By Meister Eckhart

The outward work can never be small if the inward one is great, and the outward work can never be great or good if the inward is small or of little worth. The inward work always includes in itself all size, all breadth and all length.

Source: Breakthrough: Meister Eckhart’s Creation Spirituality in New Translation, by Matthew Fox

By Richard Rohr

Finding one’s soul is always leaving one’s comfort zone, letting go and going to a bigger place…. Jesus creates the ecclesia, literally, “the called-out ones.” The Church should be that group of people who have moved to a place of freedom and are willing to ask the big questions of the extended family, not only the questions of the natural family…. Jesus broadens our vision. “Family values” is sometimes a cover for a very self-protective and narrow agenda…. Jesus requires his first disciples to call into question even their “family values.”

Source: Jesus’ Plan for a New World

By Gordon Cosby

All of us had best find out what we really want to do and start doing it, with whatever it involves. If you have to give up your responsibility, give it up; if the church goes to pieces, so be it. But we must find out what we really want to do because nothing else is going to help anybody.

Source: Quoted by Peter Renner in “Good Is a Timely Word”

By e. e. cummings

may my heart always be open to little
birds who are the secrets of living
whatever they sing is better than to know
and if men should not hear them men are old

may my mind stroll about hungry
and fearless and thirsty and supple
and even if it’s sunday may i be wrong
for whenever men are right they are not young

and may myself do nothing usefully
and love yourself so more than truly
there’s never been quite such a fool who could fail
pulling all the sky over him with one smile

Source: www.poemhunter.com

By Marcus Aurelius

People try to get away from it all—to the country, to the beach, to the mountains. You always wish you could too. Which is idiotic: you can get away from it anytime you like. By going within.

Nowhere you can go is more peaceful—more free of interruptions—than your own soul. Especially if you have other things to rely on. An instant’s recollection and there it is: complete tranquility. And by tranquility I mean a kind of harmony. So keep going away from it all—like that. Renew yourself. But keep it brief and basic. A quick visit should be enough to ward off all … and send you back ready to face what awaits you.

What’s there to complain about? People’s misbehavior? But take into consideration: that rational beings exist for one another; that doing what’s right sometimes requires patience; that no one does the wrong thing deliberately; and the number of people who have feuded and envied and hated and fought and died and been buried; and then keep your mouth shut.

So keep this refuge in mind: the back roads of your self. Above all, no strain and no stress. Be straightforward. Look at things like a human being, like a citizen, like a mortal. And among the things you turn to, these thoughts:

That things have no hold on the soul.
They stand there unmoving, outside of it.
That disturbance comes only from within—from our own perceptions.
That everything you see will soon alter and cease to exist.

Marcus Aurelius (121-180) was Roman emperor from 161-180. This an excerpt from a collection of his writings called Meditations, a classic text of philosophy and history. Background information at www.answers.com says he “was known to be a humane ruler, despite his brutal persecution of the followers of Jesus Christ.”

By Mary Oliver

Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake
and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude—
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.

Source: Red Bird: Poems

By Cecile Andrews

Being mindful is hard for us because we are always anxious about time…. Learning that we have enough—money, time, love—may be our most important lesson. Even when we eliminate the apparent obstacles of working and consuming too much, we still have trouble relaxing and enjoying the present moment. So the problem is not just the scarcity of time, it’s our attitude toward time. That little voice always creeps in: You’d better hurry, you’ve got a lot to do, you’re not getting enough done, time is running out. What does this mean in terms of feeling alive? Surely, if things keep on this way, when we come to die, we will discover that we have not lived.

Source: The Circle of Simplicity: Return to the Good Life, quoted in Simpler Living, Compassionate Life edited and compiled by Michael Schut

By Elizabeth O’Connor

Whoever joins God’s liberation movement must be content to spend time in the wilderness, to live in tents and not know what the morrow brings.

Source: unknown

By Alessandro Pronzato

In the desert the most urgent thing is—to wait. The desert does not take kindly to those who tackle it at breakneck speed, subjecting it to their plans and deadlines. It soon takes its revenge and makes them pay dearly for their presumption. Instead, the desert welcomes those who shed their sandals of speed and walk slowly in their bare feet, letting them be caressed and burnt by the sand. If you have no ambition to conquer the desert, if you do not think you are in charge, if you can calmly wait for things to be done, then the desert will not consider you an intruder and will reveal its secrets to you.

Source: Meditations on the Sand

By George Eliot

Blessed is the man who, having nothing to say, refrains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.

Source: unknown