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Meditation Quotes

Each meditation quote on this page points the way to a realization, a milestone on the road to an inner self – the stillness or silent essence present behind all waves of form that Existence takes, the “energy” that makes up all forms of living.  Reading these quotes you will not simply read words… each of these spiritual quotes takes down a bit of the veil between you and this essence - “I Am.”  Read as much as you want, pausing when you want… and come back to it as often as you want.

“Humankind has accumulated generation upon generation of knowledge, the culmination of which is the vast and useful technological array we see everywhere in modern society. Despite this great accumulation of knowledge and technology, we still suffer from starvation and war. The difference between the past and the present is the difference between throwing rocks and shooting missiles. We are still in conflict. Suffering on a fundamental level hasn’t ceased. But we nevertheless persist in the notion that if we just amass a bit more knowledge, we’ll all be o.k. Maybe a new philosophy will do the trick, or a new system of government. But all of this has been tried many times.

Knowledge builds on the past and has its place. Wisdom is beyond time. It’s the direct perception of reality as it is. And in this direct seeing of what is lies the potential of transformation—a transformation that is not merely a redecoration of the past but a transformation of humanity that embodies the eternally new.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“Suffering is due to our disconnection with the inner soul. Meditation is establishing that connection.”
― Amit Ray meditation quote

“Ah, yes, choice. I chose to let my ghosts stay in past. Past is history you know. Living is now. I sat. I breathed. I let past go. I let future go. I am. That is all.”
― Natalie Wright, Emily's House

“Stillness offers an experience of being and a recognition that being . . . my essence . . . is a part of all Being, all Essence.”
― Nancy J. Napier

“Yoga is the cessation of the movements of the mind. Then there is abiding in the Seer's own form.”
― Patanjali, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

“To understand the immeasurable, the mind must be extraordinarily quiet, still.”
― Jiddu Krishnamurti

“Be still and know that I am God.”
― Psalms 46:10

“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh meditation quote, Stepping into Freedom: Rules of Monastic Practice for Novices

“It is not so cheap, to reach to the ultimate realization of truth. You will have to create the path by walking yourself; the path is not ready-made, lying there and waiting for you. It is just like the sky: the birds fly, but they don't leave any footprints. You cannot follow them; there are no footprints left behind.”
― Osho

“Many questing young people and stressed older people nowadays seek relaxation through meditation. They look for it in Hindu, Buddhist and other Eastern religions. They are often surprised to learn that there is such a way within the Christian tradition, a way that is known as contemplation.”
― Ray Simpson meditation quote, Exploring Celtic Spirituality

“I'm simply saying that there is a way to be sane. I'm saying that you can get rid of all this insanity created by the past in you. Just by being a simple witness of your thought processes.

It is simply sitting silently, witnessing the thoughts, passing before you. Just witnessing, not interfering not even judging, because the moment you judge you have lost the pure witness. The moment you say “this is good, this is bad,” you have already jumped onto the thought process.

It takes a little time to create a gap between the witness and the mind. Once the gap is there, you are in for a great surprise, that you are not the mind, that you are the witness, A watcher.

And this process of watching is the very alchemy of real religion. Because as you become more and more deeply rooted in witnessing, thoughts start disappearing. You are, but the mind is utterly empty.

That’s the moment of enlightenment. That is the moment that you become for the first time an unconditioned, sane, really free human being.”
― Osho, meditation quote

“With me, illusions are bound to be shattered. I am here to shatter all illusions. Yes, it will irritate you, it will annoy you - that's my way of functioning and working. I will sabotage you from your very roots! Unless you are totally destroyed as a mind, there is no hope for you.”
― Osh meditation quote

“Keep your heart clear
And transparent,
And you will
Never be bound.
A single disturbed thought
Creates ten thousand distractions.”
― Ryokan

“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.”
― Amit Ray, Om Chanting and Meditation quote

“It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters,”
― Amit Ray

“Within each of us is a light, awake, encoded in the fibers of our existence. Divine ecstasy is the totality of this marvelous creation experienced in the hearts of humanity”
― Tony Samara

“You exist in time, but you belong to eternity- You are a penetration of eternity into the world of time-You are deathless, living in a body of death- Your consciousness knows no death, no birth- It is only your body that is born and dies-But you are not aware of your consciousness-You are not conscious of your consciousness-And that is the whole art of meditation;  Becoming conscious of consciousness itself.”
― Osho meditation quote

“As spiritual searchers we need to become freer and freer of the attachment to our own smallness in which we get occupied with me-me-me. Pondering on large ideas or standing in front of things which remind us of a vast scale can free us from acquisitiveness and competitiveness and from our likes and dislikes. If we sit with an increasing stillness of the body, and attune our mind to the sky or to the ocean or to the myriad stars at night, or any other indicators of vastness, the mind gradually stills and the heart is filled with quiet joy. Also recalling our own experiences in which we acted generously or with compassion for the simple delight of it without expectation of any gain can give us more confidence in the existence of a deeper goodness from which we may deviate. (39)”
― Ravi Ravindra meditation quote from The Wisdom of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras: A New Translation and Guide by Ravi Ravindra

“We carry about us the burden of what thousands of people have said and the memories of all our misfortunes. To abandon all that is to be alone, and the mind that is alone is not only innocent but young -- not in time or age, but young, innocent, alive at whatever age -- and only such a mind can see that which is truth and that which is not measurable by words.”
― Jiddu Krishnamurti

“You asked me how to get out of the finite dimensions when I feel like it. I certainly don't use logic when I do it. Logic's the first thing you have to get rid of.”
― J.D. Salinger, Nine Stories

“The soil in which the meditative mind can begin is the soil of everyday life, the strife, the pain, and the fleeting joy. It must begin there, and bring order, and from there move endlessly. But if you are concerned only with making order, then that very order will bring about its own limitation, and the mind will be its prisoner. In all this movement you must somehow begin from the other end, from the other shore, and not always be concerned with this shore or how to cross the river. You must take a plunge into the water, not knowing how to swim. And the beauty of meditation is that you never know where you are, where you are going, what the end is.”
― Jiddu Krishnamurti meditation quote

“A solid answer to everything is not necessary. Blurry concepts influence one to focus, but postulated clarity influences arrogance.”
― Criss Jami, Salomé, In Every Inch In Every Mile

“Quiet the mind, and the soul will speak.”
― Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati meditation quote from The 11 Karmic Spaces: Choosing Freedom from the Patterns That Bind You

“Undisturbed calmness of mind is attained by cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and indifference toward the wicked.”
― Patanjali meditation quote from, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

“It is never too late to turn on the light. Your ability to break an unhealthy habit or turn off an old tape doesn't depend on how long it has been running; a shift in perspective doesn't depend on how long you've held on to the old view.

