- - - - - - - QUOTES TO PONDER - - - - - - -



            "Only when we can love hell will we find heaven."
                                                    -- Unknown source


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People often view the spiritual path as a search for the light. In truth, 
spirituality asks us to bring light and darkness together in wholeness. And 
in fact, this is the only possible solution. In our world of duality, any 
effort to focus all attention on the light only serves to increase the power 
of the darkness. Our aim is not to deny or reject anything but to embrace it 
all.

"When you are able to contain both the light and dark together, that is a 
very enlightening state. It means that you no longer have to choose one 
experience over another. You do not have to choose love OR hate, blame OR 
forgiveness, sadness OR joy, anger OR openheartedness. You are no longer 
polarized; no particular feeling boxes you in and keeps you from the light 
of true self. You then have access to the full range of human experiences 
you came into this life to embrace."

-- Martia Nelson


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At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have 
received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. 
We will be judged by 'I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was naked and 
you clothed me, I was homeless and you took me in.' Hungry not only for 
bread -- but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing -- but naked for 
human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for want of a room of bricks, 
but homeless because of rejection.

~Mother Teresa~


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For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; 
I was a stranger and you took Me in;  I was naked and you clothed Me; I was 
sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'

"Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, "Lord, when did we see You 
hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  When did we see You a 
stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?  Or when did we see You 
sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to 
them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least 
of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'

~Matthew 2535-40~


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"Love every leaf, every ray of light. Love all the animals, love each 
seperate thing. If you love everything, you will perceive the mystery of God 
in all, and when you perceive this you will grow every day in fuller 
understanding of it, until you come at last to love the whole world with a 
love that will be all-embracing and universal."

~Fyodor Dostoevski~


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As individualized expressions of the same creator, we are connected. Each 
man is our brother, each woman is our sister. Color, creed, social status, 
education makes no difference. When we perform a kindness for another it is 
just as if we have done it for ourselves. It is not us and them, these and 
those because we are all in the earth experience together connecting units. 
We take care of our own, and when we come to a realization that everyone is 
our own, we love and nurture one another. We are all seeking loving kindness 
and the desire has been built into us by the creator. Giving and receiving 
are the same. This process creates a circle of love which spirals onward and 
upward. Let us share our Divine gifts with others. In MARK 12 31 it is 
written, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

In order to love somebody or to feel compassion or empathy for that person, 
you really do have to go out of yourself and unite at some level of your 
mind with someone else.  For me, love means going outside yourself.  It is a 
breakdown of boundaries separating you from other people.  You allow your 
consciousness, your being, your mind, to fuse with the other person. The 
very word "empathy" means to put yourself in someone else's place, becoming 
that person for a moment, knowing what he or she senses, feels, needs. 
Healers who can do this, who love the most, the deepest, go out of 
themselves and unite with someone else.  Becoming one with someone else is 
the essence of love.  And that oneness is how I understand God.

~ Larry Dossey, M.D.~


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