There are also all the subtle realms. For some extraordinary reason, we as a culture have dismissed, forgotten rejected. And yet they belong to all of the different spiritual traditions—the shaman who works with the spirit world, the Tibetan Buddhist who works with deities, devas, and the land, or the Christian monk who prays to angels and icons of the saints, and even the Zen monk immersed in the Void in this realm
~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Interview with David Nicole
Elf Garden, Iceland – photo by Ragnhildur Jonsdottir
Devadana Sanctuary
Click thumbnail to view larger image.
No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
~ Nelson Mandela
Sunrise, Huangshan Mountains, China – photo by bamboome, bigstockphoto.com
We need acts of restoration, not only for polluted waters and degraded lands, but also for our relationship to the world. We need to restore honor to the way we live, so that when we walk through the world we don’t have to avert our eyes with shame, so that we can hold our heads up high and receive the respectful acknowledgment of the rest of the earth’s beings.
~ Robin Wall Kimmerer
Sunrise at Hunt’s Mesa, Monument Valley, AZ – photo by aiisha, bigstockphoto.com
The whole of planet EarthIs a sacred site.
All people are the chosen people,
And the purpose of our lives is a spiritual one.
May we care for each other,
And for the earth, for everything
Relates to everything else.
Feeling this oneness,
May we radiate the light of love
And kindness that all may live in unity and peace.
~ Teach Only Love, Facebook
Earth – photo from NASA
Throw a pebble into a pond. It sends a shiver across the surface of the water. Ripples merge into one another and create new ones. Everything is inextricably interrelated. We come to realize that we are responsible for everything we do, say, or think, responsible in fact for ourselves, everyone and everything else, and the entire universe.
~ Sogyal Rinpoche
Mangrove Forest, Phang Nga Bay, Ao Phang Nga National Park, Thailand – photo by bennymarty, bigstockphoto.com
If we, on our most fundamental level, are packets of quantum energy constantly exchanging information with this heaving energy sea, it means that all of us connect with each other and the world at the level of the very undercoat of our being. It also means that we have the power to access much more information about the world than we realize.
~ Lynne McTaggart
Aurora Over Stokksnes Black Beach, Iceland – photo by stroop, bigstockphoto.com
We are now called to respond with compassion and wisdom to meet the challenges of our world, fuelled by sacred energy to act to preserve our planet. This energy, burning in every cell of our hearts and minds, souls, and bodies, will give us the courage and vision to heal and transform the earth.
~ Andrew Harvey
Yosemite National Park – photo by Pung Pung, bigstockphoto.com
There is such a need in the world today of the most tender and immense compassion and deeper, more unselfed caring and giving, and blessing is one a simple and efficient way of doing it. It is also an amazing tool for learning instantaneous, unconditional forgiveness, a practice upon which, given our dramatic divisions in the world, our survival as a race literally depends…And when I speak of blessing, I mean that spontaneous outflowing of compassion from the heart which surrounds one’s neighbour with the most caring tenderness, and not some liturgical or ecclesiastical practice.
~ Pierre Pradervand
Lotus Blossom – photo by Ange DiBenedetto
The eyes of the future are looking back at us and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time…
Perhaps the wilderness we fear is the pause between our own heartbeats, the silent space that says we live only by grace. Wilderness lives by this same grace. Wild mercy is in our hands.
~ Terry Tempest Williams
Autumn Forest in Crimea – photo by denbelitsky, bigstockphoto.com
The way we are born and the way we die is the same whether we are kings, queens, spiritual leaders or beggars. This is why having a sense of the oneness of humanity is important. Wherever I go and whoever I talk to I try to promote this idea in an effort to break down barriers between us…
~ H.H. the Dalai Lama
Tropical Jungle – photo by Stillfx, bigstockphoto.com
We are always part of something, belonging to a greater wholeness. In fact, we always stand deeply connected with the entire world around us…Nothing can thrive in seclusion. We all depend on each other and we are nurtured in the web of connectedness—organically and in consciousness.
~ Soren Hauge
Sunset, Samal Island, Philippines – photo by smithore, bigstockphoto.com
Come near now, saints of every tribe and clan, come closer, drawn by the flame of our prayers, called by the hearts of your family still here on Earth. You know how much we need you. You know how much these coming days mean to us. Come down from all four sacred directions, elders of every nation, come walking on the air, with your shining faces set toward the shadows, casting hope with every glance, reminding us of your presence, showing us the power of what we pray. Come near to us, you host of goodness and mercy, surround us with your love, and hold us up as we walk the blessing way, the path the Spirit has set before us, the tomorrow that waits for us to discover. Lift us up to ride your wings, that we may raise the banner of light, inviting all of your relatives to sing the hymn of hope, to begin a new dance that will not end, to be like you: unafraid and forever believing.
~ Steven Charleston
Navajo Arch, Arches National Park, UT – photo by Andriy Maygutyak, bigstockphoto.com
The ecosophical outlook is developed through an identification so deep that one’s own self is no longer adequately delimited by the personal ego or the organism. One experiences oneself to be a genuine part of all life… We are not outside the rest of nature and therefore cannot do with is as we please without changing ourselves…
~ Arne Naess
Deer Stag in Fall Forest – photo by Veneratio, bigstockphoto.com
As we become more whole and acknowledge the inevitability of our inherent imperfection, our capacity for compassion increases. As it does, a sense of connection with others deepens and expands. Within a context of compassion, we tap into a collective human experience and realize that we are not alone in our suffering. The world becomes populated with people we can relate to, even if we’ve never met them—people whose deepest yearnings for love, comfort, and security aren’t so very different from our own. For this reason, even as the sources of our suffering may differ, depending on our culture and life circumstances, we are alike when it comes to the inevitable fact that we all can be touched by feelings and experiences that cause distress.
~ Nancy Napier, “Sacred Practices for Conscious Living, 2nd Edition”
Autumn Sun and Beech Trees – photo by Smileus, bigstockphoto.com
The roots of all living things are tied together. Deep in the ground of being, they tangle and embrace. If we look deeply, we find that we do not have a separate self-identity, a self that does not include sun and wind, earth and water, creatures and plants, and one another.
~ Joan Halifax
Zion National Park – photo by JuneJ, bigstockphoto.com
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 102
- 103
- 104
- 105
- 106
- …
- 304
- Next Page »