Quotessence
Home / Authors / Elizabeth O'Connor

Elizabeth O'Connor Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllPrayerSpiritual PracticesImportantTasksWorldAbleArtBlueprintsChiefsChildrenClothingsConfrontingConsciousnessConvincedCoreCreatingCreativityCreatorDeeperDifficulty

Famous Elizabeth O'Connor Quotes

“I doubt very much that there is any creativity in the world apart from contemplation. In contemplation we catch a vision of not only what is, but what can be. We find our place in salvation history. Contrary to what we have thought, contemplatives are the great doers. Contemplatives return from times of withdrawal with inner clarity and with direction. In their return from the silence, they take up the work of giving from to the liberating truths that have been given to them in flashes of insight and vision. They are also the great enablers of others. They evoke spirit in those they meet. Because they have been present to themselves, they are able to be present to others in a way that awakens, enlivens, gives courage. In them we see more clearly a way of existence that combines both being and doing.”

PrayerSpiritual Practices
Book:Search for Silence
Create image

“It is a strange and frightening discovery to find that the sacrificial life that Jesus is talking about is the giving up of our chains - to discover that what binds us is also what gives us comfort and a measure of feeling safe. Change, while it has promise, will take from us something we have found sweet. The image we have of ourselves may keep us from wholeness, but it has some very satisfying compensations. ... Not only does change threaten something deep in us and call into being all kinds of resistance, it also threatens our friends. They, too, prefer the status quo. They may find us difficult to put up with at times, but something in them is also threatened at the prospect of the real change in us. They would be glad to have us give upa few irritating habits, provided we stay essentially as we are.”

PrayerSpiritual Practices
Book:Search for Silence
Create image