When you flip the switch in that attic, it doesn't matter whether its been dark for ten minutes, ten years or ten decades.

The light still illuminates the room and banishes the murkiness, letting you see the things you couldn't see before.

Its never too late to take a moment to look.”
― Sharon Salzberg meditation quote, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

“I believe that reading and writing are the most nourishing forms of meditation anyone has so far found. By reading the writings of the most interesting minds in history, we meditate with our own minds and theirs as well. This to me is a miracle.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Palm Sunday: An Autobiographical Collage

“Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.”
― Voltaire meditation quote

“Without patience, magic would be undiscovered - in rushing everything, we would never hear its whisper inside.”
― Tamora Pierce meditation quote from Sandry's Book

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“Respond; don't react.
Listen; don't talk.
Think; don't assume.”
― Raji Lukkoor

“When you plant a seed of love, it is you that blossoms.”
― Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati meditation quote - The 11 Karmic Spaces: Choosing Freedom from the Patterns That Bind You

“Mindfulness practice means that we commit fully in each moment to be present; inviting ourselves to interface with this moment in full awareness, with the intention to embody as best we can an orientation of calmness, mindfulness, and equanimity right here and right now.”
― Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life

“Sitting still is a pain in the ass.”
― Noah Levine, Against the Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries

“You are a cosmic flower. Om chanting is the process of opening the psychic petals of that flower.”
― Amit Ray, Om Chanting and Meditation quote

“Om is not just a sound or vibration. It is not just a symbol. It is the entire cosmos, whatever we can see, touch, hear and feel. Moreover, it is all that is within our perception and all that is beyond our perception. It is the core of our very existence. If you think of Om only as a sound, a technique or a symbol of the Divine, you will miss it altogether. Om is the mysterious cosmic energy that is the substratum of all the things and all the beings of the entire universe. It is an eternal song of the Divine. It is continuously resounding in silence on the background of everything that exists.”
― Amit Ray meditation quote, Om Chanting and Meditation

“We are fragmented into so many different aspects. We don´t know who we really are, or what aspects of ourselves we should identify with or believe in. So many contradictory voices, dictates, and feelings fight for control over our inner lives that we find ourselves scattered everywhere, in all directions, leaving nobody at home.  Meditation, then, is bringing the mind home.”
― Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

“But I am greedy for life. I do too much of everything all the time. Suddenly one day my heart will fail. The Iron Crab will get me as it got my father. But I am not afraid of The Crab. At least I shall have died from an honourable disease. Perhaps they will put on my tombstone. 'This Man Died from Living Too Much'.”
― Ian Fleming, From Russia With Love

“The same hot lightning that burns your blood with passion–– cools your fears with peace.”
― Aberjhani, The River of Winged Dreams

“The act of meditation is being spacious.”
― Sogyal Rinpoche meditation quote

“When even one virtue becomes our nature, the mind becomes clean and tranquil. Then there is no need to practice meditation; we will automatically be meditating always. (151)”
― Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras

“The true miracle lies in our eagerness to allow, appreciate, and honor the uniqueness, and freedom of each sentient being to sing the song of their heart. - From the book "Yoga in Your Daily Life" by Amit Ray and Banani Ray”
― Amit Ray

“That deep silence has a melody of its own, a sweetness unknown amid the harsh discords of the world's sounds.”
― Paul Brunton meditation quote, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton

“Meditation practice is like piano scales, basketball drills, ballroom dance class. Practice requires discipline; it can be tedious; it is necessary. After you have practiced enough, you become more skilled at the art form itself. You do not practice to become a great scale player or drill champion. You practice to become a musician or athlete. Likewise, one does not practice meditation to become a great meditator. We meditate to wake up and live, to become skilled at the art of living.”
― Elizabeth Lesser, The Seeker's Guide: Making Your Life a Spiritual Adventure

“* Recognize that God is with you.
* Acknowledge God knows what He's doing.
* Search for God's will: the path He desires you to take in life.
* Consider what God did for you when He sent Jesus to die on the cross (forgiveness and righteousness)”
― Brennan Manning meditation quote, The Furious Longing of God

“Be here now. Be someplace else later. Is that so complicated?”
― David Bader meditation quote

“Nobody can say anything about you. Whatsoever people say is about themselves. But you become very shaky, because you are still clinging to a false center. That false center depends on others, so you are always looking to what people are saying about you. And you are always following other people, you are always trying to satisfy them. You are always trying to be respectable, you are always trying to decorate your ego. This is suicidal. Rather than being disturbed by what others say, you should start looking inside yourself…

Whenever you are self-conscious you are simply showing that you are not conscious of the self at all. You don’t know who you are. If you had known, then there would have been no problem— then you are not seeking opinions. Then you are not worried what others say about you— it is irrelevant!

