Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore. - Andre Gide

Even if a unity of faith is not possible, a unity of love is.

Hans Urs von Balthasar

What you are is God's gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.

Hans Urs von Balthasar

"Silence is the ocean in which all the rivers of all the religions discharge themselves." — Thayumanavar

Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left
to criticize others.
Be too big for worry and too noble for anger.

-Norman Vincent Peale

:wink:

Questioner : What is the essence of your teaching ?

Krishnamurti : I have one secret in life, I don't mind what happens.

“I came into the unknown
and stayed there unknowing
rising beyond all science.

I did not know the door
but when I found the way,
unknowing where I was,
I learned enormous things,
but what I felt I cannot say,
for I remained unknowing,
rising beyond all science.

It was the perfect realm
of holiness and peace.
In deepest solitude
I found the narrow way:
a secret giving such release
that I was stunned and stammering,
rising beyond all science.

I was so far inside,
so dazed and far away
my senses were released
from feelings of my own.
My mind had found a surer way:
a knowledge of unknowing,
rising beyond all science.

And he who does arrive
collapses as in sleep,
for all he knew before
now seems a lowly thing,
and so his knowledge grows so deep
that he remains unknowing,
rising beyond all science.

The higher he ascends
the darker is the wood;
it is the shadowy cloud
that clarified the night,
and so the one who understood
remains always unknowing,
rising beyond all science.

This knowledge by unknowing
is such a soaring force
that scholars argue long
but never leave the ground.
Their knowledge always fails the source:
to understand unknowing,
rising beyond all science.

This knowledge is supreme
crossing a blazing height;
though formal reason tries
it crumbles in the dark,
but one who would control the night
by knowledge of unknowing
will rise beyond all science.

And if you wish to hear:
the highest science leads
to an ecstatic feeling
of the most holy Being;
and from his mercy comes his deed:
to let us stay unknowing,
rising beyond all science.”

― St. John of the Cross

Then your mind will become still in any surroundings – like a clear forest pool.

All kinds of wonderful, rare animals will come to drink at the pool – and you will clearly see the nature of all things.

Ajahn Chah

Q: Is it necessary to be able to enter absorption in our practice?

Answer: No, absorption is not necessary. You must establish a modicum of tranquillity and one-pointedness of mind. Then you use this to examine yourself. Nothing special is needed. If absorption comes in your practice, this is OK too. Just don't hold on to it. Some people get hung up with absorption. It can be great fun to play with. You must know proper limits. If you are wise, then you will know the uses and limitations of absorption, just as you know the limitations of children verses grown men.

Ajahn Chah
http://www.buddhanet.net/bodhiny2.htm

"Why Do We Close Our Eyes When We Pray, Cry, Kiss or Dream?
Because the Most Beautiful Things in Life are Not Seen But Felt by the Heart."


I dunno who said this! But I had to write it down someplace! :wink:

(Glad you're posting here, Janieliee! Whoa, St John of the Cross...)