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The Love of Devotion

Book by Donna Goddard · 24 quotes · Spirituality, Love, Healing

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The Love of Devotion Quotes

“When fears rise supreme, we remember that in spite of any picture to the contrary, our greatest protection is to understand that we are under no laws but God’s. God’s laws are love, strength, order, and harmony. They are invisible, yet, mighty and powerful. They silently but surely bring the hand of peace and order into seeming turmoil and fear. They are an unseen medicine bringing quiet, sure healing and stability. Such is our mainstay through all of the human experience. To the extent that we understand that we are under no laws but God’s, our fear disappears. It is not possible to be afraid when all the Universe and beyond is working under the infinitely good orchestration of the Divine. Armed with these simple truths, we radiate a firm and unshakeable knowledge that there is, in every situation, an inner and higher reality which is unmarred by the many, different human dramas. We help those around us with our serenity and trust. Each one of us is loved greatly. No person or event or anything on Earth and beyond can take this from us.”

“We fear that if we go into our deeper emotions, we will be consumed by them. We fear that if we close our bedroom door and face the emotion, we will be consumed by the monstrous darkness of our inner being. We think our fears will turn us into a neurotic mess of blubber, our anger will turn us into raving lunatics, and our sadness will be so overwhelming that we will never function in the world again. It is not so. One only has to practice this a few times to know that, far from destroying us, going into our inner thoughts deeply works them through to their conclusion, or at least to some degree.”

“The basis of depression is more often than not that we have placed the source of our happiness outside ourselves. This makes us automatically vulnerable to depression, anxiety, fear, and loss. To feel separated from anything deemed essential for our happiness is ultimately to feel shut off from Life. We must take back our power and refuse to be the helpless victim of some perceived loss or lack.”

“Don’t feel bad about feeling bad. Don’t be frightened of feeling afraid. Don’t be angry about getting angry. There is no need to give up when we are feeling depressed. Nor should we be dismayed at the grief which often accompanies the outgrowing of anything which needs outgrowing. We can be glad that our soul is speaking to us and pushing us onwards. We frequently need to persevere with a period of inner turmoil before the dust can settle and be swept out the door.”

“Of all the qualities that make for a happy, healthy life and a progressive spiritual path, forgiveness is one of the most basic and important. Genuine forgiveness is not a common attitude of heart. It requires too much honesty and too little ego for the average person. It is a deep and solitary process known to the individual and God. Its ramifications are highly beneficial and, sometimes, miraculous. To have an ongoing practice of forgiveness is to extend one’s health, beauty, and agelessness; ever increasing one’s ability to face life with freshness and energy as one grows in wisdom and loses the burden of resentment. If one learns to become aware of hidden resentments and releases them then one will glow with lightness all through the years. The passing of years will have minimal effect as it is the accumulation of hurt, not the passing of years, which ages people most rapidly.”

“To forgive oneself does not negate the need to undo mistakes. True forgiveness desires to make things right. Making things right is not equivalent to guilt. The need to undo mistakes cannot be replaced by guilt. In fact, being immobilised by guilt is an avoidance of fixing things up. It makes one powerless and gives one an excuse to remain passive and negligent. To continuously feel guilty over wrong doing is both ego-confirmatory and ineffective in correcting bad karma. Guilt is the initial spur to action. Then we act in order to correct both our thoughts and the karma, and we leave the guilt behind.”

“Nonduality is a term which reflects devotion to and love of a spiritual Good which has no opposite. It is a realisation of the tremendous power of the invisible life-force of the Divine. God and man are not seen as separate entities, but as One. Both are held with an attitude of devotional love and this devotion unfolds as a sincere and unrelenting walk towards greater self-realisation. Nonduality is a system of thought which sees the essence of the human soul as indistinguishable from the Absolute. It does not make sense to the human mind. We have to open the door to a different realm and then we begin to experientially and spiritually feel it. Understanding nonduality naturally leads to healing because life is seen in a way that is spontaneously elevating.”