When you are self-conscious you are in trouble. When you are self-conscious you are really showing symptoms that you don’t know who you are. Your very self-consciousness indicates that you have not come home yet.”
― Osho meditation quote

“Mindfulness helps us get better at seeing the difference between what’s happening and the stories we tell ourselves about what’s happening, stories that get in the way of direct experience. Often such stories treat a fleeting state of mind as if it were our entire and permanent self.”
― Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

“Sit still with me in the shade of these green trees, which have no weightier thought than the withering of their leaves when autumn arrives, or the stretching of their many stiff fingers into the cold sky of the passing winter. Sit still with me and meditate on how useless effort is, how alien the will, and on how our very meditation is no more useful than effort, and no more our own than the will. Meditate too on how a life that wants nothing can have no weight in the flux of things, but a life that wants everything can likewise have no weight in the flux of things, since it cannot obtain everything, and to obtain less than everything is not worthy of souls that seek the truth.”
― Fernando Pessoa meditation quote, The Education of the Stoic: The Only Manuscript of the Baron of Teive

“Meditation is the ultimate mobile device; you can use it anywhere, anytime, unobtrusively.”
― Sharon Salzberg meditation quote from “Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation”

“Do not speak about anyone who is not physically present.”
― Allan Lokos, Pocket Peace: Effective Practices for Enlightened Living

“Devote the mind to confusion and we know only too well, if we´re honest, that it will become a dark master of confusion, adept in its addictions, subtle and perversely supple in its slaveries. Devote it in meditation to the task of freeing itself from illusion, and we will find that, with time, patience, discipline, and the right training, our mind will begin to unknot itself and know its essential bliss and clarity.”
― Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying


“Compassion is the religion of the heart.”
― Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati meditation quote from The 11 Karmic Spaces: Choosing Freedom from the Patterns That Bind You

“Restore your attention or bring it to a new level by dramatically slowing down whatever you're doing.”
― Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

“Truth is not a reward for good behaviour, nor a prize for passing some tests. It cannot be brought about. It is the primary, the unborn, the ancient source of all that is. You are eligible because you are. You need not merit truth. It is your own....Stand still, be quiet.”
― Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj meditation quote from I Am That: Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“Even when in the midst of disturbance, the stillness of the mind can offer sanctuary.”
― Stephen Richards, The Ultimate Cosmic Ordering Meditation

“Mindfulness isn't difficult, we just need to remember to do it.”
― Sharon Salzberg meditation quote, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

“Spirituality does not lie in meditating on the body of an ex-master. Spirituality exists in mediating on your own inner body.”
― Amit Ray

“Look within,
There is no difference between yourself, Self and Guru.
You are always Free.
There is no teacher, there is no student, there is no teaching.”
― Sri H.W.L. Poonja

“Meditation is not a way of making your mind quiet.  It is a way of entering into the quiet that is already there - buried under the 50,000 thoughts the average person thinks every day.”
― Deepak Chopra meditation quote

“The more we genuinely care about others the greater our own happiness & inner peace.”
― Allan Lokos, Pocket Peace: Effective Practices for Enlightened Living

“Meditation needs no results. Meditation can have itself as an end, I meditate without words and on nothingness. What tangles my life is writing.”
― Hélène Cixous meditation quote from Coming to Writing and Other Essays

“The practice of forgiveness is very much like the practice of meditation. You have to do it often and persist at it in order to be any good.”
― Katerina Stoykova Klemer

“We are all too often told by someone that we are too old, too young, too different, too much the same, and those comments can be devastating.”
― Sharon Salzberg, The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life with Love & Compassion

“Meditation is an essential travel partner on your journey of personal transformation. Meditation connects you with your soul, and this connection gives you access to your intuition, your heartfelt desires, your integrity, and the inspiration to create a life you love.”
― Sarah McLean

“The crack in your heart allows light in. ~ GOOD FORTUNE page 238”
― Leslie Bratspis

“Of our thinking it is but the upper surface that we shape into articulate thought; underneath the region of argument and conscious discourse lies the region of meditation.”
― Thomas Carlyle meditation quote

“Yoga is not a religion. It is a science, science of well-being, science of youthfulness, science of integrating body, mind and soul.”
― Amit Ray meditation quote, Yoga and Vipassana: An Integrated Life Style

“A woman is human.  She is not better, wiser, stronger, more intelligent, more creative, or more responsible than a man.  Likewise, she is never less.  Equality is a given.  A woman is human.”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

“[T]he period between four and six in the morning is called the Brahmamuhurta, the Brahmic time, or divine period, and is a very sacred time to meditate. (140)”
― Swami Satchidananda meditation quote, The Yoga Sutras

“One evening Milarepa returned to his cave after gathering firewood, only to find it filled with demons. They were cooking his food, reading his books, sleeping in his bed. They had taken over the joint. He knew about nonduality of self and other, but he still didn’t quite know how to get these guys out of his cave. Even though he had the sense that they were just a projection of his own mind—all the unwanted parts of himself—he didn’t know how to get rid of them. So first he taught them the dharma. He sat on this seat that was higher than they were and said things to them about how we are all one. He talked about compassion and shunyata and how poison is medicine. Nothing happened. The demons were still there. Then he lost his patience and got angry and ran at them. They just laughed at him. Finally, he gave up and just sat down on the floor, saying, “I’m not going away and it looks like you’re not either, so let’s just live here together.” At that point, all of them left except one. Milarepa said, “Oh, this one is particularly vicious.” (We all know that one. Sometimes we have lots of them like that. Sometimes we feel that’s all we’ve got.) He didn’t know what to do, so he surrendered himself even further. He walked over and put himself right into the mouth of the demon and said, “Just eat me up if you want to.” Then that demon left too.”
― Pema Chödrön spiritual quote, Start Where You Are: A Guide to Compassionate Living

“Your duty is to be and not to be this or that. 'I am that I am' sums up the whole truth. The method is summed up in the words 'Be still'. What does stillness mean? It means destroy yourself. Because any form or shape is the cause for trouble. Give up the notion that 'I am so and so'. All that is required to realize the Self is to be still. What can be easier than that?”
― Ramana Maharshi

“Every soul innately yearns for stillness, for a space, a garden where we can till, sow, reap, and rest, and by doing so come to a deeper sense of self and our place in the universe. Silence is not an absence but a presence. Not an emptiness but repletion.  A filling up.”
― Anne D. LeClaire

“It is of great importance, when we begin to practise prayer, not to let ourselves be frightened by our own thoughts.”
― Teresa of Ávila, The Life of Saint Teresa of Ávila by Herself

“You get peace of mind not by thinking about it or imagining it, but by quieting and relaxing the restless mind.”
― Remez Sasson meditation quote

“If you are a Buddhist, inspire yourself by thinking of the bodhisattva. If you are a Christian, think of the Christ, who came not to be served by others but to serve them in joy, in peace, and in generosity. For these things, these are not mere words, but acts, which go all the way, right up to their last breath. Even their death is a gift, and resurrection is born from this kind of death. (157)”
― Jean-Yves Leloup, Compassion and Meditation: The Spiritual Dynamic between Buddhism and Christianity

“When we look up, it widens our horizons. We see what a little speck we are in the universe, so insignificant, and we all take ourselves so seriously, but in the sky, there are no boundaries. No differences of caste or religion or race.”
― Julia Gregson mystic quote, East of the Sun

“But people of the deepest understanding look within, distracted by nothing. Since a clear mind is the Buddha, they attain the understanding of a Buddha without using the mind.”
― Bodhidharma, The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma

“The art of meditation is a way of getting into touch with reality, and the reason for it is that most civilized people are out of touch with reality because they confuse the world as it with the world as they think about it and talk about it and describe it. For on the one hand there is the real world and on the other there is a whole system of symbols about that world which we have in our minds. These are very, very useful symbols, all civilization depends on them, but like all good things they have their disadvantages, and the principle disadvantage of symbols is that we confuse them with reality, just as we confuse money with actual wealth.”
― Alan Wilson Watts meditation quote

“When you reach a calm and quiet meditative state, that is when you can hear the sound of silence.”
― Stephen Richards, The Ultimate Cosmic Ordering Meditation quote

“That's why it's called a practice. We have to practice a practice if it is to be of value.”
― Allan Lokos meditation quote, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living

“Self-observation is the first step of inner unfolding.”
― Amit Ray, Yoga and Vipassana: An Integrated Life Style

“This withdrawal from the day's turmoil into creative silence is not a luxury, a fad, or a futility. It is a necessity, because it tries to provide the conditions wherein we are able to yield ourselves to intuitive leadings, promptings, warnings, teachings, and counsels and also to the inspiring peace of the soul. It dissolves mental tensions and heals negative emotions.”
― Paul Brunton meditation quote, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton

“Providence knows best.”
― Michael Beloved

“People turn to meditation because they want to make good decisions, break bad habits & bounce back better from disappointments.”
― Sharon Salzberg meditation quote from The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Programme for Real Happiness

“The singing Sun the signing moon the singing stars and the singing galaxies are the direct expression of the divine word AUM.”
― Amit Ray, Om Chanting & Meditation quote

“The practice of lovingkindness can uplift us & relieve sorrow & unhappiness.”
― Allan Lokos, Pocket Peace: Effective Practices for Enlightened Living

“Four times during the first six days they were assembled and briefed and then sent back. Once, they took off and were flying in formation when the control tower summoned them down. The more it rained, the worse they suffered. The worse they suffered, the more they prayed that it would continue raining. All through the night, men looked at the sky and were saddened by the stars. All through the day, they looked at the bomb line on the big, wobbling easel map of Italy that blew over in the wind and was dragged in under the awning of the intelligence tent every time the rain began. The bomb line was a scarlet band of narrow satin ribbon that delineated the forward most position of the Allied ground forces in every sector of the Italian mainland.

For hours they stared relentlessly at the scarlet ribbon on the map and hated it because it would not move up high enough to encompass the city.

When night fell, they congregated in the darkness with flashlights, continuing their macabre vigil at the bomb line in brooding entreaty as though hoping to move the ribbon up by the collective weight of their sullen prayers. "I really can't believe it," Clevinger exclaimed to Yossarian in a voice rising and falling in protest and wonder. "It's a complete reversion to primitive superstition. They're confusing cause and effect. It makes as much sense as knocking on wood or crossing your fingers. They really believe that we wouldn't have to fly that mission tomorrow if someone would only tiptoe up to the map in the middle of the night and move the bomb line over Bologna. Can you imagine? You and I must be the only rational ones left."

“An interval of meditation, serious and grateful, was the best corrective of everything dangerous.”
― Jane Austen meditation quote from Persuasion

“Meditating on the nature and dignity of prayer can cause saying at least one thing to God: Lord, teach us to pray!”
― Karl Rahner meditation quote, The Need and the Blessing of Prayer: A Revised Edition on Prayer

“The teaching of the sexual tantras all come down to one point. Although desire, of whatever shape or form, seeks completion, there is another kind of union than the one we imagine. In this union, achieved when the egocentric model of dualistic thinking is no longer dominant, we are not united with it, nor am I united with you, but we all just are. The movement from object to subject, as described in both Eastern meditation and modern psychotherapy, is training for this union, but its perception usually comes as a surprise, even when this shift is well under way. It is a kind of grace. The emphasis on sexual relations in the tantric teachings make it clear that the ecstatic surprise of orgasm is the best approximation of this grace.”
― Mark Epstein meditation quote from Open to Desire: Embracing a Lust for Life - Insights from Buddhism and Psychotherapy

“We all have issues and we have usually come by them honestly.”
― Allan Lokos, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living

“The mysterious manner in which this growing sense of unity commingles with a sense of utter goodness is worth noting. It arises by no effort of mine; rather does it come to me out of I know not where. Harmony appears gradually and flows through my whole being like music. An infinite tenderness takes possession of me, smoothing away the harsh cynicism which a reiterated experience of human ingratitude and human treachery has driven deeply into my temperament. I feel the fundamental benignity of Nature despite the apparent manifestation of ferocity. Like the sounds of every instrument in an orchestra that is in tune, all things and all people seem to drop into the sweet relationship that subsists within the Great Mother's own heart.”
― Paul Brunton mystic quote, A Hermit in the Himalayas: The Journal of a Lonely Exile

“Emotional baggage,” which is carried over from the past, colors our perceptions. Likewise, past conclusions and beliefs, based on reasoning that may or may not have been accurate, also tint our perception of reality. Retaining our capacity for reason is common sense, but definite conclusions and beliefs keep us from seeing life as it really is at any given moment.

