Quotes About Contemplation

Now I would tell all those who wish to truly see the blossoms to cast off the world and live like me among the mountains

I long now to be alone in some far-off cave and think without thought of others' eyes on me

I'd like to divide myself in order to see, among these mountains, each and every flower of every cherry tree.

Men go abroad to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motions of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.

People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering.

My mind withdrew its thoughts from experience, extracting itself from the contradictory throng of sensuous images, that it might find out what that light was wherein it was bathed... And thus, with the flash of one hurried glance, it attained to the vision of That Which Is.

Listen and attend with the ear of your heart.

May my life be a continual prayer, a long act of love.

Try to keep your soul always in peace and quiet, always ready for whatever our lord may wish to work in you. it is certainly a higher virtue of the soul, and a greater grace, to be able to enjoy the Lord in different times and different places than in only one.

Reflect carefully on this, for it is so important that I can hardly lay too much stress on it. Fix your eyes on the Crucified and nothing else will be of much importance to you.

But Our Lady allowed this trouble to befall me for the good of my soul; without it, vanity might have crept into my heart, whereas now I was humbled, and looked at myself with profound contempt. My God, Thou alone knowest all that I suffered.

This was followed by a year of silence. Then he wrote to Maeda to say, "I discovered my own god.

Contemplation is essentially a process of convincing ourselves. We have read books and heard lectures, but now we must make our motivation personal.

studying itself does not lead to wisdom. Rather, by self-reflecting, I needed to internalize what I had learned, try it out in my daily life, and then reflect on the outcome. That is the process that leads

Running and meditation are very personal activities. Therefore they are lonely. This loneliness is one of their best qualities because it strengthens our incentive to motivate ourselves.

When I thought about death in those years, I didn't quite believe in it.

Acceptance is found only by wholly inhabiting our denial. Contemplating death is really contemplating resistance, and for a long time. How do we get ready to die? We start with not being ready. We start with the fact that we are afraid. A long, lonesome examination of our fear. We start by admitting that we are all future corpses pretending we don't know.

Before you act consider; when you have considered, tis fully time to act.

consideres, quid tuae rationes postulent.

took time to really ponder

Be sure to get away often enough that you are regularly exposed to God's art and able to remember that He is transcendent above all the details of your life.

Taking time away to really seek God and to remember what He has done always shows us a bigger picture of Him.

Qué ocurriría si nos quedáramos aquí quietos sin movernos, sin hacer nada? ¿Acaso el tiempo se olvidaría de nosotros, pasaría de largo? Que bajen el telón. Que salgan los créditos. Fin.

I'm wondering what if. What if the football hadn't gone over the wall. What if Hector had never gone looking for it. What if he hadn't kept the dark secret to himself. What if . . . Then I suppose I would be telling myself another story. You see, the what ifs are as boundless as the stars.