Life

RIC_0015-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Each of us is carving a stone, erecting a column,
     or cutting a piece of stained glass in the
     construction of something much bigger than 
     ourselves.

        Adrienne Clarkson

By your example

Candles 1 (2013, 4.13), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The world is changed by your example,

not by your opinion.

Paulo Coelho

Eternity

Full Moon, Toronto, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     I saw Eternity the other night,
     Like a great ring of pure and endless light.

        Henry Vaughan, The World

Life

Bird House 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Life does not require a material abundance; 
it requires only a material sufficiency.

Wendell Berry, Blessed are the Peacemakers

War

RIC_4095, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

War is what happens when language fails.

Margaret Atwood

Love

Swan, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

Maya Angelou

Dawn

RIC_3417-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Death does not extinguish the light.

It puts out the lamp because the dawn has come.

Rabindranath Tagore

Emptiness

RIC_8022-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The experience of emptiness engenders compassion. 

Tibetan Buddhist Saying

Arts

RIC_3919-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     The arts draw us deeply into the parts of ourselves 
     our most urgent questions and desires lodge. 
     These desiring questions have as their source and end, God. 

        Wendy M. Wright

Fall in love

RCC_6335-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Fall in love in such a way 
that it frees you from any connecting. 

Rumi

Hope

RIC_4321-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

When it seems too much... 

Hold fast to the dearest hopes embedded in your life with others. 

Or rather, let those hopes hold you...

Tom Reynolds

In God's Image

RIC_6139-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


All humans, friends and enemies alike, 
have the same dignity, deserve the same respect, 
and are worthy of the same compassion
because they are, all alike, made in God's image. 

Wendell Berry, Blessed Are the Peacemakers

Life Abundant

RIC_4418-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     To be free of indifference would be 
     to have life more more abundantly.

        Wendell Berry, Blessed Are the Peacemakers

At Home

Distillery Distract 6, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The spiritual life is 

about becoming more at home in your own skin. 

Parker J. Palmer

Shedding

Earth Hour 7 (2013, 3. 23), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

From the beginning,

the key to renewal has been

the casting off of old skin.

Thich Nhat Hanh, 

Living Buddha, Living Christ

Singing Freedom

RIC_4022-1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

The caged bird sings

with a fearful trill

of things unknown

but longed for still

and his tune is heard

on the distant hill

for the caged bird

sings of freedom.

Maya Angelou,

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

God Who Is

_DSC6567, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

It is the whole of nature,

extending from the beginning to the end 

that constitutes the one image of God Who Is.

St. Gregory of Nyssa

Peace

RCC_9009, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Until there is peace between religions,

there can be no peace in the world. 

Hans Kung

Kingdom of God

Baptism Font (2013, 2.24), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

We do not go to the Kingdom of God, 

but the kingdom of God comes to us.

Thich Nhat Hanh, 

Living Buddha, Living Christ

Faith

RIC_4124, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


In Buddhism, faith means confidence in our and others' abilities
to wake up to our deepest capacity of loving and understanding.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Living Buddha, Living Christ

Living Love

Lamp (2013, 3.22), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     In the end, it is not enough to think what we know. 
     We must live it. For only by living it can Love show itself
     as the greatest principle.

        Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening

Live loud

Lamp 2 (2013, 3.22), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Live loud enough in your heart
and there is no need to speak.

Mark Nepo, The Book of Awakening.

Tenderness

Freelton, Ontario 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Tenderness does not choose its own use.

It goes out to everything equally.

Jane Hirshfield

Transitions

Waiting, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


So long as you haven't experienced this:
to die and so to grow, 
you are only a troubled guest 
on the dark earth.

Goethe

Resemblance

Good Friday 2013, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


My confidence comes from the belief that all human beings
resemble each other, that others carry wounds like mine – that 
they will therefore understand. 

Orhan Pamuk, My Father's Suitcase

Choice

Gate 1 (2013, 3.23), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


It's a choice. Every minute in your life is a choice, and we have a choice as to how we will see the world and how we will see ourselves in it.

James Orbinski

Gentleness

Easter Egg Muffin, Knead Bakery, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

In a gentle way,
you can shake the world.

Mahatma Gandhi

Wounds

Memories of Korea, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


We all have wounds; they are part of what it means 
to be human. Whether physical, psychological, or spiritual, our wounds are like crazy glue; they bond us in solidarity. 

Bo Forbes

Peace

Egg Candle, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     If you want oneness in society,
     you have to teach people to go inside
     instead of going outside, 
     because if they want peace, 
     they need to find it within. 

        Ram Dass

Right Relationships

Monarch Butterfly 7, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

God is found in right relationships, not right ideas.

Barbara Brown Taylor, Leaving Church

Conviction

Cross 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


There is no one more courageous
than the person who speaks with
the courage of his convictions.

Susan Cain, 
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can's Stop Talking

Character

Crucifixion 2a, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     The real test of a man is not how well he plays the role he has
     invented for himself, but how well he plays the role that destiny
     assigned him.

        Jan Patočka

Listening

Earth Hour 2 (2013, 3. 23), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


There comes a point in every person's life 
when they must realize, I can't outrun 
my darkness – I can only fill it with light. 

Yehuda Berg

Listen

Tray, BW's home, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Before I tell my life what I want to do with it,
     I must listen to my life telling me who I am.

        Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation

Peace

Cross, Freelton, Ontario 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, 
but by realizing who you are at the deepest level.

Thomas Merton

Trust yourslef

Jack's Lamp 1 (water jug), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     Just trust yourself,
     then you will know how to live.

        Goethe

Birthing

Potted Flowers, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

I have been born again and again and each time, 

I have found something to love.

Gordon Parks

To love

A day before Spring (2013, 3.19), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr. 

To love means to offer a space to your beloved. 

Thick Nhat Hanh

Discernment

Conversation (2013, 3.5), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


Discernment is a process of letting go of what
we are not.

Father Thomas Keating

Returning

Leaf on ice 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

We carry a centre

that is always returning.

Mark Nepo, 

The Book of Awakening

A wider horizon

Sunset 1 (2013, 3.8), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


The eyes experience less stress when they can
look upon a wider horizon. 

R. D. Chin

Earth

Tree, SMC, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

We won't save a place we don't love;

we can't love a place we don't know;

and we can't know a place we haven't learned.

Ched Myers

Right Relationships

Conversation (2013, 3.5), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

God is found in right relationships,

not right ideas.

Barbara Brown Taylor, 

Leaving Church

Limits

KRUC Cross 2 (2013, 3.4), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Limits, like fears, are often just an illusion. 

Michael Jordan

Truth

Leaf on ice 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

One word of truth outweighs the world.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Where we are

Direction in the snow, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.


     The first step toward the capacity for hope is 
     the recognition of where we are. 
     If we refuse to recognize where we are, 
     then everything we do is futile. 

        Chris Hedges

Broken Open

Light (2013, 2.14), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

God breaks the heart again and again and

again until it stays open. 

Hazrat Inayat Khan

Clarity

Jacqueline Treloar 2, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Don’t confuse honours with achievement.

Zadie Smith

Presence

Salt 1, a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Most precious gift you can give

is your true presence.

Thich Nhat Hanh

Solitude

Lamp (2013, 2.22), a photo by rchoephoto on Flickr.

Solitude is a crucial ingredient to creativity.

Susan Cain