Emotional reactions can be unreasonable, and reason can be flawed. It’s difficult to have deep confidence in either one, especially when they’re often at war with each other. But the universal mind exists in the instant, in a moment beyond time, and it sees the universe as it literally is. It’s the universe perceiving itself. It is, moreover, something we can have absolute confidence in, and with that confidence, we can maintain a genuinely positive attitude.”
― H.E. Davey meditation quote from Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“By means of personal experimentation and observation, we can discover certain simple and universal truths. The mind moves the body, and the body follows the mind. Logically then, negative thought patterns harm not only the mind but also the body. What we actually do builds up to affect the subconscious mind and in turn affects the conscious mind and all reactions.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“Mindfulness meditation doesn't change life. Life remains as fragile and unpredictable as ever. Meditation changes the heart's capacity to accept life as it is. It teaches the heart to be more accommodating, not by beating it into submission, but by making it clear that accommodation is a gratifying choice.”
― Sylvia Boorstein meditation quote from Don't Just Do Something, Sit There: A Mindfulness Retreat with Sylvia Boorstein

“Memorizing someone else’s explanation of the truth isn’t the same as seeing the truth for yourself. It is what it is—the memorization of second-hand knowledge. It is not your experience. It is not your knowledge. And no matter how much material is learned by rote, and no matter how eloquently we can speak about the memorized information, we’re clinging to a description of something that’s not ours. What’s more, the description is never the item itself. By holding onto our impression of certain descriptions, we frequently are unable to see the real thing when it’s right before our eyes. We are conditioned by memorizing and believing concepts—the truth of which we’ve never genuinely seen for ourselves.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“The difference between magic and meditation methods is the difference between drugs and diet—medicines will do swiftly what diet can only effect slowly, and in critical cases there is no time to wait for the slow processes of dietetics, so it must be either medicines or nothing. Nevertheless, drugs are no substitute for right diet and wholesome regime, and although magic enables a speedy and potent result to be attained, is is only by means of right understanding and right ethics that the position which has been won can be held.”
― Dion Fortune meditation quote from “Esoteric Orders and Their Work and The Training and Work of the Initiate”

“When many voices are speaking at once, listen to the one most quiet and gentle. That’s the one worth listening to.”
― Miranda Linda Weisz

“In Japan, a number of time-honored everyday activities (such as making tea, arranging flowers, and writing) have traditionally been deeply examined by their proponents. Students study how to make tea, perform martial arts, or write with a brush in the most skillful way possible to express themselves with maximum efficiency and minimum strain. Through this efficient, adroit, and creative performance, they arrive at art. But if they continue to delve even more deeply into their art, they discover principles that are truly universal, principles relating to life itself. Then, the art of brush writing becomes shodo—the “Way of the brush”—while the art of arranging flowers is elevated to the status of kado—the “Way of flowers.” Through these Ways or Do forms, the Japanese have sought to realize the Way of living itself. They have approached the universal through the particular.”
― H.E. Davey meditation quote, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“Because the development of inner calm & energy happens completely within & isn’t dependent on another person or a particular situation, we begin to feel a resourcefulness and independence that is quite beautiful—and a huge relief.”
― Sharon Salzberg meditation quote, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

“Learn to enjoy the way as much as you would enjoy when you reach the destination.”
― Sakshi Chetana meditation quote, Laughing Buddha:The Alchemy of Euphoric Living

“Effort is the unconstrained willingness to persevere through difficulty.”
― Sharon Salzberg, A Heart as Wide as the World: Stories on the Path of Lovingkindness

“Metta sees truly that our integrity is inviolate, no matter what our life situation may be. We do not need to fear anything. We are whole: our deepest happiness is intrinsic to the nature of our minds, and it is not damaged through uncertainty and change.”
― Sharon Salzberg meditation quote from Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness

“Meditation is a way for nourishing and blossoming the divinity within you.”
― Amit Ray meditation quote

“When you are soul-centered, you can focus your attention where and when you want to, easily, without distraction. You know to look for what you want to see and experience. You know that what you seek you shall find, and what you focus on in life will be more prominent in your awareness. You know your awareness is powerful and creative." ~ Sarah McLean”
― Sarah McLean, Soul-Centered: Transform Your Life in 8 Weeks with Meditation

“While the primary function of formal Buddhist meditation is to create the possibility of the experience of "being," my work as a therapist has shown me that the demands of intimate life can be just as useful as meditation in moving people toward this capacity. Just as in formal meditation, intimate relationships teach us that the more we relate to each other as objects, the greater our disappointment. The trick, as in meditation, is to use this disappointment to change the way we relate.”
― Mark Epstein meditation quote from Open to Desire: Embracing a Lust for Life - Insights from Buddhism and Psychotherapy

“With the practice of meditation we can develop this ability to more fully love ourselves and to more consistently love others.”
― Sharon Salzberg, A Heart as Wide as the World: Stories on the Path of Lovingkindness

“Patience is both the tool for and the result of, our efforts.”
― Allan Lokos, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living

“To forgive does not mean to forget.”
― Allan Lokos, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living

“We need never be bound by the limitations of our previous or current thinking, nor are we ever locked into being the person we used to be, or think we are.”
― Allan Lokos, Pocket Peace: Effective Practices for Enlightened Living

“Meditation may be done in silence & stillness, by using voice & sound, or by engaging the body in movement. All forms emphasize the training of attention.”
― Sharon Salzberg meditation quote from The Power of Meditation: A 28-Day Programme for Real Happiness

“Mindfulness can play a big role in transforming our experience with pain & other difficulties; it allows us to recognize the authenticity of the distress & yet not be overwhelmed by it.”
― Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation

“Meditation is a microcosm, a model, a mirror. The skills we practice when we sit are transferable to the rest of our lives.”
― Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation quote

“AUM or Om is not related to any religion because Om was practiced before the birth of all the religions of the world.”
― Amit Ray, Om Chanting & Meditation

“You are the Golden Witnessing Screen. Meditation is the effortless effort to keep that screen clean, clear and perfect.
― Amit Ray meditation quote

