first we receive the light, then we impart it • thus we repair the world.

are you looking for me? i am in the next seat.
my shoulder is against yours.
you will not find me in stupas, not in Indian shrine rooms, nor in
synagogues, nor in cathedrals:
not in masses, nor kirtans, not in legs winding around your own
neck, nor in eating nothing but vegetables
when you really look for me, you will see me instantly -
you will find me in the tiniest house of time.
kabir says: student, tell me, what is God?
He is the breath inside the breath.

a zen master said to a monk, "you must see the universe in your cup." the monk looked into his cup, but didn't see the universe there, so he threw the cup away • the zen master said, oh, poor cup • we think the cup is too small to hold the universe • intellectually, we can't see how it could fit • but wherever we go, the whole universe always appears - in a cup, in a window, in a smile, in a word."

what is meant by light?
to gaze with undimmed eyes on all darkness.

nothing you do for children is ever wasted • they seem not to notice us, hovering, avoiding our eyes, and they seldom offer thanks, but what we do for them is never wasted.

i thank God for my handicaps, for through them, i have found myself, my work and my God.

the best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched • they must be felt with the heart.

God breaks the heart again and again and again until it stays open.

sooner or later, all the peoples of the world will have to discover a way to live together in peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood • if this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation • the foundation of such a method is love.

reconsider your definitions • we are prone to judge success by the index of our salaries or the size of our automobiles rather than by the quality of our service and relationship to mankind.

a journalist once asked dr. martin luther king, jr., "how do you manage to accomplish all that you do during the course of a day?" "i give my first hour to God," he said, "and God gives me the rest."

said mrs. browning, the poet, to charles kingsley, the novelist, "what is the secret of your life? tell me, that I may make mine beautiful also." thinking a moment, the beloved old author replied, "I had a friend."

spiritual life is not about knowing much, but about loving much.

nonviolence is not some exalted regimen that can be practiced only by a monk or a master; it also pertains to the way one interacts with a child, vacuums a carpet, or waits in line • whenever we separate ourselves from a given situation (for example, through inattentiveness, negative judgments, or impatience), we "kill" something valuable: ...people, things, one's own composure, the moment itself... these small-scale incidences of violence accumulate relentlessly, are multiplied on a social level, and become a source of the large-scale violence that can sweep down upon us so suddenly... one need not wait until war is declared and bullets are flying to work for peace... a more constant and equally urgent battle must be waged each day against the forces of one's own anger, carelessness, and self-absorption.

the more minimal the art, the more maximum the explanation.

the fabled musk deer searches the world over for the source of the scent which comes from itself.

the latin etymology of the word "religion" means to repair or reconnect, and i've realized that it is through our shared unknowing that we find our greatest connection to one another, and to what is sacred.

the holiest Name in the world, the Name of the Creator, is the sound of your own breathing.