What is saving my life now is the conviction that there is no spiritual treasure to be found apart from the bodily experiences of human life on earth. My life depends on engaging the most ordinary physical activities with the most exquisite attention I can give them. My life depends on ignoring all touted distinctions between the secular and the sacred, the physical and the spiritual, the body and the soul. What is saving my life now is becoming more fully human, trusting that there is no way to God apart from real life in the real world.
Barbara Brown Taylor (b. 1951) American minister, academic, author
An Altar in the World, Introduction (2009)
(Source)
Quotations about:
presence
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Most of the time we aren’t really present one to another, we just bump masks.
William Sloane Coffin, Jr. (1924-2006) American minister, social activist
“Spirituality,” sermon, Riverside Church, New York City (1986-10-26)
(Source)
Sermon on Psalm 46, Galatians 5:16-26.
Like most writers of sermons, Coffin used the phrase on multiple occasions, e.g., in A Passion for the Possible, ch. 6 "Sexism" (1993):Vulnerability is a great virtue, as Paul realized when he said, "Whenever I am weak, then I am strong." Without it there can be neither honesty nor intimacy. Without vulnerability we don't really meet each other, we just bump masks.
(Referencing 2 Corinthians 12:10.)
Divine reality is not way up in the sky somewhere; it is readily available in the encounters of everyday life, which make hash of my illusions that I can control the ways God comes to me.
Barbara Brown Taylor (b. 1951) American minister, academic, author
“Material Faith,” interview by Meghan Larissa Good, The Other Journal (19 Dec 2013)
(Source)
The difference between a man of genius seen in his works and in person, is like that of a lighthouse seen by night and by day, — in the one case only a great fiery brain, in the other only a white tower.
Some things are fairly obvious when it’s a seven-foot skeleton with a scythe telling you them.
So it is not a matter of whether it is possible to attain Buddhahood, or if it is possible to make a tile a jewel. But just to work, just to live in this world with this understanding is the most important point, and that is our practice. That is true zazen.
Shunryū Suzuki (1905-1971) Japanese Zen Buddhist master
Lecture in Los Altos, California (1 Sep 1967)
(Source)
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
Many eyes go through the meadow, but few see the flowers in it.
To finish the moment, to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) American essayist, lecturer, poet
“Experience,” Essays: Second Series (1844)
(Source)
Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the day-time, and falling into at night.
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950) American poet
Letter to Whitter “Hal” Bynner and Arthur Davidson Ficke (1920)
(Source)
Some people are just better than others at noticing things that don’t align with their concern, and Mum and Dad are simply oblivious to elves, vampires, vegans, and other esoteric manifestations of modernity.
Never, in peace or war, commit your virtue or your happiness to the future. Happy work is best done by the man who takes his long-term plans somewhat lightly and works from moment to moment “as to the Lord.” It is only our daily bread that we are encouraged to ask for. The present is the only time in which any duty can be done or any grace received.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963) English writer, literary scholar, lay theologian [Clive Staples Lewis]
“Learning in War-Time,” The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (1965)
Little boys may be an intolerable nuisance; but when they are not there we regret them, we find ourselves homesick for their very intolerableness.
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Beyond the Mexique Bay (1934)
Eighty percent of success is showing up.
Woody Allen (b. 1935) American comedian, writer, director [b. Allan Steward Konigsberg]
Comment
Originally attributed to Allen by collaborator Marshall Brickman in Susan Brady, "He's Woody Allen's Not-So-Silent Partner," New York Times (21 Aug 1977) as "Showing up is 80 percent of life." On inquiry, Allen confirmed that he'd said the quotation above in a letter to William Safire (1989). More information here.
And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
The Bible (The Old Testament) (14th - 2nd C BC) Judeo-Christian sacred scripture [Tanakh, Hebrew Bible], incl. the Apocrypha (Deuterocanonicals)
1 Kings 19:11-12 [KJV (1611)]
(Source)
Alternate translations:Then Yahweh himself went by. There came a mighty wind, so strong it tore the mountains and shattered the rocks before Yahweh. But Yahweh was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake. But Yahweh was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire. But Yahweh was not in the fire. And after the fire there came the sound of a gentle breeze.
[Jerusalem (1966)]Then the Lord passed by and sent a furious wind that split the hills and shattered the rocks -- but the Lord was not in the wind. The wind stopped blowing, and then there was an earthquake -- but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire -- but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the soft whisper of a voice.
[GNT (1976)]Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire a sound of sheer silence.
[NRSV (1989)]Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
[NIV (2011)]
Sometimes, of course, you wish you could whisper in God’s ear, “God, we know that you are in charge. Why don’t you make it slightly more obvious?”
Desmond Tutu (1931-2021) South African cleric, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Nobel Laureate
Wallenberg Lecture, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (29 Oct 2009)
(Source)
Video at 20:37.
If I were to begin life again, I should want it as it was. I would only open my eyes a little more.
Jules Renard (1864-1910) French writer
Journal
