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Contemplation Quotes

Browse 1219 quotes about Contemplation.

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Contemplation Quotes

“Through concentration we become one-pointed and through meditation we expand our consciousness into the Vast. But in contemplation we grow into the Vast itself. We have seen the Truth. We have felt the Truth. But the most important thing is to grow into the Truth and become totally one with the Truth. If we are concentrating on God, we may feel God right in front of us or besides us. When we are meditating, we are bound to feel Infinity, Eternity, Immortality within us. But when we are contemplating, we will see that we ourselves are Infinity, Eternity, Immortality.”

IfsFeelsMayImportantGrowsFeltConsciousnessMeditationFrontsEternityImportant ThingsBoundsImmortalityContemplationConcentrationInfinityContemplatingMeditatingConcentrating
Book:Beyond Within: A Philosophy for the Inner Life
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“The great and secret message of the experiential mystics the world over is that, with the eye of contemplation, Spirit can be seen. With the eye of contemplation, the great Within radiantly unfolds. And in all cases, the eye with which you see God is the same eye with which God sees you: the eye of contemplation.”

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Book:The Simple Feeling of Being: Visionary, Spiritual, and Poetic Writings
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“The world of ideas which it [mathematics] discloses or illuminates, the contemplation of divine beauty and order which it induces, the harmonious connexion of its parts, the infinite hierarchy and absolute evidence of the truths with which it is concerned, these, and such like, are the surest grounds of the title of mathematics to human regard, and would remain unimpeached and unimpaired were the plan of the universe unrolled like a map at our feet, and the mind of man qualified to take in the whole scheme of creation at a glance.”

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Book:The Collected Mathematical Papers: (1870-1883)
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“Indian monks were the first to choose the garden as the proper setting for their lives, which were devoted to the contemplation of the divine; but with a prophetic eye we may see that the garden will often be dedicated in a like manner: at a later time Greek philosophers, and monks in early Christian days, will retire into their gardens for united, yet silent, contemplation.”

LifeFirstsMayEyeChristianTimeUnitedDivineGardenSilentPhilosopherSettingSettingsIndianGreekContemplationDivinityRetiringDedicatedDevotedMonkOften IsPropheticGreek Philosopher
Book:History of Garden Art: Originally published in two volumes
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“Ideas are powerful things, requiring not a studious contemplation but an action, even if it is only an inner action. Their acquisition obligates each man in some way to change his life, even if it is only his inner life. They demand to be stood for. They dictate where a man must concentrate his vision. They determine his moral and intellectual priorities. They provide him with allies and make him enemies. In short, ideas impose an interest in their ultimate fate which goes far beyond the realm of the merely reasonable.”

IfsMenWayIdeasActionInterestPowerfulMoralVisionEnemyFateDemandIntellectualUltimateDeterminePrioritiesRealmsContemplationReasonableAlliesAcquisitionInner LifeStudious
Author:Midge Decter
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“The Universe wants to play. Those who refuse out of dry spiritual greed & choose pure contemplation forfeit their humanity - those who refuse out of dull anguish, those who hesitate, lose their chance at divinity - those who mold themselves blind masks of Ideas & thrash around seeking some proof of their own solidity end by seeing out of dead men's eyes.”

MenWantIdeasEndsPlayEyeSpiritualHumanityUniverseLosesChanceSeeingPureBlindGreedSeekingRefuseProofContemplationDryDullDivinityMaskAnguishMoldDead ManForfeitSolidity
Book:T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchy, Poetic Terrorism
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“As a religious problem, the problem of suffering is, paradoxically, not how to avoid suffering but how to suffer, how to make of physical pain, personal loss, worldly defeat, or the helpless contemplation of others' agony something bearable, supportable- something as we say, sufferable.”

ProblemPainReligionSufferingReligiousLossStrengthDefeatContemplationAgonyHelplessWorldlyBearablePhysical PainPersonal Loss
Book:The Interpretation of Cultures
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“... I have developed, over the years, some sense of the difference between real horseshit that you can step in and Ideal Platonic Horseshit that exists, evidently, only in the contemplation of those who worship such abstractions; and I continue to notice that Natural Law bears an uncanny resemblance to ideal Platonic Horseshit.”

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Author:Robert Anton Wilson
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“The aim of life is no more to control the mind, but to develop it harmoniously; not to achieve salvation here after, but to make the best use of it here below; and not to realise truth, beauty and good only in contemplation, but also in the actual experience of daily life; social progress depends not upon the ennoblement of the few but on the enrichment of democracy; universal brotherhood can be achieved only when there is an equality of opportunity - of opportunity in the social, political and individual life.”

MindUsePoliticalLife IsOpportunityIndividualSocialDemocracyProgressAchieveDependsTruth IsUniversalAimSalvationContemplationDaily LifeRealisingBrotherhoodSocial ProgressIndividual LifeEnrichmentEquality Of OpportunityAim Of Life
Author:Bhagat Singh
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“Virtue could see to do what virtue would By her own radiant light, though sun and moon Were in the flat sea sunk. And Wisdom's self Oft seeks to sweet retired solitude, Where with her best nurse Contemplation She plumes her feathers and lets grow her wings, That in the various bustle of resort Were all-to ruffled, and sometimes impair'd. He that has light within his own clear breast May sit i' th' centre and enjoy bright day; But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts Benighted walks under the midday sun.”

