Quotations Search Results
We found 673 matching quotes
W. H. Auden, The Haunt of Grace
The distresses of choice are our chance to be blessed.
The distresses of choice
Rabindranath Tagore, Shin Buddhism
Civility is beauty of behavior. It requires for its perfection patience, self-control, and an environment of leisure. For genuine courtesy is a creation, like pictures, like music. It is a harmonious blending of voice, gesture and movement, words and action, in which generosity of conduct is expressed. It reveals the man himself and has no ulterior purpose.
Civility is beauty of behavior
Writing Checks
God my true treasure:
be with me as I pay my bills.
Help me to hold each creditor in my prayer —
those who have made and sold
the things that I have bought,
those who provide services
that enhance my life,
and all whose labor joins with mine
to build the world.
Let me always first honor you by my generosity
to those whose need is greater than my own.
Let this checkbook be a witness
to what I value and believe,
and make me a prudent
and honest steward of all I have;
through Jesus, whose generosity
to me is unbounded.
A prayer that our spending reflect God's presence as well as our values and beliefs.
Bringing Blessings
Blessing
This day may my thoughts bring blessing to all of life.
—Daniel McGill in Forty Nights
Blessing
This day may my thoughts bring blessing to all of life.
—Daniel McGill in Forty Nights
Deliberate Selfishness
"After a while, the gap between my social behavior and my real behavior got so large, it troubled me. I told my problem to a teacher at Zen Center, and he encouraged me to begin a selfishness practice to see where my true generosity might lie. So for the next several months, whenever cookies were served at tea, I was always very careful to take the largest one. Whenever anyone asked me for help with something, I always said no. This was very hard at first, but eventually I got into it. After some months, I felt so personally nourished that I found myself spontaneously offering to help someone almost without realizing it. I thought about it later and realized that I finally felt completely taken care of, that I was full to the brim, and so I was willing — even eager — to share my bounty with others. This is the internal revolution that turns the social convention of courteous helpfulness into genuine and unstinting generosity. In the realm of helping or nurturing behavior, charity very much begins at home."
To Practice: Be deliberately selfish for a period of time; then examine whether your willingness to be generous has changed.
An account of practicing selfishness until generosity and kindness spontaneously overflow.
Generosity to an Adversary
In the workplace there can be people who dislike you, who are out to get you, who would rather see you fail. There is nothing special about generosity to an adversary, it is just harder. We are angry with the adversary. We don't want to help her, we want to protect ourselves from her, even do her harm. Our mind is filled with cutting remarks, accusations, and lists of faults and failings. . . .
If you are willing to try being generous towards your adversary, here are some suggestions that might help.
First, you can offer your adversary (and yourself) the gift of trying not to make things any worse. . . . It means honoring what is right and admirable in yourself.
Next you can practice "standing sideways." In the days of duels with pistols, the antagonists stood sideways as they raised and aimed their pistols to present as little a target as possible. When you contribute to your adversary's ability to hurt you by acting in ways that present a broad target, you are not only hurting yourself but also allowing your adversary to bring out the worst in herself. No adversary is wholly bad. There are redeeming qualities in everyone. One way to bring them out is to model them for your adversary. Act your best, and your adversaries will have a harder time acting their worst.
As a final suggestion, practice Seeing and Hearing with the Heart, taking extra care to remain in the heart even when all your alarm bells tell you that you are being disrespected, attacked, or challenged. In actual conversation, this often boils down to a kind of openhearted silence or minimal response, not taking the bait. This benefits you, and it serves as a gift to your adversary.
Acknowledging that no one is wholly bad.
Putting Worry to Work
Make your own piggy bank out of a jar or box. Attach cardboard wings to its sides and call it the angel's bank. Place it on top of your television.
Every time you find yourself worrying for longer than a minute, place a quarter into that bank. You must be honest and feed the bank whenever you worry too much.
When the bank is full, donate the money to a worthy spiritual organization that works with children. Tell yourself that you can now stop worrying about your worrying because you have put that worrying to work. Your worrying now helps others, even when you're unable to help yourself. Continue this practice for as long as you feel it is providing a teaching.
Feed a piggy bank when you worry.
Walking Together
"At the end of one of my favorite children's books, Charlotte's Web, Wilbur the pig confronts the grim news that his 'true friend,' Charlotte, is going to die and will not return to their shared barn with her babies.
"Wilbur, who has been spared the smokehouse and a place of honor on the Christmas dinner platter thanks to Charlotte's handiwork, asked: 'Why did you do all this for me? . . . I've never done anything for you.'
" 'You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my webs for you because I like you. . . . By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that.'
"Wilbur told Charlotte that she saved him, adding, 'I would gladly give my life for you — I really would.'
"Then Wilbur took charge of Charlotte's egg sac, returning it safely to their barn and protecting it until the spiders hatched and flew off on the sticky webs — except for three who remained there with Wilbur to continue Charlotte's lineage in the barn doorway. We are told later that although Wilbur had many new friends, none of them ever took the place of Charlotte in his heart.
