleasant, is analogous to being asleep and dreaming. It's a mode of not knowing what is actually happening in the present moment. It is essentially a form of psychosis.

From the contemplative point of view, being lost in thoughts of any kind, pleasant or unpleasant, is analogous to being asleep and dreaming. It's a mode of not knowing what is actually happening in the present moment. It is essentially a form of psychosis. Thoughts themselves are not a problem, but being identified with thought is. Taking

I can attest that when one goes into silence and meditates for weeks or months at a time, doing nothing else—not speaking, reading, or writing, just making a moment-to-moment effort to observe the contents of consciousness—one has experiences that are generally unavailable to people who have not undertaken a similar practice.

Thinking ... is what gets you caught from behind.

To see a candle's light one must take it into a dark place.

A powerful idea communicates some of its strength to him who challenges it.

I had been in the hurrying waters too long not to appreciate an opportunity to lie on the bank and rest, watch others, and gain strength for the coming years.

Ah! Seigneur! donnez-moi la force et le courage De contempler mon coeur et mon corps sans de go u" t. Lord! give me the strength and the courage To see my heart and my body without disgust.

Great spiritual traditions are used as a means to ripen us, to bring us face to face with our life, and to help us to see in a new way by developing a stillness of mind and a strength of heart.

My doom and my strength is to be solitary.

Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes.

That which a man continually thinks about determines his actions in times of opportunity and stress. I will know what you are if you tell me what you think about when you don't have to think.

When there is too much stress or worry, look within.

Inhale, and God approaches you. Hold the inhalation, and God remains with you. Exhale, and you approach God. Hold the exhalation, and surrender to God.

Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.