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Contemplative Life Quotes

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Contemplative Life Quotes

“Sacrifice, surrender, negation, are inherently involved in any great onwardmarching life. They go with any choice that can be made of a rich and intense life. It is impossible to find without losing, to get without giving, to live without dying. But sacrifice, surrender, negation, are never for their own sake; they are never ends in themselves. They are involved in life itself.”

ChristianitySacrificeFriendsSurrenderInner LifeContemplative LifeChristian MysticismQuakerismWay Of Negation
Book:The Inner Life
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“The mind is by nature restless. Begin liberating it from its restlessness; give it peace, make it free from distractions, train it to look inward, and make all this a habit. This is done by ignoring the external world and removing the obstacles to peace of mind. (p. 20)”

SolitudePeace Of MindSpiritual PracticeMindtrainingContemplative LifeRamana Maharshi
Book:Talks With Ramana Maharshi: On Realizing Abiding Peace and Happiness
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“The simplest form of meditation requires two things: a body that is still and relaxed, and an object to focus attention on. Many traditional postures for meditation exist. I have found the greatest ease and stability sitting in a chair, with the spine erect and the palms of the hands resting on the knees. The focus of attention that I have found most useful for the beginners is the awareness of breathing combined with a mental focus: „I“ as a feeling in the heart with each inhalation and „am“ as a sensation of the whole physical presence on the exhalation. It should be understood that this is not the „I“ of the ego as we commonly know it, but an I-ness rooted in the heart, an „I-ness-without I.“ (p. 56)”

MeditationMindfulnessContemplative Life
Book:Living Presence: A Sufi Way to Mindfulness & the Essential Self
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“Contemplation cultivates an inner connection, an awareness of yourself. I don’t mean your emotional self; I mean the part of you hidden beneath your emotional baggage—your soul’s consciousness.”

ContemplationLife Lessons QuotesSpiritual WisdomMeditation QuotesEmotional Intelligence QuotesSelf Determination QuotesJournalingContemplative LifeSelf Reflection QuotesAwareness Quote
Book:Spirituality, Evolution and Awakened Consciousness: Getting Real About Soul Maturity and Spiritual Growth
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“. . . the most perfect apologia I ever heard for the cloistered contemplative life. It is contained in two brief sentences. They come from the life of my late Abbott, Dom Mary Frederic Dunne. He would as any antagonist of the contemplative life two short questions. They admitted of only one very brief answer. He would look kindly at the objectioner and ask softly: "You believe in the efficiency of prayer, don't you?" When the person made the only possible reply - an affirmative one - Dom Frederic would smile and even more quietly ask: "Then what is wrong with a whole life of prayer?”

PrayerCatholicCatholicismContemplative Life
Book:The Silent Spire Speaks
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“They seek for themselves private retiring places, as country villages, the sea-shore, mountains; yea thou thyself art wont to long much after such places. But all this thou must know proceeds from simplicity in the highest degree. At what time soever thou wilt, it is in thy power to retire into thyself, and to be at rest, and free from all businesses. A man cannot any whither retire better than to his own soul; he especially who is beforehand provided of such things within, which whensoever he doth withdraw himself to look in, may presently afford unto him perfect ease and tranquillity.... free from all confusion and tumultuousness. Afford then thyself this retiring continually, and thereby refresh and renew thyself. Let these precepts be brief and fundamental, which as soon as thou dost call them to mind, may suffice thee to purge thy soul throughly, and to send thee away well pleased with those things whatsoever they be, which now again after this short withdrawing of thy soul into herself thou dost return unto.”

SoulCountryPeaceRetirementTranquilityContemplative LifeVida Contemplativa
Book:Meditations
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“Books are surviving in this intense, fragmented, hyper-accelerated present, and my sense and hope is that things will slow down again and people will want more time for a contemplative life. There is no way people can keep up this pace. No one is happy. Two or three hours to read should not be an unattainable thing, although I hope we get to that stage without needing a corporate sponsored app to hold our hand. The utopian in me has my fingers crossed that we haven't quite figured out the digital future just yet. After all, the one thing we know about people: they always surprise.”

PeopleKnowsWayWantShouldTwoBookHandsThreeHoursOne ThingStageHavensSurpriseFingersIntenseCorporateDigitalMore TimePaceSlow DownSurvivingUtopianContemplativeUnattainableAppsHyperFragmentedContemplative LifeFingers Crossed
Author:Junot Diaz
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“Since the moment of self-consciousness comes to a permanent end - and a new journey begins- is such a decisive stroke or milestone in the contemplative life, I can only speculate why so little has been said of this breakthrough; in fact , I may never get over the silence on the part of writers who say nothing about this second movement.”

MayLittlesHas BeensSaidI CanEndsSelfMomentsFactsConsciousnessSilenceJourneyMovementPermanentStrokesGet OverBreakthroughSelf ConsciousnessContemplativeMilestoneContemplative LifeNew JourneyJourney Begins
Book:Experience of No-Self, The: A Contemplative Journey, Revised Edition
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“If you were going to be attracted to a mystical faith which involved the contemplative life, Buddhism would be quite reasonable. But then, not everybody is a budding mystic. In fact, it's pretty certain that very few people are. So another kind of religion, one that was perhaps more pragmatic and service-oriented, might appeal to those others. So I think you have to take your values into account.”

PeopleIfsThinkingKindFactsMightWould BeCertainValuesBuddhismInvolvedAccountsAppealsReasonableMysticalMysticPragmaticContemplativeContemplative Life
Author:Ninian Smart
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“I admire people who are suited to the contemplative life. They can sit inside themselves like honey in a jar and just be. It's wonderful to have someone like that around, you always feel you can count on them. You can go away and come back, you can change your mind and your hairdo and your politics, and when you get through doing all these upsetting things, you look around and there they are, just the way they were, just being.”

PeopleWayFeelsMindLooksWonderfulMindfulnessAdmireUpsetContemplationGoing AwayHoneyJust BeingJarsContemplativeChanging Your MindHairdosContemplative Life
Book:Accident
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“In general, it can be said that no contemplative life is possible without ascetic self-discipline. One must learn to survive without the habit-forming luxuries which get such a hold on men today. I do not say that to be a contemplative one absolutely has to go without smoking or without alcohol, but certainly one must be able to use these things without being dominated by an uncontrolled need for them.”

MenNeedsSaidSelfUseTodayAbleLife IsHabitDisciplineAlcoholLuxurySmokingSelf DisciplineContemplativeContemplative Life
Book:New Seeds of Contemplation
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“The onset of this second movement is characterized by the falling away of self and coming upon "that" which remains when it is gone. But this going-out is an upheaval, a complete turnabout of such proportions it cannot possibly be missed, under-emphasized, or sufficiently stressed as a major landmark in the contemplative life.”

SelfFallGoneMovementMajorsRemainsProportionGoing OutStressedContemplativeLandmarksUpheavalContemplative Life
Book:The Experience of No-Self: A Contemplative Journey
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