~~Grace-Notes~~

**For every piece of beauty, there is a dark thought **

Posts tagged quotes

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unicycles asked you: Do you have a quote that you live by?

my /ask still won’t let me type in the reply box. It’s been like a month now. So I still reply like this

I have a whole list of them that I (try) to live by from various historical/philosophical/creative/spiritual/psychological sources, but probably the one I like and find helpful the most is from an Audioslave song,

” Even when you’ve paid enough
Been pulled apart or been held up
Every single memory of the good or bad
Faces of luck

Don’t lose any sleep tonight
I’m sure everything will end up alright
You may win or lose
But to be yourself is all that you can do

Chris Cornell is probably one of my most favorite singer/songwriters :-D
My second-most cherished quote is probably, ” I am the wisest man in the world because I know one thing - That I know nothing” by Socrates when contemplating why the oracle told him there was no one wiser than he. :-D

Filed under replies me quotes audioslave chris cornell socrates

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Sacred Moments #1

theinformedpagan:

“Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.”

- Siddhartha Gutama the Buddha


Question everything. Think for yourself. Follow and embrace only that which agrees with your highest reasoning, judgement, and intuition :-)

Filed under beliefs buddha quotes spirituality thinking for yourself

480 notes

What an astonishing thing a book is. It’s a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you’re inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.
Carl Sagan (via even-after-all-this-time)

(via undiscoveredpsyche)

Filed under quotes carl sagan books reading

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Following the Principle of Correspondence, we are justified in considering that THE ALL creates the Universe MENTALLY, in a manner akin to the process whereby Man creates Mental Images. And, here is where the report of Reason tallies precisely with the report of the Illumined, as shown by their teachings and writings. Such are the teachings of the Wise Men. Such was the Teaching of Hermes
~ the three initiates

Filed under hermetics universe all mind knowledge hermes thoth enoch quotes

803 notes

ascensionawareness: A noble truth. Find peace to create peace. #TeamWakeup #ascension #newage #namaste #neopagan #neogent (Taken with instagram) Apparently, I interpret most spiritual quotes in a different way than most. To me, it’s not about just making yourself peaceful (‘find peace’) in order to bring peace about the world (‘create peace’). It’s about examining the world as a way to be become more self-aware. I learned this lesson the hard way, as this lesson resulted in me crying my eyes out in the middle of Boston’s Harvard Square… . I was on a training retreat, in Boston, for a youth Daoist yoga group (3yrs ago). We were learning to put lessons into action through group activites of various lessons, and doing community service. For one of our, ‘learn through action’ lessons, the entire group was brought to the busy Harvard square area (Boston is so cool and beautiful, BTW) and tasked with splitting up and trying to get complete strangers to talk to you and give you their e-mail address (for a good cause, can’t recall what it was though). We were told that the one who got the most e-mail addresses would ‘win’ some sort of treat (can’t recall what that was either) but this was only to make sure that nobody slacked off and hung out in the neat cafes and bookstores . . but anyways … .I digress… We all walked around Boston’s streets for a few hours, chatting with these strangers, trying to get their e-mails. Everyone else was doing so well (they’re all very social light & love type of people. You guys would love them!) and filling their pages with people, but I was such a pathetic story. I kept zig-zagging through the crowd, “Hi! I’m ____. May I speak to you for a moment … .” the whole time. Every single person turned away and kept walking before I ever got a few words out. Two hours later, I gave up and shoved my completely empty piece of paper into my pocket. A lone street musician gave me an acknowledging nod and sung louder, as I climbed onto a concrete wall, bordering a garden several yards away. His tunes would be a comfort I really needed. I felt my lips start to quiver and I tried to hold it back but I burst into tears. An entire city of people and this musician was the only one who noticed I existed, or cared to give me the time of day. I buried my head in my hands to hide my shame and tears and I felt a tugging on my pants legs. I looked up hesitantly, and it was a young child (about 4). He quickly covered then uncovered his face and said, “peekaboo!” then giggled and ran behind a tree, which he kept peeking out from behind, repeating, “peekaboo” , giggling, and ducking back between the tree. His parents gave me a funny look and dragged him away. My small smile he gave me quickly faded, as few of the other youth group members started to come and sit in the same area because our time-limit was coming to an end. All of their pages were full and they were comparing numbers. One of them turned to me, very excited, and asked how many I got. The tears came back stronger than before. I was relieved when our group leader came up and said’ “come on guys. Time to get back to the hostel (actually a huge, sweet, colonial farmhouse not a NY style hostel!) and get ready for dinner.” After we finished dinner, we gathered again in the big room we used for our daily activities and that’s when we were told the purpose of the day’s exercise. (all the e-mails were thrown out) We listened to a short lecture on how the entire Universe is a mirror for ourselves, etc. and at the end were each asked to tell what we learned about ourselves . .what we saw in the mirror. Everyone else’s stories were beautiful and touching. I started crying again because I just realized how other people saw me, how I really was. The musician and the child grabbed my attention and my interest/compassion so easily and instantly … . .but I tend to be utterly unintersted in and dismissive to every other, sometimes to the point of coldness, because I’m nervous about what bullshit they’re gonna say to me or what ‘angle’ they’re playing … . .and that’s how everybody, other than the child and the musician acted towards me!I find I often cry when I find out something about myself that I don’t like. I now nod and smile at about half the people I pass by, and about half of them smile back at me :-) So, you see, I don’t believe that it’s about bringing peace by being peace (though that works, it’s not what this particular quote is about). It’s about awareness of self …and it’s that self-awareness, the actual facing of these shadows -not the mirror which you saw them in - that brings us to desire to change into a better person. … but that’s just my opinion. I don’t expect anyone else to take my life lessons to heart. :-) I think a more appropriate quote for what you said (ascensionawareness) would be’ “Be the change you want to see in the world” or “teach by example” it’s very similar but speaks to the actions that the lessons of the ‘mirror’ teach you.

