Doorway

RCC_8733, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Wherever you are is the entry point. 

Kabir

Transformation

RIC_9720-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr. 

The meeting of two personalities

is like the contact of

two chemical substances:

if there is any reaction, both

are transformed.

C. G. Jung

What lies within us

RIC_9611-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

   The more articulate one is, the more
     dangerous words become.

    May Sarton

Interdependence

RIC_9702_edited-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

   In and of itself, nothing really matters.
     What matters is that nothing is ever “in and of itself.”

    Chuck Klosterman, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs*

Miracles

RIC_9660_edited-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Most miracles, like everything else,

are firmly rooted in who we are.

Iris Sangiuliano, In Her Time

Wonder

RIC_9753-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Never say there is nothing beautiful in

the world anymore. There is always

something to make you wonder in the

shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf. 

Albert Schweitzer

Stories

_DSC5276, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The universe is made of stories, not atoms.

Muriel Rukeyser

Icon

RC1_0088, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

An icon is designed to be not a beautiful

work of art, but a window into divine

mysteries. It points beyond itself.

M. Craig Barnes, The Pastor As Minor Poet: Texts and

Subtexts in the Ministerial Life

Dare to be oneself

RIC_9757-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

We have to dare to be be ourselves,

however frightening or strange

that self may prove to be.

May Sarton

Attitude

RCC_9907, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

If you can’t change your fate, change
  your attitude.

Amy Tan

Image

RIC_9742-2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

   The image is not an idea. It is a radiant
     node or cluster, it is what I can, and
     must perforce, call a vortex, from
     which and through which and into
     which ideas are constantly rushing.

    Ezra Pound, Gaudier Brezeska: A Memoir

Fear

RIC_9657_edited-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

To fear is one thing.  To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another.

Katherine Paterson

Complete

RIC_5016-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr. 

It is better to be complete than perfect.

C. G. Jung

Compassion

RCC_6780, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

What I want in my life is compassion,

a flow between myself and others based

on a mutual giving from the heart.

Marshall B. Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life

Art

RIC_4976-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

A work of art is a gift, not a commodity.

Lewis Hyde,

The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World

Question to ponder

RC1_4007, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

What can we gain by sailing to the moon

if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves?

Thomas Merton, The wisdom of the Desert

.

Making peace with our shadow

RIC_1954, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

   Making peace with our shadow and befriending it are
     fundamental to authentic self-esteem.

    John Monbourquette, How to Befriend Your Shadow: Welcoming Your Unloved Side

Grief

RCC_8256, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

You can never get enough of what you don’t really want.

Eric Hoffer

Justice

RCC_7853, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

If I am not a man here, you are not a man here.

James Baldwin,

The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings

God

RIC_9639-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

   The God who is present to us is present
     to others as well. The God who guides
     us guides others also; the God who
     cares for us cares also for others. The
     whole world is touched by God,
     and therefore the world can mediate
     God’s presence to us. 

    Marjorie Suchocki,

    God, Christ, Church: A Practical Guide to Process

    Theology

Gift

RCC_6619, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

A gift that cannot be given away ceases to be a gift.

Lewis Hyde, The Gift: Creativity and the Artist in the Modern World

Looking Inward

RIC_2148, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

   We have been to the moon, we have charted the depths of
     the ocean and the heart of the atom, but we have a fear of
     looking inward to ourselves because we sense that is where
     all the contradictions flow together.

    Terrence Mckenna

Unity

RC1_0718, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

A single stick may smoke, but it will not burn.

Ethiopian proverb

Imperfection

RIC_9404-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

   To deny imperfection is to disown
     oneself, for to be human is to be
     imperfect.

    Ernest Kurtz and  Katherine Ketcham,

    The Spirituality of Imperfection

Living

RCC_9822, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr

I could live my life believing there are no miracles, no magic

and no deeper meaning; or I could believe that the

impossible is possible, that the heart can love in all

circumstances, that hope is infinite, promises are forever.

Leanne O'Neil

Unawareness

RIC_0192, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Unawareness is the root of all evil. 

Anonymous Egyptian Monk

Greatest Obstacle

RIC_2127, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The greatest obstacle is simply this: the conviction that we
  cannot change because we are dependent upon what is
  wrong. But that is the addicts’ excuses, and we know that it
  will not do.

Wendell Berry

Peaceful Revolution

RIC_9580-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

   Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make
     violent revolution inevitable. 

    John F. Kennedy

Wisdom

RC1_0694, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

All wisdom is plagiarism; only stupidity is original.

Huge Kerr

Terror

RIC_0199, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr. 

   
     Everything terrifying is, in its deepest being, something
     helpless that wants our help.

    Maria Rilke

Fear

RIC_9552-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Some of the worst events in my life never happened. 

Mark Twain

Creature

RIC_9589-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

     There is a crack in everything God has made.

      Ralph Waldo Emerson

Idea

DSC_1566, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr

It is better to die for an idea that will live
  than to live for an idea that will die. 

Steve Biko

The light, not the lamp

RCC_9556, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

     Worship the light, not the lamp.
     The lamps are different, the light is the same.
     It comes from the Beyond.
      
       Rumi

Your Identity

RCC_6803, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Your identity is not equivalent to your biography. There is a

place in you where you have never been wounded, where

there’s a seamlessness in you, and where there is a

confidence and tranquility. 

John O’Donohue

Salvation

RIC_9420-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Salvation lies in remembrance.

Baal Shem Tov

Imperfections

RCC_4017, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

It's the imperfections that make the charm. 

Rebecca Moses

Story Telling

RIC_9581-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

   A story must be told in such a way it constitutes help in
     itself. My grandfather was lame. Once they asked him to
     tell a story about his teacher. And he related how his
     teacher used to hop and dance while he prayed. My
     grandfather rose as he spoke, and he was so swept away by
     his story that he began to hop and dance to show how the
     master had done. From that hour, he was cured of his
     lameness. That’s how to tell a story.

    Martin Büber

Basic Truths

RIC_9442-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

What we call basic truths are simply the

ones we discover after all the others.

Albert Camus

Belief

RIC_9380-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Belief is grace. 

Northrope Frye

Wisdom

RIC_9499-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

  Wisdom is knowledge plus:
  knowledge – and the knowledge of its own limits.

Victor E. Frankl

Seeing

RIC_7678-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

We don't see things as they are;

we see them as we are.

Anais Nin

Stories

RIC_9595-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

We often need to tell our stories over and over, not

because we are forgetful or compulsive, but because their

meaning is too great to be digested in any one telling.

So we recount them, again and again, till we can absorb

their meaning and learn to love each other on the way.

Mark Nepo, As Far As the Heart Can See

.

Inclusion with Justice

RIC_9501-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

   
     To be “included” is not the same as
   “being fully welcomed” or as being
   “equally treated and respected.”

    Fernando A. Cascante, Journal of Race, Ethnicity and

    Religion Vol. 1, 2010, A Decade of Racial/Ethnic

    Diversity in Theological Education: The Continuous

    Challenge of Inclusion with Justice