Talking

Man's word is Spirit in man. Spoken words are sounds occasioned by the vibrations of thoughts, thoughts are vibrations sent forth by the ego or by the soul. Every word you utter should be potent with soul vibration. A mans words are lifeless if he fails to impregnate them with spiritual force. Talkativeness, exaggeration, or falsehood makes your words as ineffective as paper bullets shot from a toy gun. The speech and prayer of garrulous or inaccurate persons are unlikely to produce beneficial changes in the order of things. Mans words should represent not only truth but also his definite understanding and realization. Speech without soul force is like husks without corn...    Paramahansa Yogananda

Inner Work

"Real and abiding consciousness change doesn't just happen.  We have to work for it, in our own hearts and in the world.  I am just as impressed by the inner work that each one of us does as I am by the work we do in the world.   By inner work, by spiritual work, I mean living the examined life; watering the seeds of wisdom, confronting our shadowy parts, because I'm telling you, inside each one of us is our own little mean mini-Maciavilli.   It takes work to tame our mini-Maciavilli.  It takes spiritual work that quiets the reactivity of the mind and expands the heart in wider cirlces.  It takes psychological inquiry to heal our family wounds and uncoil our unconscious ego urges to dominate and punish.  Without this kind of inner work our primal, tribal reactivity waits in the wings and it takes over when crisis' loom.  I'm not saying the point is to become some egoless saint.  I'm just asking you to consider trying to change yourself even as you try to change the world because how we do what we do is as important as what we do."  Elizabeth Lesser

Waiting

"It takes a strong ego to hold the darkness, wait, hold the tension, wait, waiting for we know not what.  But if we can hold long enough, a tiny light is conceived in the dark unconscious, and if we can wait and hold, in it's own time it will be born into full radiance.  The ego then has to be loving enough to receive the gift and nourish it."  Marion Woodman

What Is

"The ego neuroses that once preoccupied me haven't all gone away.  What is gone is my identification with them.  Now they are merely quaint and fascinating...a passing show...More and more I am just awareness.  Life lives itself.   I am involved with it all, yet I cling to none of it.   It is what is.  No big deal."  Ram Das

Ego

"Periodically coming to grips with our faithlessness, and the strength of our ego, is part of the journey."  Rachel Naomi Remen

Pain

"Souls don't get hurt.  Egos do."  Unknown

Ego

"Ego is not sin.  Ego is not something you get rid of.  Ego is something that you come to know-something that you befriend not by acting out or repressing all the feelings that you feel."  Pema Chondron

Letting Go

"Self-liberate even the antidote" means to simply touch and then let go of whatever you come up with.   Whatever bright solutions or big plans you come up with, just let them go, let them go, let them go."   Pema Chondron

Soul and Ego

"Soul is nothing like ego.  Soul is closely connected to fate and the turns of fate almost always go counter to the expectations and often the desires of ego.  We can cultivate, tend, enjoy and participate in the things of the soul, but we can't outwit it or manage it or shape it into the designs of a willful ego."  Thomas Moore

Guilt

"I don't think being human has any place for guilt.   Contrition, yes.  Guilt, no.  Contrition means you are sorry and you're not gong to do it again and you start fresh.  All the damage you've done to yourself, put right.   Guilt means you on on belaboring and having emotions and beating your breasts and being ego-fixated.  Guilt is a trap.  People love guilt because they feel if they suffer enough guilt, they'll make up for what they've done.   Whereas, in fact, they're just sitting in a puddle and splashing.  In contrition, you move forward. It's over.  You are willing to forgo the pleasure of guilt."  Wendy Beckett

Ego and Hardship

"When you bear the unbearable, something in you dies..from the ego's perspective, it's not much fun.  From the soul's perspective it's a great learning opportunity."  Ram Dass

Our Humanityb

"We are all half-baked experiments, mistake-prone beings, born without an instructional manual into a complex world.   None of us are models of perfect behavior; we have all betrayed and been betrayed; we've all been known to be egotistical, unreliable, lethargic, and stingy; and each one of us has, at times., awakened in the middle of the night worrying.   This, in my opinion, is cause for celebration.   We can put down the burden of pretense and get on with being bozos."  Elizabeth Lesser

Broken Open

"My untested heart was broken.  What I thought was certain - my marriage- became uncertain.   What I thought was beyond reproach showed signs of humanness.   What I wanted to believe was different from the rest of the world- wasn't.   Thus begin my descent.   On the way down, I turned and met the friendly forces, and felt the hands of transformation begin to work on me.   I would not trade those years for anything, but had I never stumbled down the mountain of my ideals, had my ego not been humbled by loss, and my heart broken open by pain, I would not have discovered the secret treasure that lies waiting for each of us at the bottom of our most difficult times."  Elizabeth Lesser

Ego

"Your ego promotes a rather smooth flowing river of misery with fear, keeps you in a belief system that declares you are separate and special, prevents your from making the changes that will bring you into contact with your spiritual self, hands you guilt (the inner fear that you should pay a price for any and all mistakes), keeps you skeptical of your divinity, whispers that love is a high ideal loaded with danger.   It wants you not to give too much love because you may be taken advantage of.   All of these ideas keep you in a state of fear about giving and receiving love, which is enough to keep you under its influence."  Wayne Dyer

Love and God

"When you experience love within, you have no guilt or fear.   You know that everything you are experiencing is in order, including your woes, which are your greatest teachers.   You know that death is a reward, not a punishment.  Therefore, you have nothing to fear unless you listen to your ego encouraging fear and dismissing God."  Wayne Dyer

Freedom

"Freedom is accessible when your inner world is not focused on being offended, being separate or feeling special."   Wayne Dyer

Ego

"The ego tries to keep you looking outward in this futile attempt to find peace, you convince yourself that possessions will bring you peace and fulfillment you yearn for..   It rejoices as you focus all your energy on acquisitions.  It is impossible to consume your way to peace.  It leads to a lifetime of striving without ever arriving.  The ego is threatened  and frightened of your arriving.   It wants you to push yourself to new and more elaborate ways.  When you discontinue seeking what cannot be gotten from outside of yourself, you arrive and relax in peacefulness."  Wayne Dyer

Ego

Ego = Edge Out God

Ego tells you:

• I am what I have
• I am what I do
• I am what I accumulate
• I am what others think of me
• I am separate from others
• I am separate from what's missing
• I am separate from God

Suffering

"The experience of suffering can free a person to be in the world in a completely fresh and vital way.   The intention of suffering may be to break the shell of ego with which  each of us deftly surrounds ourselves.  That we spin a cocoon around ourselves is completely understandable.   We are so small and fragile.  The possibilities are endless and the dangers too frightening.   Real suffering breaks open the smallness within you and liberates you into larger and more hospitable places in life.  It enlarges your belonging."  John O' Donahue