“Once you stop being locked into viewing reality from just one perspective, you will start to be free from habitual reactivity.”
― Stephen Richards, The Ultimate Cosmic Ordering Meditation

“Meditate, Visualize and Create your own reality and the universe will simply reflect back to you.”
― Amit Ray meditation quote, Yoga and Vipassana: An Integrated Life Style

“With meditation I found a ledge above the waterfall of my thoughts.”
― Mary Pipher meditation quote, Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World

“To advance spiritually requires a method of practice & determination to carry it out.”
― Allan Lokos, Pocket Peace: Effective Practices for Enlightened Living

“Watchfulness is the path of immortality:
Unwatchfulness is the path of death.
Those who are watchful never die:
Those who do not watch are already as dead.
Those who with a clear mind have seen this truth,
Those who are wise and ever watchful,
They feel the joy of watchfulness,
The joy of the path of the great.
And those who in high thought and in deep contemplation
With ever living power advance on the path,
They in the end reach NIRVANA,
The peace supreme and infinite joy.
~ Buddha”
― Juan Mascaró meditation quote, The Dhammapada

“Everything in modern city life is calculated to keep man from entering into himself and thinking about spiritual things. Even with the best of intentions a spiritual man finds himself exhausted and deadened and debased by the constant noise of machines and loudspeakers, the dead air and the glaring lights of offices and shops, the everlasting suggestion of advertising and propaganda.

The whole mechanism of modern life is geared for a flight from God and from the spirit into the wilderness of neurosis.”
― Thomas Merton meditation quote, No Man Is an Island

“Breathing involves a continual oscillation between exhaling and inhaling, offering ourselves to the world at one moment and drawing the world into ourselves at the next...”
― David Abram meditation quote, Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology

“Depending on their psychic make up, for some people, closing the eyes or being quiet produces anxiety and increases mental agitation. In such situations it is better to undertake the practice of yoga–whether physical yoga or meditation–with other people with whom one is comfortable and at ease. Gradually, as we see more and more clearly their roots, the fears and the imaginings will diminish. Mental distractions are harder to overcome when practicing alone. (109)”
― Ravi Ravindra, The Wisdom of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras: A New Translation and Guide by Ravi Ravindra

“Spiritual yearning is the homesickness of the spirit.”
― Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati, The 11 Karmic Spaces: Choosing Freedom from the Patterns That Bind You

“Beyond speech and mind,
Into the river of ever-effulgent Light
My heart dives.
Today thousands of doors, closed for millennia,
Are opened wide.”
― Sri Chinmoy, The Wings of Joy: Finding Your Path to Inner Peace

“In a swamp, as in meditation, you begin to glimpse how elusive, how inherently insubstantial, how fleeting our thoughts are, our identities. There is magic in this moist world, in how the mind lets go, slips into sleepy water, circles and nuzzles the banks of palmetto and wild iris, how it seeps across dreams, smears them into the upright world, rots the wood of treasure chests, welcomes the body home.”
― Barbara Hurd meditation quote from Stirring the Mud: On Swamps, Bogs, and Human Imagination

“The undiscovered is not far away. It’s not something to be found eventually. It is contained within what is right in front of us. The essence of reality is being born right now. It has never existed before. Reality is constant creation and destruction, and in this constant change is something unborn and undying, something that cannot be approached through the known or the past. It isn’t seen through striving to become something based on ideals stemming from former experiences. It comes to that which is being, not striving. In this state of being in the moment, without the known, without knowing at all, with neither past nor future, is a space that is not filled with time. And in this space, the undiscovered and ever-changing moment exists—a moment containing all possibilities, the totality of existence, absolute reality. Reality is now, and in the now, we can experience the true nature of the universe and the universal mind.”
― H.E. Davey mystic quote


“If you've ever tried meditation and didn't stay with it, I recommend you try it again. Some time has passed. In the interim, you may have developed the discipline of mind or the patience you were short on before. Let these qualities aid your practice. (173)”
― Victoria Moran meditation quote, Younger by the Day: 365 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Body and Revitalize Your Spirit

“Pray with a pure heart and pray from where you are. God will answer your prayers. There is no need to abandon the world or retreat to a jungle.”
― Shri Radhe Maa spiritual quote


“God gives us opportunity to serve him by serving humanity”
― Shri Radhe Maa

“Meditation is like going to the bottom of the sea, where everything is calm and tranquil. On the surface of the sea there may be a multitude of waves but the sea is not affected below. In its deepest depths, the sea is all silence. When we start meditating, first we try to reach our own inner existence, our true existence- that is to say, the bottom of the sea. Then when the waves come from the outside world, we are not affected. Fear, doubt, worry and all the earthly turmoils just wash away, because inside us is solid peace. Thoughts cannot touch us, because our mind is all peace, all silence, all oneness. Like fish in the sea, they jump and swim but leave no mark. When we are in our highest meditation, we feel that we are the sea, and the animals in the sea cannot affect us. We feel that we are the sky, and all the birds flying past cannot affect us. Our mind is the sky and our heart is the infinite sea. This is meditation.”
― Sri Chinmoy meditation quote

“Humility is more powerful than egoistic pride. Water is more powerful than the strongest cliff and Love is more powerful than might.”
― Shri Radhe Maaspiritual quote


“Never be proud but show humility towards others, true wisdom lies in being humble.”
― Shri Radhe Maa

“Surrender yourself to God and be at peace with him.”
― Shri Radhe Maa

“Worship offered with stale flowers and an unclean mind is of no value.”
― Shri Radhe Maa

“Relaxing the shoulders is vital for relaxation in general. However, owing to the effects of gravity, relaxation is problematic unless we let the shoulders remain in their natural place. Let the shoulders drop, or settle in harmony with gravity, into their most comfortable position. It isn’t too difficult to do this for a moment, but to sustain this condition unconsciously in our lives is another matter. We raise our shoulders unnaturally when we lean on a desk or hold the telephone between our shoulders and ears, when we are shocked by a loud noise, and who knows how many other times throughout the day. And the unsettling of the shoulders doesn’t have to be large to produce anxiety, stiff necks, and headaches. Just slightly raising them will create tension, and this tension throws the nervous system out of balance.

