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1 " We become what we are willing to see. "
― Richard Rohr , Just This
2 " The spiritual journey is a constant interplay between moments of awe, followed by a general process of surrender to that moment. We must first allow ourselves to be captured by the goodness, the truth, or beauty of something beyond and outside ourselves. Then we universalize from that moment to the goodness, truth, and beauty of the rest of reality, until our realization eventually ricochets back to include ourselves. This is the great inner dialogue we call prayer. "
3 " When you are present, you will know the Presence. It is that simple, and it is that hard. "
4 " For many, God is seen--and used--as a partner in our private evacuation plan more than any Love Encounter that transforms mind or liberates heart. Such solipsism is revealed in the little, if any, concern that many Christians show for justice, the earth, or the poor. The fruits of love are often not apparent in them, and not even of much interest to many of them. Thus, our "True God" became missing in action from creation and most human concerns. In my opinion, such a notion of salvation is at the root of much contemporary atheism, agnosticism, abandonment of organized religion, and mental illness itself. We imprisoned God in churches, in ceremonies, and in small, fear-based people. "
5 " You cannot know anything spiritually by saying it is a not-that: you can only know it by meeting it in its precise and irreplaceable thisness and honoring it there. "
6 " The supreme work of spirituality, which makes presence possible, is keeping the heart space open (which is the result of conscious love), keeping in a "right mind" (which is the work of contemplation or meditation), and keeping the body alive with contentment and without attachment to its past woundings (which is often the work of healing). In that state, you are neither resisting nor clinging, and you can experience something genuinely new.Those who can keep all three spaces open at the same time will know the Presence they need to know. That's the only prerequisite. People who can be simply present will know the Presence that connects everything to everything. It has little to do with belonging to a particular denomination or religion. "
7 " Great spiritual teachers learn to balance knowing with not knowing, as illustrated in this oft-quoted aphorism: "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." The true biblical notion of faith, which balances knowing with not knowing, is rather rare today, especially among many religious folks who think faith is being certain all the time--when the truth is the exact opposite. But we have little theology of darkness today. "
8 " Whenever God is conceived in the soul, it is always an allowing, never an accomplishment. "