Literary Wisdom
Small service is usually true service.
— William Wordsworth, nineteenth century English poet
Literary Wisdom
Small service is usually true service.
— William Wordsworth, nineteenth century English poet
Literary Wisdom
Imagination denied, war governed the nations.
— William Blake in Wrestling with the Prophets by Matthew Fox
Catholic Wisdom
He is truly great who is great in charity.
— Thomas A. Kempis in The Imitation of Christ
Teacher Wisdom
Seek always the blue moment. . . . It can happen any time or any place. It is a moment when you are truly alive to the world around you.
— Kent Nerburn in Letters to My Son
Teacher Wisdom
To be human is about regaining what has been lost in the shuffle when life has been relegated to keeping score and making waves. To be human is about cultivating the good life. To be human is about gardening the soul.
— Terry Hershey in Soul Gardening
Zen Wisdom
When you handle rice, water or anything else, have the affectionate and caring concern of a parent raising a child.
— Zen Master Dogen
Catholic Wisdom
The great, gashed, half-naked mountain is another of God's saints. There is no other like him. He is alone in his own character; nothing else in the world ever did or ever will imitate God in quite the same way.
- Thomas Merton in When the Trees Say Nothing
Psychological Wisdom
Imagine a world without pleasure. Life would appear colorless and humorless. A baby’s smile would go unappreciated. Foods would be tasteless.
— Robert Ornstein and David Sobel in Healthy Pleasures
Buddhist Wisdom
Nothing lasts, nothing can be counted on, everything changes. That is another way of saying that we can’t control anything in our world.
Everything is continually slipping away.
─ Lewis Richmond in Work as a Spiritual Practice
Within all the spiritual traditions, short and sweet wisdom abounds: from mantras and blessings to 12-step slogans and proverbs, and more. As philosopher George Santayana once said: "To be brief is almost a condition of being inspired." In this blog, I will take up the quest for small seeds of spiritual wisdom, which can be found everywhere if we keep our eyes and ears open. More