“Remain in me, as I remain in you.  Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches.”  John 15:4-5

“If you don’t realize the Source, you stumble in confusion and sorrow.  When you realize where you come from, you naturally become tolerant, disinterested, amused, kind-hearted as a grandmother, dignified as a king. Immersed in the wonder of the Tao, you can deal with whatever life brings you, and when death comes, you are ready.”  Lao Tzu

“When we see things in an intuitive way, in conscious union with the eyes of God, what we see is qualitatively different.  Basically it is no longer self-referential but very expansive seeing because we are participating in the larger reality of God, which is Love.  This changes everything.”  Fr. Richard Rohr

“When you do not know you need mercy and forgiveness yourself, you invariably become stingy in sharing it with others.”  Fr. Richard Rohr

“What if the question is not why am I so infrequently the person I really want to be, but why do I so infrequently want to be the person I really am?”  Oriah Mountain Dreamer

“Why not accept ourselves just the way we are, and love ourselves the way we are?  The image of perfection we have learned to search for is one of the biggest lies.”  don Miguel Ruiz

“When you make awakening your first priority, it is like your clothes getting wet.  It seeps into every aspect of your life.”  Thomas Hübl

“Deep spirituality isn’t just about having a rigorous meditation practice or reciting spiritual texts correctly.  It’s about asking questions and challenging our beliefs and the beliefs of others.  Sometimes that means pushing back on things we, at face value, identify as spiritual.”  Sharon Salzberg

“Ironically, the aspiration to be ‘spiritual’, regardless of what that means, can get in the way of being present and feeling connected to ourselves.  We may be seeking Truth yet committing to the idea of a spiritual journey may involve denying the truth about what we are feeling.”  Sharon Salzburg

“Just do your work.  And if the world needs your work it will come and get you.  And if it doesn’t, do your work anyway.  Have fantasies about having control over the world, but know that you barely have control over your kitchen sink.  This is the grace that you are given.”  Kiki Smith