I’ve read a few different books related to mysticism and eastern religions. I’m not going to comment much, but I did want to leave a few quotes from those books. All of these are quotes or portions of text that stood out to me. Some of these aren’t direct quotes, but are my synopsis of a small portion of text. The direct quotes will be in quotation marks.
This – Michael Gungor
“Whatever it may be, it is always that. Not THIS. And even when we get that, it never quite satisfies like we want it to.”
“It occurred to me that if there was really anything or anyone real or worthwhile remaining in my belief structures – any form of any god worth having faith in – certainly He/she/it/they would be secure enough to handle my lack of belief.”
“There is nothing to be attained. No self to improve. Nothing to practice and no one to do the practicing. There is no battle to be won. There is nothing to lose and nothing to gain.”
“The act of loving one’s neighbor or oneself can be seen as one in the same as the act of loving God. As my sense of ego dissolves into the All, there are no transactions, no gift or giver, no one to be loved or to do the loving. There is only Love.”
Be Here Now by Ram Dass
When you are sending out “vibrations” that are bad, for instance paranoia or fear, people can sense that. And you intensify their own fear and paranoia.
“Be here now.” For example don’t be so caught up in what you need to get done that you neglect the needs of those around you.
“You can only protest effectively when you love the person whose ideas you are protesting against as much as you love yourself.”
The author wants the reader to see the world as one whole connected spirit. And not as a dual natured world focused on good/evil loss/gain pleasure/pain yes/no.
“Every label you can think of becomes background instead of figure what stands out is: here we are here and now that’s all there is. And if it isn’t beautiful, man there’s nothing.”
“Everytime you ‘work on yourself’ (looking inward and self examining) you get calmer, you hear more, sense more, and become more present.”
“As you find God in yourself; there is God everywhere.”
The Art of Living – Thich Nhat Hanh
“You should use your intelligence and critical mind to carefully examine everything you see or hear. And then put the teaching into practice to see if it helps liberate you from your suffering and your difficulties. If it does, you can believe in it.” – Author attributes this to Buddha.
“We have to learn to live our life deeply as a human being. We need to live every breath deeply, so that we have peace, joy, and freedom as we breathe.”
“If we want to touch the ultimate, we have to look within our own body and not outside.”
“Only the present moment is real.”
The five Remembrances
“I treasure the days and hours I have left to live. They are so precious, I vow not to waste a single one.”
“I am of the nature to grow old. There is no way to escape growing old.”
“I am of the nature to have ill health. There is no way to escape ill health.”
“I am of the nature to die. There is no way to escape death.”
“All that is dear to me and everyone I love are of the nature to change. There is no way to escape being separated from them.”
“My actions are my only true belongings. I cannot escape the consequences of my actions. They are the ground upon which I stand.”
“True happiness depends on our capacity to cultivate compassion and understanding and bring nourishment and healing to ourselves and our loved ones.”
Freedom From Fundamentalism 