I think inequality is in our minds. I think this is what we learn through practice. The bridge of illusion must be shattered in order for a real bridge to be constructed. One of the things we learn is that inequality is an illusion.
The transformative power of love is not fully embraced in our society because we often wrongly believe that torment and anguish are our ‘natural’ condition.
The true teacher is within us. A good teacher is someone who can help you to go back and touch the true teacher within, because you already have the insight within you.
I have created a life style that supports contemplation, service to words.
The soul of our politics is the commitment to ending domination.
The word “love” is most often defined as a noun, yet all the more astute theorists of love acknowledge that we would all love better if we used it as a verb.
Our freedom is sweet. It will be sweeter when we are all free.
I always tell my students that Malcolm X came both to his spirituality and to his consciousness as a thinker when he had solitude to read. Unfortunately, tragically, like so many young black males, that solitude only came in prison.
The challenge these days, is to be somewhere, to belong to some particular place, invest oneself in it, draw strength and courage from it, to dwell in a community.
I think stress is anything going on in our lives that impinges on our capacity to have optimum well being.
Both men and women remain in dysfunctional, loveless relationships when it is materially opportune.
Class is rarely talked about in the United States; nowhere is there a more intense silence about the reality of class differences than in educational settings.
A generous heart is always open, always ready to receive our going and coming. In the midst of such love we need never fear abandonment. This is the most precious gift true love offers – the experience of knowing we always belong.
Love is an action, never simply a feeling.
To love well is the task in all meaningful relationships, not just romantic bonds.
There will be no mass-based feminist movement as long as feminist ideas are understood only by a well-educated few.
Contrary to what we may have been taught to think, unnecessary and unchosen suffering wounds us but need not scar us for life. It does mark us. What we allow the mark of our suffering to become is in our own hands.
To build community requires vigilant awareness of the work we must continually do to undermine all the socialization that leads us to behave in ways that perpetuate domination.
When we face pain in relationships our first response is often to sever bonds rather than to maintain commitment.
The one person who will never leave us, whom we will never lose, is ourself. Learning to love our female selves is where our search for love must begin.