"I have lived with several Zen masters -- all of them cats.”
--Eckhart Tolle

'So we take responsibility for our humanness by really learning to take care of ourselves, and by really listening to what's present, even if we don't like it, even if it's painful. In that listening is amazing transformation power. When we give that kind of attention to our condition, it becomes saturated with energy and begins to move, begins to unravel. "Conditionedness", in its essence, is simply contraction, an energetic held-ness.' - Jon Bernie
I love that quote, I've used it several times - it's so true :laugh:

"But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun
rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."
~ Jesus Christ

'Nothing we do on the outside - no practice, no technique - is ever going to take the place of earnestness, or direct it; earnestness directs practice, practice does not direct earnestness. Desire for truth directs your spiritual practice, your spiritual practice can never be a substitute for the desire for truth.' - Adyashanti

'The secret of Buddhism is to remove all ideas, all concepts, in order for the truth to have a chance to penetrate, to reveal itself.' - Thich Nhat Hanh

'All human unhappiness comes from not facing reality squarely, exactly as it is.' - Buddha

To discover means to remove the cover, to take away the veils. We haven't lost anything but are merely uncovering what we already have. The world offers wonderful, creative, joyful, and meaningful possibilities simply waiting to be revealed. So, now we can all relax, because we are not searching. We are discovering.

Shantimayi on shifting away from searching to discovering

With Love
Eelco

“The half-wise, recognizing the comparative unreality of the Universe, imagine that they may defy its Laws, such are vain and presumptuous fools, and they are broken against the rocks and torn asunder by the elements by reason of their folly.
The truly wise, knowing the nature of the Universe, use Law against laws; the higher against the lower; and by the Art of Alchemy transmute that which is undesirable into that which is worthy, and thus triumph.
Mastery consists not in abnormal dreams, visions and fantastic imaginings or living, but in using the higher forces against the lower, escaping the pains of the lower planes by vibrating on the higher. Transmutation, not presumptuous denial, is the weapon of the Master.”
― The Kybalion

What binds me has been slain, and what turns me about has been overcome,
and my desire has been ended, and ignorance has died.
In a world I was set loose from a world, and in a form from a form, and from the fetter of oblivion which is transient.
From this time on will I attain to the rest of the time, of the season, of the age, in silence

After Mary had said these things, she was silent, since it was up to this point that the Savior had spoken to her.

Gospel of Mary, Mary Magdalene's vision of Jesus

'Part of the basic condition of the human body-mind is a certain protective contraction that creates the ego structure - that's just part of being human, and it's not a problem. The ego doesn't need to be dismantled, only seen for what it is.' - Jon Bernie