Quotes About Existence

As Catholic mystic Thomas Merton observed, "Everything that is, is holy." To see the truth of this statement is the beginning of an abundant life.

More than anything else, Zen represents a soulful approach to life in which one remains completely vulnerable and open to life, without God as a security blanket. There is no attempt to eliminate the basic insecurity or unpredictability of life or to solve the mysteries of existence.

Why are we so unhappy despite our material affluence? [...] [T]he modern world has lost the art of "ordinary magic" - the art of transforming our ordinary, mundane, and perhaps humdrum existence into a life of beauty and joy.

Where ever men go, in heaven, or earth, or hell they find themselves, and that is all they find.

The universe is the way it is. It's not going to be changed by supplications.

The most we can do is to die--contented, discontent; With a few to wonder why, and whither our spirit went, And what the interval meant!

The human race, my intuition tells me, is not outside the cosmic process and is not an accident. It is as much a part of the universe as the trees, the mountains, the aurora, and the stars.

The great object of life is Sensation - to feel that we exist - even though in pain - it is this "craving void" which drives us to gaming - to battle - to travel - to intemperate but keenly felt pursuits of every description whose principal attraction is the agitation inseparable from their accomplishment.

We are the fools of Time and Terror: Days Steal on us, and steal from us; yet we live, Loathing our life, and dreading still to die.

I will have nothing to do with your immortality; we are miserable enough in this life, without the absurdity of speculating upon another.

The person who believes in God and the person who does not believe in God do not merely disagree about God. They disagree about the character of the universe.

the transformation would be accomplished not in the dimension of time but in that of meaning.

It was one of those cases in which the real is irreplaceable and not representable. Unfortunately for them, the real was also instantaneous and without future.

Entonces renunciaba a imitarlo, renunciaba a tener personalidad, y adivinaba oscuramente que en la renuncia estaba mi única posibilidad de ser alguien.

Ahí estaba nuestra diferencia clave, el abismo que nos separaba. Yo tenía una vida real totalmente separada de las creencias, de la realidad general conformada por las creencias compartidas...

Meaninglessness inhibits fullness of life and is therefore equivalent to illness. Meaning makes a great many things endurable-perhaps everything."-Memories, Dreams, Reflections

The man with the persona is blind to the existence of inner realities, just as the other [man without a persona] is blind to the reality of the world, which for him has merely the value of an amusing or fantastic playground.

we should not be amazed that God ordered the death of the Canaanites, but rather we should stand in amazement that he lets anyone live.

All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.

If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.

The Future… something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.

You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.

the god stuff is not real.

Do you suppose the human race invented boredom to make the prospect of death more palatable?