When do we raise the shoulders in daily life? What are we feeling at that moment and leading up to that moment? Remembering that the body reflects the mind, and that the raising of the shoulders not only creates tension but also is a physical manifestation of psychological tension itself, what are the roots of this tension? Bringing the mind into the moment, let’s observe ourselves in a state free of preconceived ideas or beliefs. Don’t guess at these questions. Observe yourself in relationship to others and the universe”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation quote

“Our past cannot be changed, and to be preoccupied with it is inefficient in time and effort. Likewise, by fretting over the future, we only exhaust ourselves, making us less able to effectively respond when the future is actually upon us. By worrying about a mishap that may or may not take place, we’re forced to undergo the event twice—once when imagining it and once again if and when we actually experience it.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“Basically, if the mind stays in the present, it’s impossible to worry. Upon careful consideration, it becomes clear that human beings are capable of worrying only about an event that has already transpired or one that may take place in the future (although the occurrence might have just happened or may be about to happen in the next instant). The present moment contains no time or space for worry.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“A strong life force can be seen in physical vitality, courage, competent judgment, self-mastery, sexual vigor, and the realization of each person’s unique talents and purpose in life. To maintain a powerful life force, forget yourself, forget about living and dying, and bring your full attention into this moment.”
― H.E. Davey meditation quote from Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“The mountain has left me feeling renewed, more content and positive than I’ve been for weeks, as if something has been given back after a long absence, as if my eyes have opened once again. For this time at least, I’ve let myself be rooted in the unshakable sanity of the senses, spared my mind the burden of too much thinking, turned myself outward to experience the world and inward to savor the pleasures it has given me.”
― Richard Nelson, The Island Within

“Each action we take is an act of self-expression. We often think of large-scale or important deeds as being indications of our real selves, but even how we sharpen a pencil can reveal something about our feelings at that moment. Do we sharpen the pencil carefully or nervously so that it doesn’t break? Do we bother to pay attention to what we’re doing? How do we sharpen the same pencil when we’re angry or in a hurry? Is it the same as when we’re calm or unhurried?

Even the smallest movement discloses something about the person executing the action because it is the person who’s actually performing the deed. In other words, action doesn’t happen by itself, we make it happen, and in doing so we leave traces of ourselves on the activity.”
― H.E. Davey meditation quotes from Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“So what is a good meditator? A good meditator meditates.”
― Allan Lokos meditation quote, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living

“While meditating we are simply seeing what the mind has been doing all along.”
― Allan Lokos meditation quote, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living

“No one looks or feels attractive when angry.”
― Allan Lokos, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living

“I breathe in the soft, saturated exhalations of cedar trees and salmonberry bushes, fireweed and wood fern, marsh hawks and meadow voles, marten and harbor seal and blacktail deer. I breathe in the same particles of air that made songs in the throats of hermit thrushes and gave voices to humpback whales, the same particles of air that lifted the wings of bald eagles and buzzed in the flight of hummingbirds, the same particles of air that rushed over the sea in storms, whirled in high mountain snows, whistled across the poles, and whispered through lush equatorial gardens…air that has passed continually through life on earth. I breathe it in, pass it on, share it in equal measure with billions of other living things, endlessly, infinitely.”
― Richard Nelson mystic quote, The Island Within

“The young should not think of themselves as immature and the elderly need not view themselves as feeble. Our minds control our bodies. Have no age, transcend both past and future, and enter into naka-ima—the “eternal present.”
― H.E. Davey meditation quote, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“Using the combined, integrated force of the mind and body is more efficient than using one without the other. Since the body can only exist in the present, that’s where the mind should be too (unless we deliberately choose to contemplate the past or future). At the same time, the body needs to be healthy and in optimum operating condition so that it can respond effectively to the mind’s directives.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“We long for permanence but everything in the known universe is transient. That’s a fact but one we fight.”
― Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation quote

“Realizing that our minds control our bodies while our bodies reflect our minds amounts to understanding the most fundamental aspects of ourselves. It further equals a comprehension of the relationship between our “tools.” And since the mind and body are interrelated, this understanding makes it easier to see why coordinating them is a practical way of using these tools to greatest effect—a way of using the mind and body to live our lives as art.”
― H.E. Davey meditation quote, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“No art takes places without inspiration. Every artist also needs effective knowledge of his or her tools (e.g., does a certain brush function well with a particular kind of paint?). What’s more, artists need effective techniques for using those tools.

Just as writing can become calligraphy when it’s creatively, skillfully, and consciously performed, so can all other activities become art… life itself as an artistic statement—the art of living.”
― H.E. Davey meditation quote, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“While we can learn or study techniques for almost anything we might want to accomplish, real understanding is not the mere accumulation of knowledge. Understanding cannot be realized by listening or reading about the realization of others. It must be achieved firsthand via substantive, direct perception in the moment.”
― H.E. Davey meditation quote, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“Just as there’s usually a space or interval between people passing on the street, even if it sometimes seems very small, a space also exists between thoughts. In your meditation, see if you can perceive this gap between thoughts. What is it, and does it belong to the realm of time? If it does not, then it’s unborn and undying, beyond all conditioning, which is a psychological carry-over from the past to the present.

Whatever thoughts or internal conflicts come up—do nothing. Do not try to force them to cease or change. And don’t “do nothing” to still the mind, quiet fears, or resolve conflicts—all of this is doing something. It only leads to more struggling and prevents you from seeing the actual nature of thought and internal conflict. Genuine attention has no motive.

