cool quotes

[tulc]

In tribulation immediately draw near to God with confidence, and you will receive strength, enlightenment, and instruction.
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Take God for your spouse and friend and walk with him continually, and you will not sin and will learn to love, and the things you must do will work out prosperously for you.
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He who interrupts the course of his spiritual exercises and prayer is like a man who allows a bird to escape from his hand; he can hardly catch it again.
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Although, as we have said, the soul in this state of knowledge believes itself to be doing nothing, and to be entirely unoccupied, because it is working neither with the senses nor with the faculties, it should realize that it is not wasting time.
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And the soul has then to walk with loving advertence to God, without making specific acts, but conducting itself, as we have said, passively, and making no efforts of its own, but preserving this simple, pure and loving advertence, like one that opens his eyes with the advertence of love.
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The faculties are at rest, and are working, not actively, but passively, by receiving that which God works in them; and, if they work at times, it is not with violence or with carefully elaborated meditation, but with the sweetness of love, loved less by the ability of the soul itself than by God.
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Where have You hidden, Beloved, and left me moaning?
You fled like the stag
After wounding me;
I went out calling You, and You were gone.

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Many can never have enough of listening to counsels and learning spiritual precepts, and of possessing and reading many books which treat of this matter, and they spend their time on all these things rather than on works of mortification and the perfecting of the inward poverty of spirit which should be theirs.
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This night, which, as we say, is contemplation, produces in spiritual persons two kinds of darkness or purgation, corresponding to the two parts of man's nature--namely, the sensual and the spiritual. And thus the one night or purgation will be sensual, wherein the soul is purged according to sense, which is subdued to the spirit; and the other is a night or purgation which is spiritual, wherein the soul is purged and stripped according to the spirit, and subdued and made ready for the union of love with God.
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During the time, then, of the aridities of this night of sense (wherein God effects the change of which we have spoken above, drawing forth the soul from the life of sense into that of the spirit--that is, from meditation to contemplation--wherein it no longer has any power to work or to reason with its faculties concerning the things of God, as has been said), spiritual persons suffer great trials, by reason not so much of the aridities which they suffer, as of the fear which they have of being lost on the road, thinking that all spiritual blessing is over for them and that God has abandoned them since they find no help or pleasure in good things.
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Yet sometimes, nevertheless, there soon begins to make itself felt a certain yearning toward God; and the more this increases, the more is the soul affectioned and enkindled in love toward God, without knowing or understanding how and whence this love and affection come to it, but from time to time seeing this flame and this enkindling grow so greatly within it that it desires God with yearning of love...And because at times the enkindling of love in the spirit grows greater, the yearnings for God become so great in the soul that the very bones seem to be dried up by this thirst, and the natural powers to be fading away, and their warmth and strength to be perishing through the intensity of the thirst of love, for the soul feels that this thirst of love is a living thirst.
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This night and purgation of desire, a happy one for the soul, works in it so many blessings and benefits (although to the soul, as we have said, it seems rather that blessings are being taken away from it) that, even as Abraham made a great feast when he weaned his son Isaac, even so is there joy in Heaven because God is now taking this soul from its swaddling clothes, setting it down from His arms, making it to walk upon its feet, and likewise taking from it the milk of the breast and the soft and sweet food proper to children, and making it to eat bread with crust, and to begin to enjoy the food of robust persons...It practices the charity of God, since it is not now moved by the pleasure of attraction and sweetness which it finds in its work, but only by God.
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And my will went forth from itself, becoming Divine; for, being united with Divine love, it no longer loves with its natural strength after a lowly manner, but with the strength and purity from the Holy Spirit; and thus the will, which is now near to God, acts not after a human manner, and similarly the memory has become transformed into eternal apprehensions of glory.
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...The more directly we look at the sun, the greater is the darkness which it causes in our visual faculty, overcoming and overwhelming it through its own weakness. In the same way, when this Divine light of contemplation assails the soul which is not yet wholly enlightened, it causes spiritual darkness in it; for not only does it overcome it, but likewise it overwhelms it and darkens the act of its natural intelligence.
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And when the soul suffers the direct assault of this Divine light, its pain, which results from its impurity, is immense; because, when this pure light assails the soul, in order to expel its impurity, the soul feels itself to be so impure and miserable that it believes God to be against it, and thinks that it has set itself up against God.
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The Divine assails the soul in order to renew it...As a result of this, the soul feels itself to be perishing and melting away, in the presence and sight of its miseries, in a cruel spiritual death...
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...He is purging the soul, annihilating it, emptying it or consuming in it (even as fire consumes the moldiness and the rust of metal) all the affections and imperfect habits which it has contracted in its whole life. Since these are deeply rooted in the substance of the soul, it is won't to suffer great undoing and inward torment, besides the said poverty and emptiness, natural and spiritual, so that there may here be fulfilled that passage from Ezechiel which says: "Heap together the bones and I will burn them in the fire; the flesh shall be consumed and the whole composition shall be burned and the bones destroyed."
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...This purgative and loving knowledge or Divine light whereof we here speak acts upon the soul which it is purging and preparing for perfect union with it in the same way as fire acts upon a log of wood in order to transform it into itself...The suffering of the soul now becomes more intimate, subtle and spiritual, in proportion as the fire refines away the finer, more intimate and more spiritual imperfections, and those which are most deeply rooted in its inmost parts.
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But in the midst of these dark and loving afflictions the soul feels within itself a certain companionship and strength, which bears it company and so greatly strengthens it that, if this burden of grievous darkness be taken away, it often feels itself to be alone, empty and weak.
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Therefore, O spiritual soul, when thou seest thy desire obscured, thy affections arid and constrained, and thy faculties bereft of their capacity for any interior exercise, be not afflicted by this, but rather consider it a great happiness, since God is freeing thee from thyself and taking the matter from thy hands.
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Wherefore, he that refuses to go forth in the night aforementioned to seek the Beloved, and to be stripped of his own will and to be mortified, but seeks Him upon his bed and at his own convenience, as did the Bride, will not succeed in finding Him. For this soul says of itself that it found Him by going forth in the dark and with yearnings of love.
- ...Although as it journeys it is supported by no particular interior light of understanding, nor by any exterior guide, that it may receive satisfaction therefrom on this lofty road--it is completely deprived of all this by this thick darkness--yet its love alone, which burns at this time, and makes its heart to long for the Beloved, is that which now moves and guides it, and makes it to soar upward to its God along the road of solitude, without its knowing how or in what manner.
-St John of the Cross