ascensionawareness:

A noble truth. Find peace to create peace. #TeamWakeup #ascension #newage #namaste #neopagan #neogent (Taken with instagram)


Apparently, I interpret most spiritual quotes in a different way than most. To me, it’s not about just making yourself peaceful (‘find peace’) in order to bring peace about the world (‘create peace’). It’s about examining the world as a way to be become more self-aware. I learned this lesson the hard way, as this lesson resulted in me crying my eyes out in the middle of Boston’s Harvard Square… .

I was on a training retreat, in Boston, for a youth Daoist yoga group (3yrs ago). We were learning to put lessons into action through group activites of various lessons, and doing community service. For one of our, ‘learn through action’ lessons, the entire group was brought to the busy Harvard square area (Boston is so cool and beautiful, BTW) and tasked with splitting up and trying to get complete strangers to talk to you and give you their e-mail address (for a good cause, can’t recall what it was though). We were told that the one who got the most e-mail addresses would ‘win’ some sort of treat (can’t recall what that was either) but this was only to make sure that nobody slacked off and hung out in the neat cafes and bookstores . . but anyways … .I digress…

We all walked around Boston’s streets for a few hours, chatting with these strangers, trying to get their e-mails. Everyone else was doing so well (they’re all very social light & love type of people. You guys would love them!) and filling their pages with people, but I was such a pathetic story. I kept zig-zagging through the crowd, “Hi! I’m ____. May I speak to you for a moment … .” the whole time. Every single person turned away and kept walking before I ever got a few words out. Two hours later, I gave up and shoved my completely empty piece of paper into my pocket. A lone street musician gave me an acknowledging nod and sung louder, as I climbed onto a concrete wall, bordering a garden several yards away. His tunes would be a comfort I really needed. I felt my lips start to quiver and I tried to hold it back but I burst into tears. An entire city of people and this musician was the only one who noticed I existed, or cared to give me the time of day. I buried my head in my hands to hide my shame and tears and I felt a tugging on my pants legs. I looked up hesitantly, and it was a young child (about 4). He quickly covered then uncovered his face and said, “peekaboo!” then giggled and ran behind a tree, which he kept peeking out from behind, repeating, “peekaboo” , giggling, and ducking back between the tree. His parents gave me a funny look and dragged him away. My small smile he gave me quickly faded, as few of the other youth group members started to come and sit in the same area because our time-limit was coming to an end. All of their pages were full and they were comparing numbers. One of them turned to me, very excited, and asked how many I got. The tears came back stronger than before. I was relieved when our group leader came up and said’ “come on guys. Time to get back to the hostel (actually a huge, sweet, colonial farmhouse not a NY style hostel!) and get ready for dinner.”

After we finished dinner, we gathered again in the big room we used for our daily activities and that’s when we were told the purpose of the day’s exercise. (all the e-mails were thrown out) We listened to a short lecture on how the entire Universe is a mirror for ourselves, etc. and at the end were each asked to tell what we learned about ourselves . .what we saw in the mirror. Everyone else’s stories were beautiful and touching. I started crying again because I just realized how other people saw me, how I really was. The musician and the child grabbed my attention and my interest/compassion so easily and instantly … . .but I tend to be utterly unintersted in and dismissive to every other, sometimes to the point of coldness, because I’m nervous about what bullshit they’re gonna say to me or what ‘angle’ they’re playing … . .and that’s how everybody, other than the child and the musician acted towards me!I find I often cry when I find out something about myself that I don’t like. I now nod and smile at about half the people I pass by, and about half of them smile back at me :-)

So, you see, I don’t believe that it’s about bringing peace by being peace (though that works, it’s not what this particular quote is about). It’s about awareness of self …and it’s that self-awareness, the actual facing of these shadows -not the mirror which you saw them in - that brings us to desire to change into a better person. … but that’s just my opinion. I don’t expect anyone else to take my life lessons to heart. :-)

I think a more appropriate quote for what you said (ascensionawareness) would be’ “Be the change you want to see in the world” or “teach by example” it’s very similar but speaks to the actions that the lessons of the ‘mirror’ teach you.

(Source: alchemicalascension, via mysticmementos)

Filed under awareness life lessons mirror quotes shadow spirituality universe new age

79 notes

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this.
Henry David Thoreau

 (via simplyisis)

Filed under quotes literature thoreau