This observation or listening doesn’t involve effort. Effort merely distracts you from what’s taking place in the instant. A kind of concentration exists that’s not forced. We’ve all experienced listening or paying attention to something we truly enjoyed. At that moment, was effort required for concentration to take place?”
― H.E. Davey meditation quotes, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“By keeping the mind in the present, unless you deliberately want to contemplate the past or future, it’s possible to firmly face life without fear. Then, no thoughts of past failures or future problems will exist in the mind, and a truly positive mental state will result—fudoshin, the “immovable mind.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“All creations are one with the universe. Look at the world around you. Can you effectively separate yourself from everything else? After seriously pondering this, most of us rapidly conclude that we cannot. To even make the statement that I exist as a unique entity requires comparison with something else. (If you exist as a distinct being, your distinctiveness is in comparison to other creations. No other creations, no individual you.)”
― H.E. Davey spiritual quote, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“It’s clear that if we use the mind attentively, mental power is increased, and if we concentrate the mind in the moment, it is easier to coordinate mind and body. But in terms of mind and body unity, is there something we can concentrate on that will reliably aid us in discovering this state of coordination?

In Japan, and to some degree other Asian countries, people have historically focused mental strength in the hara (abdomen) as a way of realizing their full potential. Japan has traditionally viewed the hara as the vital center of humanity in a manner not dissimilar to the Western view of the heart or brain. I once read that years ago Japanese children were asked to point to the origin of thoughts and feelings. They inevitably pointed toward the abdominal region. When the same question was asked of American children, most pointed at their heads or hearts. Likewise, Japan and the West have commonly held differing views of what is physical power or physical health, with Japan emphasizing the strength of the waist and lower body and Western people admiring upper body power. (Consider the ideal of the sumo wrestler versus the V-shaped Western bodybuilder with a narrow waist and broad shoulders.)

However, East and West also hold similar viewpoints regarding the hara, and we’re perhaps not as dissimilar as some might imagine. For instance, hara ga nai hito describes a cowardly person, “a person with no hara.” Sounds similar to our saying that so-and-so “has no guts,” doesn’t it?”
― H.E. Davey mystic quote, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation

“Observing your thoughts, feelings & sensations is the grist of the practice.”
― Allan Lokos, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living

“We’re so used to just glancing at the environment through the eyes of the past that we’re frequently not certain if we are in fact paying attention or if we merely think that we’re paying attention. Dynamic meditation in everyday existence involves the act of truthfully seeing.

Many of us have changed some aspect of our appearance only to have this go unnoticed by friends. Perhaps you’ve shaved off a mustache, added a tattoo, or altered your hairstyle, but your acquaintances failed to initially notice. In such a case, your friends were looking at their environment through the eyes of the past instead of actually seeing what was taking place in the present.”
― H.E. Davey, Japanese Yoga: The Way of Dynamic Meditation quote

“Let the breath lead the way.”
― Sharon Salzberg, Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation quote

“We yearn for there to be meaning to our lives, balanced with a sense of inner peace & joy.”
― Allan Lokos, Pocket Peace: Effective Practices for Enlightened Living

“In the practice of exchanging self & other, paradoxes abound.”
― Robert Thurman, Love Your Enemies: How to Break the Anger Habit & Be a Whole Lot Happier

“Now an extraordinary and helpful fact is that by making Mind the object of our attention, not only does the serenity which is its nature begin to well up of its own accord but its steady unchanging character itself helps spontaneously to repel all disturbing thoughts.”
― Paul Brunton meditation quote, The Notebooks of Paul Brunton

 “Praise & esteem can feel good, which is fine, but don't look to them for inner peace & lasting happiness.”
― Allan Lokos wisdom quote, Patience: The Art of Peaceful Living

“Meditation is a mysterious method of self-restoration.

It involves “shutting” out the outside world, and by that means sensing the universal “presence” which is, incidentally, absolute perfect peace.

It is basically an existential “time-out”—a way to “come up for a breath of air” out of the noisy clutter of the world.

But don’t be afraid, there is nothing arcane or supernatural or creepy about the notion of taking a time-out. Ball players do it. Kids do it, when prompted by their parents. Heck, even your computer does it (and sometimes not when you want it to).

So, why not you?

A meditation can be as simple as taking a series of easy breaths, and slowly, gently counting to ten in your mind.”
― Vera Nazarian meditation quote, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

“While I meditate on the gulf towards which I travelled, and reflect on my youthful disobedience, for these things I weep, mine eye runneth down with water.”
― John Woolman meditation quote


“Patanjali says that we can meditate on anything that our heart desires. The important thing is not what we meditate on, but more that we meditate. And then gradually to meditate more and more on what corresponds to the innermost longing of our heart. The practice of meditation . . . gradually works its magic in stilling the mind. (42)”
― Ravi Ravindra meditation quote from The Wisdom of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras: A New Translation and Guide by Ravi Ravindra

“To relinquish the futile effort to control change is one of the strengthening forces of true detachment & thus true love.”
― Sharon Salzberg mystic quote, Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness

“With attachment all that seems to exist is just me & that object I desire.”
― Sharon Salzberg spiritual quotes, Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness

“For moderns - for us - there is something illicit, it seems, about wasted time, the empty hours of contemplation when a thought unfurls, figures of speech budding and blossoming, articulation drifting like spent petals onto the dark table we all once gathered around to talk and talk, letting time get the better of us. _Just taking our time_, as we say. That is, letting time take us.

"Can you say," I once inquired of a sixty-year old cloistered nun who had lived (vibrantly, it seemed) from the age of nineteen in her monastery cell, "what the core of contemplative life is?"

"Leisure," she said, without hesitation, her china blue eyes cheerfully steady on me. I suppose I expected her to say, "Prayer." Or maybe "The search for God." Or "Inner peace." Inner peace would have been good. One of the big-ticket items of spirituality.

She saw I didn't see.

"It takes time to do this," she said finally.

Her "this" being the kind of work that requires abdication from time's industrial purpose (doing things, getting things). By choosing leisure she had bid farewell to the fevered enterprise of getting-and-spending whereby, as the poet said, we lay waste our powers.”
― Patricia Hampl wisdom quotes, Blue Arabesque: A Search for the Sublime

“We need something that encourages us to work, we need an intimate aid. This is only possible through meditation.”
― Samael Aun Weor meditation quote

“We must experience the Truth in a direct, practical and real way; this is only possible in the stillness and silence of the mind, and this is achieved by means of meditation.”
― Samael Aun Weor meditation quote, The Revolution of the Dialectic: A Practical Guide to Gnostic

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