The philosophic outlook rises above all sectarian controversy. It finds its own position not only by appreciating and synthesizing what is solidly based in the rival sects but also by capping them all with the keystone of nonduality.
Although the pure truth has never been stated, nevertheless it has never been lost. Its existence does not depend upon human statement but upon human sensitivity. In this it is unlike all other knowledge.
When every situation which life can offer is turned to the profit of spiritual growth, no situation can really be a bad one.
He is beginning to master wisdom when he tries to learn how not to try.
Whoever wants the “I” to yield up its mysterious and tremendous secret must stop it from looking perpetually in the mirror, must stop the little ego’s fascination with its own image.
That deep silence has a melody of its own, a sweetness unknown amid the harsh discords of the world’s sounds.
The succession of thoughts appears in time, but the gap between two of them is outside time. The gap itself is normally unobserved. The chance of enlightenment is missed.
Every test successfully met is rewarded by some growth in intuitive knowledge, strengthening of character, or initiation into a higher consciousness.
Accept the long night patiently, quietly, humbly, and resignedly as intended for your true good. It is not a punishment for sin committed but an instrument of annihilating egoism.
Appetite has really become an artificial and abnormal thing, having taken the place of true hunger, which alone is natural. The one is a sign of bondage but the other, of freedom.
Man is more miserable, more restless and unsatisfied than ever before, simply because half his nature–the spiritual–is starving for true food, and the other half–the material–is fed with bad food.
Every discussion which is made from an egoistic standpoint is corrupted from the start and cannot yield an absolutely sure conclusion. The ego puts its own interest first and twists every argument, word, even fact to suit that interest.
It may be considered folly by common opinion but this refusal to destroy life unnecessarily, this reverence for it, must become a deeply implanted part of his ethical standard.
Deep down within the heart there is a stillness which is healing, a trust in the universal laws which is unwavering, and a strength which is rock-like. But because it is so deep we need both patience and perseverance when digging for it.
Solitude is strength to depend on the presence of the crowd is weakness. The man who needs a mob to nerve him is much more alone than he imagines.
Worry is spiritual short sight. Its cure is intelligent faith.