 

[tulc]

The timid hare and the flight of the beasts

Once upon a time when Brahmadatta reigned in Benares, the Bodhisatta [the
future Buddha] came to life as a young lion. And when fully grown he lived
in a wood. At this time there was near the Western Ocean a grove of palms
mixed with vilva trees.

A certain hare lived here beneath a palm sapling, at the foot of a vilva
tree. One day this hare, after feeding, came and lay down beneath the young
palm tree. And the thought struck him, "If this earth should be destroyed,
what would become of me?"

And at this very moment a ripe vilva fruit fell on a palm leaf. At the sound
of it, the hare thought, "This solid earth is collapsing," and starting up
he fled, without so much as looking behind him. Another hare saw him
scampering off, as if frightened to death, and asked the cause of his panic
flight.

"Pray, don't ask me," he said.

The other hare cried, "Pray, sir, what is it?" and kept running after him.

Then the hare stopped a moment and without looking back said, "The earth
here is breaking up."

And at this the second hare ran after the other. And so first one and then
another hare caught sight of him running, and joined in the chase till one
hundred thousand hares all took to flight together. They were seen by a
deer, a boar, an elk, a buffalo, a wild ox, a rhinoceros, a tiger, a lion,
and an elephant. And when they asked what it meant and were told that the
earth was breaking up, they too took to flight. So by degrees this host of
animals extended to the length of a full league.