MaySoulSelfSometimesLightGrowsEnjoyDarkWalksSunVirtueClearSeaSweetSolitudeMoonWingsVariousContemplationBreastsFlatsNurseCentreFeathersResortsRetiredFoulRadiantLight WithinBustleBright DaysDark Souls
Author:John Milton
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“Christianity sees plants and flowers as created by God to show forth and share with humans the divine goodness, beauty and truth - the purpose of all Creation. In this flowers may be enjoyed simply and directly in themselves as showing forth God's goodness and beauty, or, more fully, as archetypes, signatures, symbols, and bearers of legends, mirroring the revealed articles of Christian faith - thereby serving as means for their teaching, recollection, contemplation and celebration.”

HumansMayMeanShowsTruthChristianPurposeBeautyChristianityShareTeachingCreationDivineFlowerGoodnessPlantSymbolsEnjoyedContemplationServingLegendsArticlesCelebrationRecollectionSignaturesChristian FaithArchetypeMirroringPlants And Flowers
Author:John Stokes
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“Cultural criticism finds itself faced with the final stage of the dialectic of culture and barbarism. To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric. And this corrodes even the knowledge of why it has become impossible to write poetry today. Absolute reification, which presupposed intellectual progress as one of its elements, is now preparing to absorb the mind entirely. Critical intelligence cannot be equal to this challenge as long as it confines itself to self-satisfied contemplation.”

WritingMindLongSelfTodayCultureChallengesProgressImpossibleStageEqualElementsIntellectualCriticismAbsolutesFinalsCriticalSatisfiedContemplationHolocaustPreparingBarbarismBarbaricDialectics
Author:Theodor Adorno
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“In creating a work of art, the psyche or soul of the artist ascends from the earthly realm into the heavenly. There, free of all images, the soul is fed in contemplation by the essences of the highest realm, knowing the permanent noumena of things. Then, satiated with this knowing, it descends again to the earthly realm. And precisely at the boundary between the two worlds, the soul’s spiritual knowledge assumes the shapes of symbolic imagery: and it is these images that make permanent the work of art. Art is thus materialized dream, separated from the ordinary consciousness of waking life.”

WorldArtTwoSoulDreamSpiritualArtistConsciousnessKnowingShapesCreatingHighestOrdinaryArt IsEssenceAssumingBoundariesPermanentRealmsContemplationHeavenlyFedsWorks Of ArtWakingImagerySymbolicTwo WorldsWaking LifeSpiritual Knowledge
Author:Pavel Florensky
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“I must pack my short lifer full of interesting events and creative activity. Philosophy and aesthetic contemplation are not enough. I intend to do everything possible to broaden my experiences and allow myself to reach the fullest development. Then, and before physical deterioration obtrudes, I shall go on some last wilderness trip to a place I have known and loved. I shall not return.”

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Book:Everett Ruess, a vagabond for beauty
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“Contemplation is a very dangerous activity. It not only brings us face to face with God. It brings us, as well, face to face with the world, face to face with the self. And then, of course, something must be done. Nothing stays the same once we have found the God within…. We carry the world in our hearts: the oppression of all peoples, the suffering of our friends, the burdens of our enemies, the raping of the Earth, the hunger of the starving, the joy of every laughing child.”

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Author:Joan D. Chittister
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“Some people are incapable of perceiving in the object of their contemplation the very thing that gives it its intrinsic life and breath, and they spend their entire lives conversing about mankind as if they were robots, and about things as though they have no soul and must be reduced to what can be said about them - all at the whim of their own subjective inspiration.”

PeopleIfsGivingSaidSoulInspirationMankindObjectsBreathsContemplationIncapableRobotsSubjectiveWhim
Author:Muriel Barbery
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“Contemplation is life itself, fully awake, fully active, and fully aware that it is alive. It is spiritual wonder. It is spontaneous awe at the sacredness of life, of being. It is gratitude for life, for awareness, and for being. It is a vivid realization of the fact that life and being in us proceed from an invisible, transcendent, and infinitely abundant Source.”

FactsSpiritualWonderAliveAwarenessSourceGratitudeActiveInvisibleRealizationAwakeContemplationAweSpontaneousVividTranscendentSacrednessGratitude For LifeSacredness Of Life
Book:New Seeds of Contemplation
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“For we are so preciously loved by God that we cannot even comprehend it. No created being can ever know how much and how sweetly and tenderly God loves them. It is only with the help of his grace that we are able to persevere in spiritual contemplation with endless wonder at his high, surpassing, immeasurable love which our Lord in his goodness has for us.”

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Author:Julian of Norwich
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“The power of quiet is great. It generates the same feelings in everything one encounters. It vibrates with the cosmic rhythm of oneness. It is everywhere, available to anyone at any time. It is us, the force within that makes us stable, trusting, and loving. It is contemplation contemplating. Peace is letting go - returning to the silence that cannot enter the realm of words because it is too pure to be contained in words. This is why the tree, the stone, the river, and the mountain are quiet.”

FeelingsForceSilenceTreePureQuietMountainLetting GoRiversStonesAvailableRhythmOnenessRealmsContemplationEncountersCosmicStableContemplatingVibrate
Book:Of Water and the Spirit: Ritual, Magic, and Initiation in the Life of an African Shaman
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