And the heart that is soonest awake to the flowers is always the first to be touch’d by the thorns.
To love you was pleasant enough. And, oh! ’tis delicious to hate you!
It is quite cruel that a poet cannot wander through his regions of enchantment without having a critic, forever, like the old man of the sea, upon his back.
Faith, Fanatic faith, once wedded fast to some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last.
Most, if not all, problems brought to therapists are issues of love. It makes sense that the cure is also love.
Came but for friendship, and took away love.
Wisdom and deep intelligence require an honest appreciation of mystery.
Education is not the piling on of learning, information, data, facts, skills, or abilities-that’s training or instruction-but is rather making visible what is hidden as a seed.
An eternal question about children is, how should we educate them? Politicians and educators consider more school days in a year, more science and math, the use of computers and other technology in the classroom, more exams and tests, more certification for teachers, and less money for art. All of these responses come from the place where we want to make the child into the best adult possible, not in the ancient Greek sense of virtuous and wise, but in the sense of one who is an efficient part of the machinery of society. But on all these counts, soul is neglected.
Often care of the soul means not taking sides when there is a conflict at a deep level. It may be necessary to stretch the heart wide enough to embrace contradiction and paradox.
Your first task is to find the place where your soul is at home.
The conscious mind is small and weak compared to the emotional and spiritual power that we call daimonic. It may be the urge to create, take risks, and love. Life may be simple when you avoid the daimon of love, but it is also less passionate and meaningful.
I have made many mistakes and done a lot of foolish things, but when I look back on the person I was, I feel affection for him and laugh at him.
I believe that one day we’ll understand that we’ve lost out on religion because we made it too lofty and distant. I see it as a simple quality of everyday life, and in that simplicity lie its beauty and importance.
The problem in the modern spiritual landscape is not only a plethora of genuine, useful material but also a marketplace teeming with questionable ideas, practices, and leaders.
As the religious authorities often say, the institution is human, while the substance of the religion is transcendent.
To be religious even in a personal way, you have to wake up and find your own portals to wonder and transcendence.
Soul’ is not a thing, but a quality or a dimension of experiencing life and ourselves.
Your challenge, then, is to create a religion of your own by being secular in a religious way, or religious in a secular way. You can learn how to see the secular from a religious angle, and vice versa.
The moon looks upon many night- flowers, the night flower sees but one moon.
At this deep level of personal myth and innate constitution, spirituality and psychology overlap and conjoin. For that reason, paying close attention to dreams aids any spiritual activity, keeping it grounded and in contact with the elements that have shaped you. Dream work becomes as important as meditation, quiet reading, and prayer, and fits tightly into a developed spiritual way of life.