Quotes About Meditation

We seek retreats for ourselves, houses in the country, seashores, mountains. But . . . we have in our power to retire into ourselves. For there is no retreat that is quieter and freer from trouble than our soul . . . perfect tranquility, the right ordering of mind. —Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

what is the foundation of contemplative life? 'Oh, she said, without a pause -- leisure, it's based on leisure.

We must learn to be alone in the midst of whatever denies us useful solitude.

This is the monkey mind of which Zen speaks: the mind that worries, doubts, frets about the past, makes lists, all the time chattering like a monkey.

How to Think Like Athena 1. Remove shoes. Stand on earth. 2. Find your center. Find your balance. 3. Lift chest. Drop shoulders. Let palms fall open at sides. 4. Open lips. Breathe. Feel air pass into self. 5. Open eyes wide. Look to the horizon. 6. Ask, what says the foot? Ask, what says the leg? 7. Ask, what says the sex? Ask, what says the heart? 8. Ask, what sees the eye? Ask, what hears the ear? 9. The mind is the body. Think everywhere at once.

brooding only feeds the strange pleasure of melancholy...

Every day brings a choice: to practice stress or to practice peace.

I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. — HENRY DAVID THOREAU AMERICAN NATURALIST

If you wish to grow in your spiritual life, you must not allow yourself to be caught up in the workings of the world; you must find time alone, away from the noise and confusion, away from the allure of power and wealth. — THOMAS À KEMPIS AUGUSTINIAN MONK

Why do you suppose those moments of solitude offer us such relief ? … Because they give us a chance to simply be ourselves, to enjoy what and where we are, to savor just being. Alone with God, we feel no need to perform, to do. — FRANK BIANCO AMERICAN JOURNALIST/PHOTOGRAPHER

The "interior castle" of the human soul, as Teresa of Avila called it, has many rooms, and they are slowly occupied by God, allowing us time and room to grow.

making sure to leave the evening free as the start of your time with Jesus.

kneel for five or ten minutes and welcome the presence of Jesus. You may not think it will make any difference to kneel when you pray, but try it anyway. Then consider the difference it may have made. As you pray, give the day up to God, renewing your invitation to him to be with you each moment.

Search me, O God." "Let the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you." "Renew in me a right spirit." At a certain point my own "beyond that is within" (my heart) has been formed and I am then at its mercy. Only God can save me.

In particular, I had learned that intensity is crucial for any progress in spiritual perception and understanding. To dribble a few verses or chapters of scripture on oneself through the week, in church or out, will not reorder one's mind and spirit—just as one drop of water every five minutes will not get you a shower, no matter how long you keep it up. You need a lot of water at once and for a sufficiently long time. Similarly for the written Word.

If you bury yourself in Psalms, you emerge knowing God and understanding life.

Set aside days to spend alone with God to seek his face and to imagine that face shining with joy as it looks at you. As the ancient Jewish benediction puts it: The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you [look right at you] And give you peace. (NUM. 6:24–26)

He teaches us how to be in prayer what we are in life and how to be in life what we are in prayer.

Sit in the companionship of God—the one who shows up and can be seen.

Faith Works' only tools were prayer, bible study and church attendance

Buddha had said: Each of us is a God. Each of us knows all. We need only open our minds to hear our own wisdom.

And your students," Sato demanded, "don't find it unnerving that Masons meditate with skulls and scythes?" "No more unnerving than Christians praying at the feet of a man nailed to a cross, or Hindus chanting in front of a four-armed elephant named Ganesh. Misunderstanding a culture's symbols is a common root of prejudice

Each of us is a God. Each of us knows all. We need only open our minds to hear our own wisdom. - Buddha

the male climax was accompanied by a split second entirely devoid of thought. A brief mental vacuum. A moment of clarity during which God could be glimpsed. Meditation gurus achieved similar states of thoughtlessness without sex and often described Nirvana as a never-ending spiritual orgasm.