Religion

"Religion is merely a community of people who gather together on a regular basis to reassure each other that it's ok to continue subscribing to absurdities. As for me it is far better to see the world the way it really exists, rather than persist in delusion, no matter how comforting or reassuring that may seem." Carl Sagan

Soulmate

Rather than being about excitement and lust, a soul mate relationship is characterized by such things as a shared life path, a sense of comfort and ease, and a genuine liking of each other.
~Katherine Woodward Thomas

Truth

Arthur James, first Earl of Balfour:

Our highest truths are but half-truths;
Think not to settle down forever in any truth.
Make use of it as a tent in which to pass a summer's night,
But build no house of it, or it will be your tomb.
When you first have an inkling of its insufficiency
And begin to descry a dim counter-truth looming up beyond,
Then weep not, but give thanks:
It is the Lord's voice whispering,
"Take up thy bed and walk."

Being Deworlded

"Richard Kearney sums up catharsis as a matter of 'acknowledging painful truths'.   He says it 'stops us in our tracks, throws us off kilter, deworlds us'.  To a person intent on getting somewhere, these are not appealing developments, but to the human soul it is important to get out of the busy life, to be dissuaded from familiar activities, and to step outside the paradigm that has become habitual and taken for granted.   To be 'deworlded' mean you have a rare opportunity to consider a different way of life.   You can't renew life without stepping out of the pattern that is in place."   Thomas Moore

Born in Soul

"To be born in soul again and again is a positive experience, but it also involves pain.   It means entering a new kind of life just when the old one might have grown comfortable.   Familiarity can bring tranquility, but you also need the sting and chaos of the new.   To be alive entails both of these qualities, the yin and yang of peace and pain."  Thomas Moore

Growth

"This place of feeling sqeezed is a very important part in our lives where we can really learn something. The point where we are not able to take it or leave it, where we are caught between a rock or a hard place, caught with both the upliftedness of our ideas and the rawness of what is happening in front of our eyes-that is indeed a very fruitful place.

When we feel squeezed there's a tendency for the mind to become small. We feel like a victim, like a pathetic, hopeless case. At that moment of hassle or bewilderment or embarrassment, our minds become bigger.

Instead of taking what's actually occurred as a statement of personal weakness or someone else's power, instead of feeling stupid we could be there, feeling off guard, not knowing what to do, just hanging out there with the raw and tender energy of the moment. This is the place where we begin to learn.

We're so used to running from discomfort, and we're so predictable. If we don't like it, we strike out at someone or beat up on ourselves. We want to have security and certainty of some kind when we actually have no ground to stand on at all.

The next time there is no ground to stand on, don't consider it an obstacle. Consider it a remarkable stroke of luck. We have no ground to stand on, and at the same time it could soften us and inspire us. Finally, after all these years, we could finally grow up."

Pema Chondron

Individual Sprituality

"I grew up and healed through a crisis of faith.   Rather than developing more certainty about God, my renewed faith has made me more comfortable with less certainty and more mystery.   God is ineffable and knowable only through the love we share on the journey."  Joan Boryshenko

Risk

"Those who don't love themselves as they are rarely love life as it is either.   In avoiding all pain and seeking comfort at all cost, we may be left without intimacy or compassion; in rejecting change and risk we often cheat ourselves of the quest; in denying our suffering we may never know our strength or our greatness.   Or even that the love we have been given can be trusted."   Rachel Naomi Remen

Belief

"Belief traps or frees us.  Labels may become self-fulfilling prophecies.   A label is an attempt to assert control and manage uncertainty.   It may allow us the security and comfort of a mental closure, but life never comes to a closure, life is a process."   Rachel Naomi Remen

God

"It is a lie - any talk of God that does not comfort you."  Meister Eckhart

Friendship

"Oh, the comfort-the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person-having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with a breath of kindness blow the rest away."   Dinah Crank

Freedom

"Freedom will cost you the mask you have on.  The mask that feels so comfortable and is so hard to shed off, not because it fits so well but because you've been wearing it so long.   Freedom is the total absence of concern about yourself."  Florida Donner

Life

"Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone."   Carl Rogers