- Marianne Williamson: “The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life.” Continue reading
spirituality
Discourse on the Psalms
By Saint Augustine
“The desire of one’s heart constitutes one’s prayer. There is a hidden anguish which is inaudible to us…. If your desire lies open to the one who is your God and who sees your secret, God will answer you. For the desire of your heart is itself your prayer. And if the desire is constant, so is your prayer.
Praise is the Harvest of Love
By Abraham Joshua Heschel
The secret of spiritual living is the power to praise. Praise is the harvest of love. Praise precedes faith. First we sing, then we believe.
Elohai Neshama: Breathing the Soul Alive
Elohai’n’shamah’shenatata’bi’t’horah’hi.
My God, the soul You gave me is pure.
You created it; You sculpted it; You breathed it inside of me; You protect it.
At some future time, You will draw it forth from me
And give it back in theWorld to Come. Continue reading
The Summer Day
By Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean
the one who has flung herself out of the grass, Continue reading
Prayer for Radical Amazement
By Abraham Joshua Heschel
Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement.
Get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted.
Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually.
To be spiritual is to be amazed.
Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Polish-American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and philosophers of the 20th century.
Prayer and Action
By Rabbi David Saperstein
“In the Jewish tradition, the separation between prayer and action is slight. We’re mindful of the admonition in Isaiah where God says, ‘I don’t want your fast and your sacrifice. I want you to deal your bread to the hungry, tear apart the chains of the oppressed.’
Through the Silence of Nature
By Hazrat Inayat Khan
Through the silence of nature, I attain Thy divine peace.
O sublime nature, in thy stillness let my heart rest.
Thou art patiently awaiting the moment to
manifest through the silence of sublime nature. Continue reading
Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers
By Anne Lamott
“Prayer is talking to something or anything with which we seek union, even if we are bitter or insane or broken. (In fact, these are probably the best possible conditions under which to pray.) Prayer is taking a chance that against all odds and past history, we are loved and chosen, and do not have to get it together before we show up. The opposite may be true: We may not be able to get it together until after we show up in such miserable shape. Continue reading
Jewish Quotations on Spirituality and Action
Rabbi Hillel: “If not now, when?”
Rabbi Yaakov Meyer: “Even the seemingly insignificant act is significant when it is part of many cumulative acts. Great people aren’t made from one great action; rather they become great via consistently good ‘small acts.'” Continue reading