This is an Index of Content on Spirituality.
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“God Is A Verb” Quotations
“God is not what we think It is. God is not a thing, a being, a noun... all the names we have for God and all the ways in which we relate to God are a few degrees removed from the source of creation that precedes even nothingness…The closest we can come to thinking about [...]
Calm Amidst the Turbulence
As I have navigated the turbulent currents of this week’s corono-virus events, I was reminded of something I wrote in my journal last summer; re-reading it this morning helped to steady me. I send it along to you with hopes it will do the same for you. Here it is: Seated on [...]
Thomas Jefferson Writes About Jesus
Jesus Christ, detail from Deesis mosaic, Hagia Sophia, IstanbulPhoto by Edal Anton Lefterov, via Wikipedia, CC 3.0 “I have promised to write someday about my views…This view would purposely omit the question of his divinity and even his inspiration. To do him justice, it would be necessary to remark the disadvantages his doctrines [...]
Kabir, Mystic and Poet
Kabir, 1825 Painting of Kabir Weaving, Public Domain Kabir was a mystic and poet born in India around 1398. As an infant, he was abandoned on the streets of Benares. He was taken in and raised by a Muslim family. As an adult, he became a weaver–of cloth and of words. He wrote [...]
The Jewish Tradition, by Dawn Warren
The Hebrew language, culturally considered the Jewish language, has flourished since before the 10th century B.C.E. In Hebrew, the word Torah means “teaching” or “law” and refers to Judaism’s founding legal and religious texts. The Torah calls the Jewish people “a nation”, referring to them as a group of people with a common history and a common destiny. That [...]
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Quotation: On Wholeness and Being, Stephen Levine GalleryQuotation: On Wholeness and Being, Stephen Levine
Buddhism, Consciousness, Energy, and Matter: Quotations, Doubt, Certainty, and Humility: Quotations, Hinduism, Individualism: Quotations, Intuition: Quotations, Mysticism, Mysticism: Quotations, Oneness and Unity: Quotations, Spiritual Diversity: Quotations, Transformation: Quotes
Quotation: On Wholeness and Being, Stephen Levine
"…This vastness at the center beckons us yet deeper into wisdom, and compassion is the Unnamable to which so many mystics throughout the ages have referred. It is both our birthright and our unbirthright because it is said by some adepts that we were born to discover we are the unborn, the essential suchness from [...]
Timeline of Some Ancient Writings
Timeline of Ancient Writings In my years of research, I have learned that it is useful to have a timeline of "who said what" "when." As we all know, versions of history and philosophical concepts change dramatically down through the years. Here is a timeline of some ancient writers or writings. Obviously the dates are [...]
Wisdom for This Unusual Day
Wisdom for This Day The words of Hazrat Inayat Khan: Rumi says your worst enemy is hiding within yourself, and that enemy is your nafs or false ego. It is very difficult to explain the meaning of this ‘false ego.’ The best I can do is to say that every inclination which springs from disregard [...]
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On Centering GalleryOn Centering
Change: Quotations, Consciousness, Energy, and Matter: Quotations, Cross-Cultural Mythology, History and Culture, Intention and Expectation: Quotations, Mysticism: Quotations, Native American, Oneness and Unity: Quotations, Poetry, Psychology, Spiritual Diversity: Quotations, Spirituality
On Centering
On Centering The quotations are all from the book The Tao of Symbols, published in 1982 by James N. Powell “…Where is the still center of this turning universe? Are we to bow down several times each day in the direction of the stone in the central city of Mecca as [...]
Have We Forgotten What We Have All Been Taught?
Father and Child at US Border, AP imaage “Let the children come unto me…It is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish... Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me...” Jesus, Christian, quoted in Matthew 18 “Give justice to the [...]
Wholeness and Courage
Wholeness and Courage A quote from Marsha Sinetar: “…Wholeness exists to the extent an individual is conscious of and receptive to his innermost self…When we think about our own growth we probably think simultaneously of two co-existing and equally necessary elements: self-knowledge (i.e. knowing who the self within us really is and awakening to the [...]
That Intersecting Place, by Glenda Taylor, 2014
I came across this today, and I was glad to be reminded. I had posted it on the TowardCommonGround.org website back in 2014. Some of you responded then with deep insight. I include it here because, well, I guess I needed it this week again! This is only one slant, one among many [...]
