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Quote by Heinrich Böll

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The Clown

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Heinrich Böll

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“She nods in relief and gives me an awkward hug. It's so rare that I just keep my arms at my side. The important thing is she believes me. If she knew what I was really thinking, it would just make her worry. Saying the right thing is a new skill I'm starting to develop because, growing up, we were told to always tell the truth. It's only recently that I've come to realize that is a lie. People don't want the truth. They want to hear what they want to hear. And sometimes the truth can be dangerous.”

“Truth cannot be conveyed through words. Truth can only be known through silence. When knowing truth, it becomes a responsibility to share it. Through sharing truth, our truth will become deeper. If people are spiritually ripe to listen to truth, it is good. If people are not ripe to listen to truth, it is also good. If people are ready to understand truth, it is good. If they are not ready to understand truth, it is also good. If people are reday to understand silence, it is good. If people are not ready to understand silence, it is also good.”

“God has no name. All organized religions have given names to God to be able to have a personal relationship to God, but God is not a person. God is the underlying force, the energy and the consciousness of existence. If you cannot feel God, the divine, within, you cannot feel him without. The first step is to feel God within. Then prayer to a personal god becomes meaningless, and meditation becomes meaningful. The second step is to realize God without, to realize that God is not the creator, he is creation. He is not separate from creation. He is the force and consciousness of creation. The world is God's dance; the world is God's play.”

“It is difficult to receive and accept oneness because human speculation doesn’t catch it. But if you practice with full devotion, finally you will come to the final goal—silence. When you touch the core of existence and see the fundamental truth, there is nothing to say; you are just present in silence. This silence really makes your life alive. Then, even though you don’t say anything, your silence has lots of words, demonstrating the truth in a physical and mental way, which can be seen by others. This is Buddha’s teaching appearing through the form of a person who sees into the pure and clear depth of human existence.”

“If God speaks to us even in silence, we in turn discover in silence the possibility of speaking with God and about God. “We need that silence which becomes contemplation, which introduces us into God’s silence and brings us to the point where the Word, the redeeming Word, is born” (Homily, Eucharistic Celebration with Members of the International Theological Commission, 6 October 2006). In speaking of God’s grandeur, our language will always prove inadequate and must make space for silent contemplation. Out of such contemplation springs forth, with all its inner power, the urgent sense of mission, the compelling obligation “to communicate that which we have seen and heard” so that all may be in communion with God (1 Jn 1:3). Silent contemplation immerses us in the source of that Love who directs us towards our neighbours so that we may feel their suffering and offer them the light of Christ, his message of life and his saving gift of the fullness of love.”