“If possible, it is best to have a balance between the civilisation of city life and the solitude of country living. Too much solitude and we can become isolated and lose the benefit of human culture, progress, and communication. Too much urban life and we lose our spiritual essence and our fundamental native homeostasis. Many people instinctively withdraw to the country or the seaside when they feel the noise of city life is drowning out the quiet, inner voice of peace. The country does what the city cannot. It quietens the mind and brings simplicity into one’s life. The city does what the country cannot. It enlivens the mind and brings culture into one’s life. We try to engage with both and benefit from the well-roundedness of a complete experience of all that life has to offer.”

“Forgiveness is one of the most basic and vital qualities that make for a happy, healthy life and a progressive spiritual path. Genuine forgiveness is not a typical attitude of the heart. It requires too much honesty and too little ego for the average person. It is a deep and solitary process known to the individual and God. Its ramifications are highly beneficial and sometimes miraculous. To have an ongoing practice of forgiveness is to extend our health, beauty, and agelessness. It increases our ability to face life with freshness and energy. We grow in wisdom and glow with lightness throughout the years. The passing of time will have minimal effect on us as it is the accumulation of hurt, not the passing of years, which ages people most rapidly.”

“Within our daily spiritual practices, we cultivate a desire to bring forgiveness to everything which comes up as a sticking point. All annoyances and resentments are brought to the table of forgiveness. In this way, we not only relieve ourselves of the burden of angry, resentful thoughts but we progress in our soul’s development. Our consciousness becomes more refined. This is the way to God. Reading books and doing courses is well and good at certain stages of our development. However, it alone will never get us very far. The true practice is very inward, individual, moment-by-moment. It is transformative, radical, reaching deep into every corner of our very being. Nothing is left hidden. Nothing is withheld.”

“Although simple, peace is a highly evolved state of consciousness. It cannot live side-by-side with the ego. We choose one or the other. Peace is the predominant quality of spiritual advancement. The unassuming quality of peace wins the day when it comes to the soul’s progression. To choose peace means that we give up the rantings and ravings, demands and hurts, wants and cravings of the personal mind. The personal self feeds off injustices, imagined injustices, complaining, conflict, excitement, drama, and all the goings-on of normal human life. At some point, when we have suffered enough or have enough wisdom, we tire of the whole thing. We sincerely prefer peace.”

“SURRENDER I surrender all to you. I surrender my life to you. I will do whatever you want. I will go wherever you want. I will love whoever you ask me to love. I will give up all my stupid opinions. I will give up all my hopeless cravings. I release my broken dreams. I forfeit my planned futures. I am at your mercy. I will think no thought or proceed with any action which does not come from you because You love me.”

“Life is naturally going to have ups and downs, comings and goings, pleasures and hardships, joy and pain. Let us be kind to ourselves, understanding that we are here to learn. And let us be kind to others, knowing that peace is the ultimate prize of life and nothing is worth more. Simply to side with peace is to disempower the ego's hold. In so doing, the natural, beautiful, and healing rhythms of life have a chance to start singing their sweet song in our listening ear.”

“When one commits to a spiritual teacher, one automatically benefits from the energetic field of that teacher. All one has to do is to sincerely say to oneself that one is a student of a certain person and it is so. One is then entitled to that teacher’s energetic field. Likewise, if one wishes to extricate oneself from a particular teacher, all one has to do is to sincerely say so to oneself and it is so. The energetic bond is then broken. It does not matter if the teacher is living or deceased. It does not matter if one physically sees the teacher or not. Such things are invisible, beyond space and time, and are nonmaterial.”

“Everyone is a 'spiritual student' doing 'spiritual work' because everyone is here and has to cope, one way or another, with life. The difference is that an aware person learns from their pain and they eventually create a happy life. An unaware person also has pain. However, as they do not know (or do not want to know) how to help themselves, they learn little or nothing from their pain. Thus their journey to happiness is long and indirect.”