The greatest mystery is not that we have been flung at random between the profusion of matter and of the stars, but that within this prison we can draw from ourselves images powerful enough to deny our nothingness.”
— Andre Malraux
Tag: Quotables
Illustrative things said by people other than me. Think of them as pieces of congealed wonder and wisdom.
The harder it became, the more I wanted to do it.”
— Female round-the-world sailor, from the film MAIDEN
If church worked, you’d only need to go once.”
— Pastor Rich Gantenbein, a”h
The only difference between a madman and myself is that I am not mad.”
— Salvador Dali
To gain a yirah[awe]-inducing glimpse of the transcendent, you must sharpen your inner awareness to perceive divine Oneness wherever you look. You can practice shifting your inner vision to apprehend the scintillating divine presence in an apple, a table, a car, a baby’s eyes, anywhere in this world. When you make that choice and adjust your perception in this way, you have placed HaShem [that-which-some-people-call-G?d] before you, and yirah is sure to overtake your heart as if the floor beneath you had suddenly fallen away.”
–From the monthly YASHAR newsletter)
Backyard astronomers are a special breed. They savor their moments under the stars. They have an infatuation — a love affair — with the cosmos that grows and nurtures itself just as meaningful human relationships do. Of course, it is a less definable one-way relationship, but I have come to regard that feeling as the closest I can ever come to being at one with nature. After a night under the stars, I have a sense of mellowness, an amalgam of humility, wonder and discovery. The universe is beautiful, in both the visual and spiritual sense.”
–Terence Dickinson, Nightwatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe
Lord, I’m walking Your way. Let me in, for my feet are sore, my clothes ragged. Look in my eyes, Lord, and my sins will play out on them as on a screen. Read them all. Forgive what You can, and send me on my path. I will walk on, until You bid me rest.”
—Shepherd Book
Your spiritual practice will give you many gifts, but don’t expect it to relieve you of your human nature.”
–Alan Morinis
We’re trapped in linguistic constructs… all that is, is metaphor.”
—Robert Anton Wilson
Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
— Albert Einstein
Unless you are at home in the metaphor, you are not safe anywhere.”
— Robert Frost
Death steals everything except our stories.”
— Jim Harrison