Great Throughts Treasury

"[Idolatry as] the moments when we forget who we really are and instead of remembering that we are sparks of the Divine, we start giving up our power to a guru, an ideology, a romantic obsession, a stressful job that begins to define us, or an unhealthy habit we think we can’t live without. Even is we no longer build or worship physical idols like in ancient times, we have modern-day addictions and pressures that cause us to forget that our purpose here is to be a vehicle for Divine energies."

"Each moment of true spiritual awakening rouses us from the relative unconsciousness of the separate ego of personal and institutional identity. It's not that the separate self is bad, but that it's not the whole of our identity. The separate identity does best when working in the service of a more inclusive awareness."

"Ego, as our personal separate identity, was constructed to support our survival as we grow. But this separate identity tends to experience itself always in competition with other separate selves. Our personal judgments and self-righteousness can become sacred to our separate identity, and we tend to stick to them even when they cause pain to us and to others. Religious institutions operate the same way, helping us identify ourselves, but too often pitting ourselves against others."

"We are here with purpose. Our lives have meaning."

"Our ego tends to be discounted in spiritual circles, but as part of the One, it, too, must have its unique function."

"The Kabbalistic Tree of Life is a visual representation of the levels of Creation, a process in which the One Being moves from Nothing to Everything. The movement from ‘Everything back to Nothing’ is a representation of the stages of spiritual awakening… The Tree can represent energies within the human body as well as within the cosmic Whole, and makes it possible to identify relationships among the 10 levels. It is helpful to remember that the right side of the Tree represents unformed energies; the left side provides form, and the central pillar represents various levels of identity."

"We believe that the core teachings of our traditions can call us back to the essential spiritual values too often eclipsed by the institutions of ego and religion. We know that the essential work is an inner work, discovering and honoring the deeper aspects of our being. We have ego and we have the institutions of religion, and they are useful and essential to our growing. But they also limit us, and keep us from rejoicing in the more profound spiritual realizations of our absolute interconnectedness with all beings."

"We go astray personally and religiously when we go unconscious to what really matters in our lives. When we slip into the separate and compelling demands of the ego, we lose sight of our interconnectedness with others. Our ego is the institution of our individuality, much as religion is the institution of spirituality."

"If New Year's is truly a time to celebrate, wouldn't it make more sense to celebrate this moment rather than putting our good into an imagined future? So I'm meeting this New Year with a single resolution, and it's an evolution of a solution. My resolution no longer focuses on an imagined future. My solution is the present moment. My revolution is choosing the present moment -- choosing the moment to be exactly as it is. Choosing to be exactly as I am. Choosing to think all the thoughts I am thinking; choosing to be sensing and feeling exactly what I want. After all, it's what is in this moment."

"But the mind-self becomes a prison of pain when we indulge its self-contempt. And that negative self-judgment really has little to do with the situations we are seeking to change in the outer world. There are all kinds of reasons so many of us learned that we were not okay the way we were. But that's actually just an idea. We've been conditioned to confuse self-acceptance with self-indulgence, self-love with narcissism."

"If our resolutions are the same each year, does that mean that we haven't really changed in any significant way? And if that is so, what does that mean? Have our rituals and our resolutions failed us? Why would they go and do that? The problem with resolutions is that they propose a future state that will bring us the feelings we would wish to have. And what are those feelings? Well, if we achieved the intention of those resolutions, we would feel really good about who we are and where we are in our lives."

"How can this experience I am now having support the awakening of greater clarity and compassion in my life?"

"And, of course, there is part of me that whispers, "Well, you are doing a lot better, but you're not there yet." Ah, yes. That there place. Always the there. Always something more to do in order to celebrate, in order to cheer, in order to cheer for me. Of course, that there place never quite materializes until one totally accepts the now place. Paradox rules again!"

"Isn't that the real yearning behind our intentions? Behind all of them? Trying to create a reality in which we can really feel good, where we can imagine feeling good all the time about our lives. So here's the central conflict. We project our feeling good, our acceptance of who we are, where we are, what we are doing, and who we are with, onto a future state. And that guarantees one thing: That we do not feel so good about where we are now, who we are now, what we are doing now, and who we are with now."

"It was Meister Eckhart, the great Christian mystic, who said, "If the only prayer you say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." The gratitude we bring to the world has the power to transform that world. When gratitude begins within ourselves, it is a truly powerful spiritual path. Try using the words "thank you" when you rise and when you go to sleep. Repeat them silently and gently as a focus for meditation. Greet each perception, each sensation, each thought and each feeling with "Thank you." It's a Thanksgiving Day mantra for every day."

"Judaism teaches that even before getting out of bed in the morning, one is to speak words of gratitude. I thank You, Living and Eternal Being, for You have mercifully restored my soul within me. Your Faithfulness is great. I am grateful to be here now. How different this is from our usual tendency to begin our day by reflecting on how we feel, how we slept, how late we are and the demands the day will bring. And when we look to the world, how are we to be grateful with the daily ravages of war and violence, the radical polarization, and the hundreds of thousands of our own citizens struggling through freezing temperatures after losing their homes to Sandy's powerful winds and water? Jewish tradition urges us to begin with thanksgiving, and bring that to the world."

"Spiritual teachers announce through their own moments of realization as well as through their teaching that Awakening is always now. Spiritual Awakening is different from Materialistic Awakening. The latter is a function of the eternally judging mind of our individualized consciousness. Spiritual Awakening is always a realization of the holiness of this moment."

"This is the resolution for this New Year: I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing. I am exactly who I am supposed to be in this moment. And I am with exactly the persons I am meant to be with. This moment is no longer tinged with punishment, it is complete as it is."

"Radical self-acceptance and unconditional self-love is what Awakening looks like. The stress releases in such a moment, the pain eases. We can breathe more openly. We're already where we are supposed to be."

"My resolution: To celebrate the moment, to celebrate my self, with such love and compassion that I walk from one perfect moment into the next with great joy."