Simple AnswersZen Wisdom
When you handle rice, water or anything else, have the affectionate and caring concern of a parent raising a child.
— Zen Master Dogen
Posted by Frederic Brussat on January 27, 2023
Discovering God
Posted by Frederic Brussat on January 13, 2023
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
Life’s Pleasures
Posted by Frederic Brussat on December 30, 2022
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
Everything Flows
Posted by Frederic Brussat on December 16, 2022
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
Letting Troubles Go
Posted by Frederic Brussat on December 2, 2022
Good Happens
Posted by Frederic Brussat on November 18, 2022
Literary Wisdom
It is good to renew one’s wonder, said the philosopher. Space travel has made children of us all.
─ Ray Bradbury, American science fiction writer and screenwriter
Becoming Beautiful
Posted by Frederic Brussat on November 4, 2022
Native American Wisdom
Beauty, in our eyes, is always fresh and living, even as God, the Great Mystery, dresses the world anew at each season of the year.
— Ohiyesa in The Wisdom of the Native Americans edited by Kent Nerburn
Commitment
Posted by Frederic Brussat on October 21, 2022
Mystical Wisdom
Our task is to offer ourselves up to God like a clean, smooth canvas and not bother ourselves about what God may choose to paint on it, but, at every moment, feel only the stroke of his brush.
— Jean Pierre de Caussade in Teachings of the Christian Mystics by Andrew Harvey
Courage for Retooling
Posted by Frederic Brussat on October 7, 2022
Philosophical Wisdom
Justice not only sees the place of everything, it feels the place of everything. Justice is that which knows what to do to restore things to their right place and knows when and how to do it.
— Jacob Needleman in The American Soul
The Holy Bursting Through
Posted by Frederic Brussat on September 23, 2022
Literary Wisdom
We walk though forests of physical things
. . . That look on us with affectionate looks.
─ Charles Baudelaire, French poet
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About This Blog
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