Quotes About Renunciation

Even the desire of contemplation can be impure, when we forget that true contemplation means the complete destruction of all selfishness—the most pure poverty and cleanness of heart.

The poorest man in a religious community is not necessarily the one who has the fewest objects assigned to him for his use. Poverty is not merely a matter of not having things. It is an attitude which leads us to renounce some of the advantages which come from the use of things.

I renounced what I considered to be my Christian faith at around age seventeen, not without fear and trembling. I found the idea of using God as a crutch totally distasteful. I preferred to be on my own. In hindsight I now see that my apparent abandonment of "faith" has actually paved the way for real faith. Sometimes, it is necessary to tear down the old so that the new can be built.

The fact of life is that the appreciation of true beauty cannot start without total renunciation. [...] But to live beautifully, one needs an unfettered mind, a mind that is not clogged up with all kinds of attachments, opinions, or fossilized ways of looking at things. There is no need to get rid of anything as long as we can sever our attachments to it.

Real renunciation is not self-deprivation or asceticism. If it were, many masochists would qualify as spiritual people. True spirituality is an affirmation of life and not a negation of it. The main point is to have equal love for all.

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

This distinctly suggests a renunciation, an envy of one's own youth, of that time of "effortlessness" which one would so gladly cling on to. But the final stanza portends disaster: a gazing towards the other land, the distant coast of sunrise or sunset. Love no longer holds the poet fast, the bonds with the world are broken, and loudly he calls for help to the mother:

The direct outcome of this renunciation is individualism,71 that is, the need for a realization of individuality, a realization of man as he is.

Sacrifice always means the renunciation of a valuable part of oneself, and through it the sacrificer escapes being devoured.

On the surface one might think that if one simply concerns oneself with altruistic intent and future lifetimes, the practical aspects of this life will not be accomplished, and one will be a failure. This simply isn't true. On the contrary, when one really does renounce or let go of this lifetime everything is taken care of by force of the deeper motivation.

So to be a disciple, while it involves drastic renunciation, is to enter a realm of privilege (10:29-31), and the dullness and failure of the first disciples is offset by the special revelation that will enable them ultimately to fulfill their high responsibility. Two contrasting aspects of discipleship thus reflect the two poles of Mark's paradoxical Christology.

Consciente de que se requiere una gran ligereza para desprenderse del suelo, echó todo por la borda, se deshizo de sus bienes terrenales y eliminó sentimientos y deseos superfluos, quedándose sólo con lo esencial, escribió unas cuantas cartas y por último se tendió en su cama para no levantarse más.

The mind which renounces, once and forever, a futile hope, has its compensations in ever-growing calm.

With renunciation life begins.

[...] you can get anything in this world if you genuinely don't want it.

Many a time comes when we want to interpret our weakness and cowardice as forgiveness and renunciation.

If you want something done right, just forget it.

After the end of the Second World War it was a categorical imperative for us to declare that we renounced war forever in a central article of the new Constitution.

Crave for a thing, you will get it. Renounce the craving, the object will follow you by itself.

Who can work without any attachment? That is the real question.

Many a time comes when we want to interpret our weakness and cowardice as forgiveness and renunciation.

great difference between the priests and the Upanishads. The Upanishads say, renounce.

Work incessantly, but give up all attachment to work." Do

And then one day you realise that if you want to be rich, you'd have to give away almost everything you own.