Part 2 Quote 2
“Surrender is a tough one to accept for Westerners. Our reality is based on a conceptual thought of how we think it is. If we give up that thought, give up our power and free will, we may succumb to someone else’s control and lose ourselves forever. That’s the fear. It turns out that giving up conceptual thought is not so scary after all—in fact it’s a relief. So-called objective reality is only relatively real compared to the deeper reality of the Self.”
Part 3 Quote 7
“Contentment is not a feeling of accomplishment from doing something. Contentment is a practice.”
Part 3 Quote 6
“There are billions of tiny acts that create suffering in the world—acts of ignorance, greed, violence. But in the same way, each act of caring—all the billion tiny ways that we offer compassion, wisdom, and joy to one another—serves as a preservative and healing agent.”
Part 3 Quote 5
“Everything we do to work on ourselves—going on retreat, meditating, opening our hearts, quieting our minds—transforms our being. Whatever we have to offer, as a physiotherapist, or a bus driver, or a parent, is all part of that work. It’s not the forms of the game—those are the vehicles.”
Part 3 Quote 4
“Once, when I was in Jerusalem, I passed two Hasidic Jews coming across a square. They were wearing the usual black hats and black coats, and I heard one of them say, ‘That’s Ram Dass! That’s who got me into this.’ They had taken drugs and read Be Here Now. In Burma, I met two Westerners who were studying to be Buddhist monks. ‘You’re the one who got us into this,’ they told me.”
Part 3 Quote 3
“Old age and childhood offer a kind of spacious time other seasons do not, because they are not filled with busyness and rushing around. This quiet openness allows the soul to enter, just like quieting the mind in meditation.”
Part 3 Quote 2
“Every dying person with whom I shared time helped me probably more than I helped them. Dying is a collaborative dance, an opportunity to do the work within, whether you are the one facing death or the one at the bedside.”
Part 3 Quote 1
“Have you ever noticed how many angry people there are at peace rallies? Social action arouses righteousness. Righteousness ultimately starves your heart. If you want to be free more than you want to be right, you let go of righteousness. For social action to be done with love, the spiritual work comes first. If you oppose something or someone in anger, all you proliferate in the world is more anger.”