When the Bodhisatta saw this headlong flight of the animals, and heard the
cause of it was that the earth was coming to an end, he thought, "The earth
is nowhere coming to an end. Surely it must be some sound which was
misunderstood by them. And if I don't make a great effort, they will all
perish. I will save their lives."

So with the speed of a lion he got before them to the foot of a mountain,
and lion-like roared three times. They were terribly frightened at the lion,
and stopping in their flight stood all huddled together. The lion went in
amongst them and asked why there were running away.

"The earth is collapsing," they answered.

"Who saw it collapsing?" he said.

"The elephants know all about it," they replied.

He asked the elephants. "We don't know," they said, "the lions know."

But the lions said, "We don't know, the tigers know."

The tigers said, "The rhinoceroses know."

The rhinoceroses said, "The wild oxen know."

The wild oxen, "the buffaloes."

The buffaloes, "the elks."

The elks, "the boars."

The boars, "the deer."

The deer said, "We don't know; the hares know."

When the hares were questioned, they pointed to one particular hare and
said, "This one told us."

So the Bodhisatta asked, "Is it true, sir, that the earth is breaking up?"

"Yes, sir, I saw it," said the hare.

"Where," he asked, "were you living, when you saw it?"

"Near the ocean, sir, in a grove of palms mixed with vilva trees. For as I
was lying beneath the shade of a palm sapling at the foot of a vilva tree,
methought, 'If this earth should break up, where shall I go?' And at that
very moment I heard the sound the breaking up of the earth, and I fled."

Thought the lion, "A ripe vilva fruit evidently must have fallen on a palm
leaf and made a 'thud,' and this hare jumped to the conclusion that the
earth was coming to an end, and ran away. I will find out the exact truth
about it."

So he reassured the herd of animals, and said, "I will take the hare and go
and find out exactly whether the earth is coming to an end or not, in the
place pointed out by him. Until I return, do you stay here." Then placing
the hare on his back, he sprang forward with the speed of a lion, and
putting the hare down in the palm grove, he said, "Come, show us the place
you meant."

"I dare not, my lord," said the hare.

"Come, don't be afraid," said the lion.

The hare, not venturing to go near the vilva tree, stood afar off and cried,
"Yonder, sir, is the place of dreadful sound," and so saying, he repeated
the first stanza:

From the spot where I did dwell
Issued forth a fearful "thud";
What it was I could not tell,
Nor what caused it understood.
After hearing what the hare said, the lion went to the foot of the vilva
tree, and saw the spot where the hare had been lying beneath the shade of
the palm tree, and the ripe vilva fruit that fell on the palm leaf, and
having carefully ascertained that the earth had not broken up, he placed the
hare on his back and with the speed of a lion soon came again to the herd of
beasts.

Then he told them the whole story, and said, "Don't be afraid." And having
thus reassured the herd of beasts, he let them go.

Verily, if it had not been for the Bodhisatta at that time, all the beasts
would have rushed into the sea and perished. It was all owing to the
Bodhisatta that they escaped death.

Alarmed at sound of fallen fruit
A hare once ran away,
The other beasts all followed suit
Moved by that hare's dismay.
They hastened not to view the scene,
But lent a willing ear
To idle gossip, and were clean
Distraught with foolish fear.
They who to Wisdom's calm delight
And Virtue's heights attain,
Though ill example should invite,
Such panic fear disdain.

 

[freespirit2001]

"Sorrow is so easy to express and yet so hard to tell."

---Joni Michell, Ladies of the Canyon

 

[freespirit2001]

"It is not so much what people do in this world as their reasons for doing it which really makes a difference. Sacrifices are not so important as the reasons for which you sacrifice, and no sacrifice is any good which remains ever present as such."