"So, even in one of the most famous barnyards in children's literature, we find useful lessons about spiritual friendship. Charlotte's Web is a story of unconditional love, of friendship grounded in giving first to the other, no matter what the cost. It may have been written for children, but Wilbur and Charlotte's story is our story. It is the story of two unlikely friends who find each other in the most unexpected places and develop a deep and abiding relationship not grounded in claims to power and glory, but rooted in humility, love, and charity. When those virtues combine at the heart of a spiritual friendship, an eternal bond is forged."
Mary DeTurris Poust on Charlotte's Web as a story about friendship as unconditional love.
Every Day, Holy Day
Alan Morinis is the founder and director of the Mussar Institute (www.mussarinstitute.org), an organization that promotes the study of Mussar thought through study groups, courses, and public talks. He is also the author of Everyday Holiness and Climbing Jacob's Ladder. According to the author, the word Mussar means "correction" or "instruction" and also serves as the simple modern Hebrew word for ethics. But those who begin on this spiritual path find that it turns into a way of life. Alan Morinis explains the purpose and meaning of Mussar:
"Mussar teachers have sought to help transform our lives in the way of holiness. The path they discovered lies not in any esoteric or other-worldly area, but right within the realm of our familiar inner lives — the Mussar path to holiness goes by way of the territory of anger and calmness, generosity and miserliness, trust and worry, laziness and zeal, and all of the traits that live within us. We become holy not by becoming less than we are, but by recognizing which traits we find challenging in the realities of our lives and then mastering them.
"When a person has successfully identified and balanced all his or her inner traits, the Mussar teachers say that person has become whole, or shalem in Hebrew. You'll notice the similarity of the word for 'wholeness' and the word for 'peace,' the familiar shalom. The path of Mussar leads to holiness, wholeness, and peace."
Morinis has chosen twenty-six (including joy, enthusiasm, faith, patience, courage, humility, generosity, equanimity, etc.) of the key traits to explore in this paperback. Every page covers one day of the year and contains the following elements:
• An inspiring or insightful teaching from a Mussar teacher or source
• A phrase that captures the essence of what that trait is about
• A practice
• A space for keeping a daily journal
The Jewish Mussar Tradition is one of the best means of spiritual practice we have seen. Working with one's soul traits (good and bad) is a perfect way to polish the best in us and correct our character flaws. Spiritual seekers familiar with many different paths may be ready to change their daily behavior and enter the kingdom of "walking the talk." As one of Morinis's teachers said to him: "Mussar is not something you learn, it is something you do." Every Day, Holy Day provides important keys to that kingdom.
Try a Spiritual Practice on Enthusiasm
Teachings and practices from the Jewish path of Mussar leading to holiness and wholeness.
Everyday Dharma
Lama Willa Miller has studied and practiced Tibetan Buddhism for the last 20 years and is an authorized lama in that tradition. She teaches Tibetan Buddhist practice and meditation in the Northeast. In this excellent seven-week spiritual manual, Miller proclaims that we are all Buddhas waking up from the sleep of ignorance and apathy into the daylight of wisdom and compassion. Each chapter contains material for seven days: an exercise, dharma tips, and thought-provoking quotations. The different sections of this paperback are:
• Know Your Potential
• Map Your Intention
• Create a Sacred Space
• Grow Love
• Be Magnanimous
• Grow Your Own Assets: Trust, Contentment, Conscience, Integrity
• Grow Your Own Assets: Self-Discipline, Enthusiasm, Wisdom
Miller challenges us to tap into our wisdom-nature which she calls "the authentic aspect of yourself that wants to awaken." Struggle is a sign that we have already embarked on a spiritual journey, and caring is a sign that we are open to becoming more compassionate. Also important for this adventure is acknowledging the gift of our bodies and looking to those who inspire us as companions on the road.
In the second week, Miller discusses intention which she sees as making a vow or a commitment to what matters most in our lives. She also covers the use of spiritual tools such as aspirations and prayers. "Creating a Sacred Space" involves finding a place of refuge, making offerings, searching for nourishment in inspirational material, seeking wisdom inside ourselves, and meditating on our breath. In sections on love and magnanimity, Miller exposes the myths of love and outlines five steps of giving.
The author hits high stride in the last two segments of the book on growing the assets of trust, contentment, conscience, integrity, self-discipline, enthusiasm, and wisdom. These character traits support the blooming of altruism and other ethical ideals. Miller ends with this prayer:
"May you know every step of the path is the destination, and every unanswered question a good companion. May you find joy and enthusiasm on your journey. May you be eager to meet the unexpected. Most of all, each and every day, may you recognize your deepest nature, face to face."
A spiritual manual on the art of waking up, listening to our inner wisdom, and serving others in love and with generosity.