The key to community is the acceptance, in fact the celebration of our individual and cultural differences. It is also the key to world peace.
God creates each soul differently, so that when all the mud is finally cleared away, His light will shine through it in a beautiful, colorful, totally new pattern.
Community is and must be inclusive. The great enemy of community is exclusivity. Groups that exclude others because they are poor or doubters or divorced or sinners or of some different race or nationality are not communities; they are cliques – actually defensive bastions against community.
Listen to your child enough and you will come to realize that he or she is quite an extraordinary individual. And the more extraordinary you realize your child to be the more you will be willing to listen. And the more you will learn.
Problems call forth our courage and our wisdom; indeed, they create our courage and wisdom.
Commitment is inherent in any genuinely loving relationship.
There can be no vulnerability without risk; there can be no community without vulnerability; there can be no peace, and ultimately no life, without community.
You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.
Discipline is the basic set of tools we require to solve life’s problems. Without discipline we can solve nothing. With only some discipline we can solve only some problems. With total discipline we can solve all problems.
When we teach ourselves and our children discipline, we are teaching them and ourselves how to suffer and also how to grow.
Nirvana or lasting enlightenment or true spiritual growth can be achieved only through persistent exercise of real love.
As I grow through love, so grows my joy, ever more present, ever more constant.
When we cling, often forever, to our old patterns of thinking and behaving, we fall to negotiate any crisis, to truly grow up, and to experience the joyful sense of rebirth that accompanies the successful transition into greater maturity.
The best decision-makers are those who are willing to suffer the most over their decisions but still retain their ability to be decisive.
Doubt is often the beginning of wisdom.
Servant-leadership is more than a concept, it is a fact. Any great leader, by which I also mean an ethical leader of any group, will see herself or himself as a servant of that group and will act accordingly.
When you consider yourself valuable you will take care of yourself in all ways that are necessary.
Life is a series of problems. Do we want to moan about them or solve them?
There is no act of love that is not an act of work or courage. No exceptions.
The path of spiritual growth is a path of lifelong learning.