---Eleanor Roosevelt

"Its not the position but the disposition."

---Susan Sontag

 

[tulc]

It is no use saying that we are born two thou-
sand years too late to give room to Christ. Nor
will those who live at the end of the world have
been born too late. Christ is always with us,
always asking for room in our hearts.

But now it is with the voice of our contemporaries
that He speaks, with the eyes of store clerks,
factory workers, and children that he gazes; with
the hands of office workers, slum dwellers, and
suburban housewives that He gives. It is with
the feet of soldiers and tramps that He walks,
and with the heart of anyone in need that He
longs for shelter. And giving shelter or food to
anyone who asks for it, or needs it, is giving it to
Christ...

If we hadn't got Christ's own words for it, it would
seem raving lunacy to believe that if I offer a bed
and food and hospitality to some man or woman
or child, my guest is Christ. There is nothing to
show it, perhaps. There are no halos already
glowing round their heads - at least none that
human eyes can see.

So we are not born too late. We can serve Christ
by seeing him and serving him in friends and
strangers, in everyone we come in contact with.
-Dorothy Day

 

[tulc]

Let us stand still, and admire and wonder at the love of Jesus Christ to
poor sinners; that Christ should rather die for us, than for the angels.
They were creatures of a more noble extract, and in all probability might
have brought greater revenues of glory to God: yet that Christ should pass
by those golden vessels, and make us vessels of glory,-oh, what amazing and
astonishing love is this! This is the envy of devils. and the admiration of
angels and saints.
-Thomas Brooks

 

[freespirit2001]

"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both instances there is a twilight where everythingremains seemingly unchanged. And it is in such twilight that we all must be aware of change in the air---however slight---lest we become unwilling victims of the darkness."

---Justice Williams O. Douglas

 

[freespirit2001]

"Keep up precious thoughts of God under the sourest, sharpest and severest dispensations of God to you:

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime but thou heareth not; and in the night season, and am not silent." Psalm 22:1-3

There was the psalmist under smart dispensations, but what precious thoughts had he of God after all:

"But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel: though I am thus and thus afflicted, yet thou art holy;"
Ps. lxv. 5,"By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salavation."

Thomas Brooks, The Legacies of Thomas Brooks, Legacy 19

 

[Locket]

Life is like a hot bath. It feels great while you're in but the longer you stay in the more wrinkles you get. (Garfield)

 

[freespirit2001]

(shirleyjoy let me share this New Year's sign she found))

 

[tulc]

I pray the prayer the Easterners do, May the peace of Allah abide with you;
Wherever you stay, wherever you go, May the beautiful palms of Allah grow;
Through days of labor, and nights of rest, The love of Good Allah make you
blest; So I touch my heart--as the Easterners do, May the peace of Allah
abide with you.
-Unattributed Author

 

[elanor]

"Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 

[brinny]

"It was not by dialectic that it pleased God to save His people; "for the kingdom of God consisteth in simplicity of faith, not in wordy contention." ~St. Ambrose

 

[freespirit2001]

"If the grandfather of the grandfather of Jesus had known what was hidden within him, he would have stood humble and awe-struck before his soul."

---Kahil Gibran

 

[kelco]

’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

From Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson

 

[Andy Broadley]

Most of the worlds problems today can be traced back to an unenlightened immigration policy on the part of the American Indian

 

[brinny]

The stars may fall, but God's promises will stand and be fulfilled. ~J.L. Packer

 

[tulc]

Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
(If Caesar was still alive, you'd be chained to an oar.)

 

[kelco]

Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
(If Caesar was still alive, you'd be chained to an oar.)

Nihili est -- in vita priore ego imperator Romanus fui.
(That's nothing; in a previous life I was a Roman Emperor.)

 

[Peculiarone]

The heights of great men reached and kept, were not attained by sudden flight, but they while their companions slept, were toiling upwards through the night.

-Henry Longfellow.