‘As a great fish swims between the banks of a river as it likes, so does the shining Self move between the states of dreaming and waking.
As a man in the arms of his beloved is not aware of what is without and what is within, so a person in union with the Self is not aware of what is without and what is within, for in that unitive state all desires find their perfect fulfillment. There is no other desire that needs to be fulfilled, and one goes beyond sorrow.’
From the Bihadaranyaka Upanishad
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‘Some people possess something very special: they have the now in their heart. When we have a chance to sit close to such a person, we feel so peaceful. They radiate an energy of peace that penetrates us deeply. Whenever we have a chance to walk alongside them, we can feel this subtle source of peace and joy. Their steps are peaceful and free, and that helps us to walk with peace and freedom.
You too can walk like this. Walk as if you do not need to get anywhere – as if you are arriving with every step. Each step can bring you back to the island within – back to the wonderful present moment, back to the now.’
Inside the Now, Meditations on Time, Thich Nhat Hanh
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‘Look for the flower to bloom in the silence that follows the storm; not till then.
It shall grow, it will shoot up, it will make branches and leaves and form buds, while the storm continues, while the battle lasts. But not till the whole personality of the man is dissolved and melted – not until it is held by the divine fragment which has created it, as a mere subject for grave experiment and experience – not until the whole nature has yielded, and become subject unto its higher self, can the bloom open. Then will come a calm such as comes in a tropical country after a heavy rain, when nature works so swiftly that one may see her action. Such a calm will come to the harassed spirit. And, in the deep silence, the mysterious event will occur which will give that the way has been found. Call it by what name you will. It is a voice that speaks where there is none to speak. It is a messenger without form or substance – or it is the flower of the soul that has opened. It cannot be described by any metaphor. But it can be felt after, looked for, and desired, even amid the raging of the storm. The silence may last a moment of time, or it may last a thousand years. But it will end. Yet you will carry its strength with you, again and again the battle must be fought and won. It is only for an interval that nature can be still.’
Advance course in Yogi Philosophy and Oriental Occultism, Yogi Ramacharaka
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‘Gradual awakening means practicing meditation and mindfulness, service and altruism. It means embracing quietness, simplicity and inactivity so that we become comfortable within our inner space and learn to be. It means learning to quiet and disidentify with our random thought-chatter so that we know the peace of inner stillness and connect with our deepest nature. It means softening the strong boundaries of the ego so that we connect with other human beings, with nature and with the whole cosmos. It means letting go of our psychological attachments to uncover the essence that they obscure and to allow our latent higher selves to emerge. And perhaps most fundamentally, gradual awakening means remolding our psyche, transforming the self-system of sleep into the self-system of wakefulness.’
The Leap, Steve Taylor
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‘In good times…hope is a prompt to yet better things; in bad times it is a comfort, because it sustains the idea of relief or rescue, of reward or at least justice at last. Even at the very worst, when we accept that hopes deceive, we recognise that they nevertheless provide an agreeable route…to the end of our lives.’
The Meaning of Things, A.C. Grayling
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