Questions

RIC_1949, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Questions are the creative acts of intelligence.

Frank Kingdon

Role of Artist

RIC_1907, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The role of the artist I now understood as that of revealing through the world-surfaces the implicit forms of the soul, and the great agent to assist the artist was the myth.

Joseph Campbell

Courage

RIC_1999, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

One cannot remain neutral in the face of injustice, for to do so is to become an accomplice to the injustice.

James Loney, Captivity

To give light

RIC_6958, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

What is to give light must endure burning.

Victor E. Frankl

Present Moment

RC1_7734, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

There is only one moment when we can feel truly alive. That is the present moment.

The present moment is the only moment where life is available.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Reconciliation

RIC_2023, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

If we want to achieve reconciliation, not only do we have to struggle with the enemy, but we also have to wrestle with ourselves. And in the struggle we may find ourselves blessed and embraced by the presence of something greater.

Karen Armstrong, Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life

Bliss

RIC_2105, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Bliss does not come from outside. It comes from inside, from serving the people.

Anna Hazare

Saintliness

RIC_1943, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

It is the struggle and strain of hope that brings about saintliness.

Brian D. McLaren

Your time

RIC_1928, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Walk around feeling like a leaf.

Know you could tumble any second.

Then decide what to do with your time.

Naomi Shihab Nye, The Art of Disappearing

Two Extremes

RIC_1910, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

There are two extremes to avoid:

being completely absorbed in your pain and being distracted by so many things that you stay far away from the wound you want to heal.

Henry Nouwen

The Grasp of Your Hand

DSC_8882, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Grant me that I may not be a coward, feeling

Your mercy in my success alone; but let me find

the grasp of Your hand in my failure.

Rabindranath Tagore, The Grasp of Your Hand

Be open

RIC_1901, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

As an inlet cannot close itself to the sea that shapes it,

the heart can only wear itself open.

Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

Why were you not Zusya?

RIC_1916, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

When I die and go to the world to come, they will not ask me, Zusya, why were you not Moses?
They will ask me: Zusya, why were you not Zusya?

Rabbi Zusya of Hanipol , Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim: Early Masters

To live

RIC_2034, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Better to die standing, than to live on your knees.

Ernesto "Che" Guevara

Being human

RIC_2004, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Everyone should keep a piece of paper with “for my sake the world was created” in one pocket and a piece of paper with “I am but dust and ashes” in another. The Rabbi was expressing an existential truth: each individual being is important, but not self-important.

Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshicha (1765-1827) quoted by Seth Segall

Change

RC1_4432 a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

Plutarch

Express yourself

RIC_1981, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

What is not ex-pressed is de-pressed.

Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

Unspoken expectations are resentments in waiting.

Anonymous

When Someone Deeply Listens to You

RIC_1974, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

When someone deeply listens to you

your bare feet are on the earth

and a beloved land that seemed distant

is now at home within you.

John Fox, When Someone Deeply Listens to You

Teachings

RCC_9504, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The ancient teachings are not a romantic throwback to a vanished lifestyle

but a resonant of our contemporary responsibilities.

Richard Wagamese, One Story, One Song

What Matters

RCC_6484 a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

As is a tale, so is life:
not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

Seneca

Wounds to our Ego

RIC_2029, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The wounds to our ego are our teachers and must be welcomed.

They must be paid attention to, not litigated.

Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs

Slow

DSC_0546, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

There is a secret bond between slowness and memory,

between speed and forgetting.

Milan Kundera

Peace of mind

RIC_6718, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Peace of mind is the cornerstone of spiritual life.

Christina Baldwin, The Seven Whispers

Awakening and surrender

RIC_1567, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Awakening and surrender:

they frame each day and each life;

between them the journey where anything can happen,

the beauty and the frailty.

John O’Donohue, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace

Innocence

RIC_9333, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Innocence is more than lack of knowledge and experience;

it’s learning to look at the world with wonder.

Richard Wagamese, One Story, One Song

Humility

DSC_6926, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Humility is the ability to see yourself as an essential part of something larger.

It is the act of living without grandiosity. …

Humility teaches that there are no greater or lesser beings or things.

There is only the whole.

Richard Wagamese, One Story, One Song

Nothing/Everything

DSC_4232, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

When we are nothing, we are in a fine position to receive everything from God.

Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs

Eyes not our own

RIC_9457, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

When we can see the image of God where we don’t want to see the image of God,

then we see with eyes not our own.

Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs

Healing

RCC_2286 a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

May all that I do today contribute to the healing of the world,

and may my heart be open enough to allow the world to contribute to my healing.

Christina Baldwin, The Seven Whispers

Reaching without holding

RCC_1899, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

I envy the tree,

how it reaches

but never holds.

Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening