Quotes
To Yourself
Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. – Richard Bach, Illusions
Cosmic Scheme
The whole Cosmic Scheme must be reproduced on the plane of the individual, if there is an individual. – The Science of Mind
Knowledge
As the Universe is run by an Infinite Mind, so man’s life is controlled by his thinking; ignorance of this keeps him bondage; knowledge will free him. – Ernest Holmes
Waking State
Your thinking that you have to make an effort to get rid of this dream of the waking state, and your making efforts to attain jnana (realization of Self) or real awakening, are all parts of the dream. – Ramana Maharshi
Awakeness/Awareness
Student: I’ve made up all of it? Adyashanti: The whole thing. But the awakeness in you is not dreaming. Only the mind is dreaming. It tells itself stories and wants to know if you’re progressing. When you shift into wakefulness, you realize, “Wait, it’s a dream. The mind is creating an altered state of reality, a virtual reality, but it’s not true – it’s just thought.” Thought can tell a million stories inside of awareness, and it’s not going to change awareness one bit. The only thing that’s going to change is the way the body feels. If you tell yourself a sad story, the body reacts to that. And if you tell yourself a self-aggrandizing story, the body feels all puffed up, confident. But when you realize it’s all stories, there can be a vast waking up out of the mind, out of the dream. You don’t awaken, what has eternally been awake realizes itself. That which is eternally awake is what you are.
Amazement
A lot of stuff changes once you figure out the voices you hear in your head have no idea what they’re talking about. If they knew anything at all about the world, they’d stop in amazement because why waste all that time talking when you could be spinning around & around laughing & soaking it all in? – Brian Andreas
Earnestness
To remember what needs to be remembered is the secret of success. You come to it through earnestness. – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Present Moment
Only the present moment contains life. – Thich Nhat Hanh
River of Life
Between the banks of pain and pleasure the river of life flows. It is only when the mind refuses to flow with life, and gets stuck at the banks, that it becomes a problem. By flowing with life I mean acceptance — letting come what comes and go what goes. – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Freedom
I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind. – Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Wonder
What is your reality? What is this wonder-filled universe? – Devi to Shiva
Be Alive
That is why humans resist life. To be alive is the biggest fear humans have. Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive – the risk to be alive and express what we really are. Just being ourselves is the biggest fear of humans. We have learned to live our lives trying to satisfy other people’s demands. We have learned to live by other people’s points of view because of the fear of not being accepted and of not being good enough for someone else. – Miguel Ruiz
Prisoner
Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner. – Lao Tzu
Out of Control
With some tumultuous surroundings, as life introduces struggles and challenges, I’d like to try an experiment in ease. What if I can find the ease in the storm, the peace in the chaos, to just be. Everything will be figured out, and I can do it without struggle or worry. The challenge is to let go of the illusion of control, let life happen, and to know that you don’t know. We always think we know what is best for ourselves, not only that… what is best for reality. If we do this, if we act in this specific way or do this particular action, life will be just the way we want. But that’s impossible, there are truly too many factors. Life is an infinite amount of changes, possibilities, stories. The story that is best for you is out of your control. I’m not sure best is even the right word here… your life is what you make of it. It’s always been about a goal of achieving success, about looking like a success in the eyes of others, but what you do, day to day, the feelings you have inside, the love you express, the smiles you create……
Dream World
It is necessary that Soul and Body should exist, because Spirit, without manifestation, would construct only a dream world, never coming into Self-Realization. – Ernest Holmes
In Love
Be in love with your life. Every minute of it. – Jack Kerouac
Images of Thought
Disease and limitation are neither person, place, nor thing; they are simply images of thought. Turn entirely from the condition, or the limited situation, to its opposite, that is, to the realization of health, happiness or harmony. – Ernest Holmes
Richness
Surely truth, or that Godhead of understanding, is not to be found by clinging either to family or tradition or habit. It is to be found only when you are compeltely naked, stripped of your longings, hopes, securities; and in that direct simplicity is the richness of life. – Krishnamurti
The Calling
The calling is not to Go beyond the mind. The calling is to be, which is Prior to the mind. – Wu Hsin
Phenomenon
He has known darkness & light, but now he has gone beyond it. Now he sees darkness as part of light, and light as part of darkness, now there is no division. Light and darkness have both become one – degrees of one phenomenon. – Osho, Book of Secrets
Creative Thinking
What we call happiness or ecstacy is, to me, creative thinking. And creative thinking is the infinite movement of thought, emotion, and action. – Krishnamurti
Embrace the Mystery
Embrace the mystery, let chaos unfold. You’re never in danger, don’t let your thoughts take control. The answer has already been given, it’s always a part of your soul. The peace within the quiet is truth. You’re already home.
Sovereignty
You were born to this world with sovereignty over your mind and over your life. Your abilities to think, to feel, to learn and to love are your liberty. In you, these capacities are infinite. You have infinite worth. – Jeremy Locke
Portal
A portal to another perspective is waiting. The light that shines through, the opening that shows you there is something more than the darkness that surrounds you. As you open your own eyes, the portal increases until you are on the outside looking in. What kept you beneath this window, behind the light? Now that this has shifted, (or is it you that has shifted?) what has changed? Maybe you were never behind the light, it was only hidden by your own perceptions, your own assumptions that there was a limited view. Consider the possibility that you are on both sides – you look in, you look out, you are not trapped, you can see…
Bliss
Innocence is Bliss
Great Discovery
To be real and free, individuality must be created IN THE IMAGE OF PERFECTION AND LET ALONE TO MAKE THE GREAT DISCOVERY FOR ITSELF. – Ernest Holmes
Restless
Detach yourself from all that makes your mind restless. Renounce all that disturbs its peace. If you want peace, deserve it. – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Meet Things Anew
So to live each moment now without the burden of the past or of the present, without that crippling memory created by the lack of understanding, mind must ever meet things anew. It is fatal to meet life with the burden of certainty, with the conceit of knowledge, because, after all, knowledge is merely a thing of the past. So when you come to that life with a freshness, then you will know what it is to live without conflict, without this continual straining effort. Then you wander far on the floods of life. – Krishnamurti