Dancing With a Tornado: An Easter Story, by Glenda Taylor
Today, a week after the occasion of my 80th birthday celebration, which was a Dances of Universal Peace Four Day Camp at Earthsprings Retreat Center, my heart, mind, and body are still vibrating with the energy of the time some fifty people spent together dancing, singing, praying, eating, laughing, and most of all, being [...]
Why Did He Do That?
"Why did he do that?" I hear that question a lot these days, about any number of so-called deviant behaviors. For most of us, answering it seems somehow more and more urgently important. We do, after all, live in a time when, for example, gun sales are reaching record highs as [...]
Watercourse and Wonder, by Glenda Taylor
Today I noticed two things that stopped me in my tracks. As much as I attempt to practice the “Watercourse Way” (see my online course on Taoism at OneAndAllWisdom.com), today’s separate events caused me to marvel at the wonderful and mysterious ways that “going with the flow” actually may work. Years ago, [...]
A Gift of Wonder
Today is my grandson Jacob’s birthday, and I am pondering some of the ways he has taught me about the mysterious miracles of life. I remember the time, back when he was only a year and a half, perhaps not that, when his parents and I took Jacob to a doctor’s office. I stayed in [...]
The Bottom Line, a poem by Glenda Taylor
The Bottom Line, by Glenda Taylor You see, it’s like this, sort of: Because I experience Something-That-Is, Awestruck, I respond and in so doing, I learn, and relearn, deliciously, gratefully, that: This Something-That-Is transcends (but does not negate) definition or description. Knowing that is so, strangely unable to remain fittingly silent, I speak to whatever it [...]
Translations of Sacred Chant
The syllables or sounds in sacred chant cannot be translated literally for several reasons. The simplest is the familiar one: much is always “lost in translation.” What is lost in translation of sacred chant is its most important aspect: mystical or spiritual understanding. 1) There are stories, legends, traditions, beliefs, history, etc. behind every word [...]
Remembering “Langar” at Thanksgiving
As I am this week preparing food for the 46th annual open-house Thanksgiving pot-luck meal to be held in my home, I am remembering how a few weeks ago in Toronto at the Parliament of World Religions, I, along with 7200 other attendees, was offered a free and delicious lunch every day by the Sikh [...]
Creating and Experiencing Meaningful Personal Ceremony, by Glenda Taylor
The following is taken from the recording of a series of talks over a weekend workshop that I gave years ago to a small group of people whom I knew well and therefore with whom I felt confident sharing these sometimes personal thoughts. In transcribing the recordings, all the sessions were put together without noting where [...]
When a Jewish Congregation is Assaulted
In this grievous hour, I am reminded to reread George Washington’s letter to the Jewish Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, September 9, 1790: “…May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the goodwill of the other inhabitants, while every one shall sit in safety [...]
Navajo Nation Reacts to Children at Border
I am currently camping out near the Four Corners area of Colorado. I picked up a Navajo Nation newspaper, and I noted an article citing the Navajo Nation's reaction to the current border crisis in the U.S. I excerpt portions of it here as a historial reference that helps us see things through another lense. [...]
Quotations: Dr. Peter Marshall
Dr. Peter Marshall was chaplain of the U.S. Congress. Here are a few quotes: "Give to us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for, because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything.May we think of freedom, not as the right to [...]
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Debate and Decision Making: Quotation by Martin Prechtel GalleryDebate and Decision Making: Quotation by Martin Prechtel
Change: Quotations, Consciousness, Energy, and Matter: Quotations, Cross-Cultural Mythology, Earth and Ecology, Healing: Quotations, History and Culture, Individualism: Quotations, Intention and Expectation: Quotations, Intuition: Quotations, Native American, Oneness and Unity: Quotations, Prayer: Quotations, Psychology, Spiritual Diversity: Quotations, Transformation: Quotes
Debate and Decision Making: Quotation by Martin Prechtel
Glenda Taylor Comments: Yesterday morning I read something that was perfect for me personally to hear on the day of the “Great Debate.” It gave me a delightful and ancient context for our zany and critically important political drama, in which I, like many others, am caught up, raising my voice for this and that. [...]
Easter Morning with Dr. Peter Marshall
Glenda Taylor's comment: "On many and many an Easter morning through the years, I have opened a book by Dr. Peter Marshall called The First Easter to fill my being with the deep and present reality of “resurrection.” I commend the book to you. And I quote from it the [...]