Too often there is…
· 30 September 2006
The trouble is that too often there is forty horsepower under the bonnet and one asspower at the wheel.
« πλ | Observation »
Quotes for September 2006
Maturity begins to grow…
· 29 September 2006
Maturity begins to grow when you can sense your concern for others outweighing your concern for yourself.
If you are pained by external things…
· 28 September 2006
If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but your own judgment of them. And it is in your power to wipe out that judgment now.
« πλ | Detachment, Judgement, Suffering »
Teachers open the door…
· 27 September 2006
Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.
Wisdom which does not…
· 26 September 2006
Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.
We modern egalitarians…
· 24 September 2006
We modern egalitarians are tempted to the primal sin of pride in the opposite way from the ancients. The old, aristocratic form of pride was the desire to be better than others. The new, democratic form is the desire not to have anyone better than yourself. It is just as spiritually deadly and does not even carry with it the false pleasure of gloating superiority.
A drop of water…
· 23 September 2006
Meister Eckhart used the analogy of a drop of water (the Universe) in the ocean (God). The drop “is” ocean, has the qualities of ocean, and ocean permeates it. But the ocean is not a drop, and can never “depend” upon a drop. God is in Creation because he is the very Ground of Being, and lovingly sustains it, not because he is it.
Advice for beginning mystics…
· 22 September 2006
And now, advice for beginning mystics. Be sober, be intelligent, be educated, rely on the tangible reality as long as you can. Remember that the act of writing is a tiny part of a bigger something. Defend the value of the spiritual experience and if somebody tells you it’s an old fashioned notion, laugh loudly and serenely.
Not one that consists in…
· 21 September 2006
The life which is truly real is not one that consists in experiencing sensations, but in activity, I mean activity in both thought and deed.
The plant of our new life…
· 20 September 2006
Faith is the root, the necessary beginning. Hope is the stem, the energy that makes the plant grow. Love is the fruit, the flower, the visible product, the bottom line. The plant of our new life in Christ is one; the life of God comes into us by faith, through us by hope, and out of us by the works of love.
The flight from woman…
· 19 September 2006
It is the modern feminists who are the real male chauvinists, lusting for reproductive freedom (sexual irresponsibility) like playboys and demanding empowerment, that is, envying and imitating not only males, but male fools, judging inner worth by outer performance, sacrificing being for doing, finding their identity in their worldly careers, not in their inner essence, in their physical and spiritual wombs and motherhoods. This is what Karl Stern called “the flight from woman.”
« πλ | Observation, Politics »
God’s Bride…
· 18 September 2006
The Church is God’s Bride. All the saints and mystics say the ultimate purpose of human life, the highest end for which we were made, is the Spiritual Marriage. This is not socially relative; it is eternal. And in it, the soul is spiritually impregnated by God, not vice versa. That is the ultimate reason why God must always be he to us, never she. Religion is essentially heterosexual and therefore fruitful.
Supposing He had found us…
· 17 September 2006
An “impersonal God”—well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads—better still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap—best of all. But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband—that is quite another matter. There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (“Man’s search for God”!) suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us?
They are in fashion…
· 16 September 2006
The greatest part of mankind have no other reason for their opinion than that they are in fashion.
« πλ | Attitude, Observation »
Try to acquire those virtues…
· 15 September 2006
Try to acquire those virtues which you think your brothers lack, and you will no longer see their defects, because you will not have them yourselves.
Baptism means derailment…
· 14 September 2006
The word baptism means derailment. Christ baptizes Peter on the rock when he tells him: “Because you confessed your love for me, your life is no longer your own. Before you said this, you fastened your belt and you walked wherever you liked. Now, others will put a belt around you and take you where you would rather not go.” To submit to love is to be baptized, that is, to let one’s life be forever interrupted. To not let one’s life be interrupted is to say no to love
Forget the mystery…
· 13 September 2006
Hegel said, “Behind the facade of the familiar, strange things await us.” Familiarity enables us to tame, control and ultimately forget the mystery
Doubt is a pain…
· 12 September 2006
Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother
The highest ecstasy…
· 11 September 2006
The highest ecstasy is the attention at its fullest.
The danger is not…
· 10 September 2006
The danger is not lest the soul should doubt whether there is any bread, but lest, by a lie, it should persuade itself that it is not hungry.
« πλ | Discernment, Longing »
As they are nothing…
· 9 September 2006
Charity. To love human beings in so far as they are nothing. That is to love them as God does.
The great fabricator of illusions…
· 8 September 2006
Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.
« πλ | Detachment »
Every separation is…
· 7 September 2006
Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but is also their means of communication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link.
Our Father is to prayer…
· 6 September 2006
The Our Father is to prayer what Christ is to humanity.
If suffering alone taught…
· 5 September 2006
I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness, and the willingness to remain vulnerable.
More things are wrought by…
· 3 September 2006
More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.
The foolish reject…
· 2 September 2006
The foolish reject what they see, not what they think; the wise reject what they think, not what they see.
![[Jerusalem Cross with Heart]](http://cowpi.com/journal/grafiks/jerusalem-cross-heart.gif "Jerusalem Cross with Heart")