In the end one experiences only oneself.
David Shields
Practice is something before we realise it is nothing and we are already home and went nowhere.
We find that all along, we had what we needed from the beginning and that in the end we have returned to its essence, an essence we could not understand until we had undertaken the journey.
David Whyte
Everything worthwhile and valuable in life are by-products of other processes, not ends in themselves which can be directly pursued, attained, gained or achieved. Happiness, love, gratitude, compassion, wholeness, so-called awakening/ enlightenment – all simply arise if causes and conditions allow. The degree to which we think we can control those factors is greatly overstated.
For a time, words may encourage and inspire, but if you cling too long to a teaching, any teaching, it will blind you to your own life, your own being, your own truth.
Robert Saltzman
That which seems like a false step is just the next step.
Agnes Martin
To be yourself is to be nobody to yourself.
Shiv Sengupta
If you are open and ready to receive then everything that happens is needed.
There is no greater teaching than the present moment.
It’s all an enormous process…
No suffering is unnecessary…
All of it is only enlightening, this is life.Agnes Martin.
The mistakes have to be made.
We have to experience the inseparability of the delusion and enlightenment, not try to eliminate one and stay always attached to the other.
Barry Magid
The seeing itself can never be seen.
Joan Tollifson
Human memory, driven by emotional self-interest, goes to extraordinary lengths to provide evidence to back up whatever understanding of the world we have our hearts set on—however removed that may be from reality.
David Shields
I know of nothing more difficult than knowing who you are and having the courage to share the reasons for the catastrophe of your character with the world.
David Shields
No matter what is added to or subtracted from experience nothing is gained nor lost.
The most profound recognition finds its complete realisation without articulation.
He then learns that in going down into the secrets of his own mind he has descended into the secrets of all minds.
David Shields
I am space for you. I am the space in which you are held. I disappear in your favour.
It is inevitably true that life is suffering. But the reverse is also true: suffering is life. It is in the midst of suffering that we get to exercise so many of the virtues that make us human. Our sense of courage, justice, compassion, wisdom; all these things manifest and operate in and because of the reality of suffering.
Barry Magid