Quote of the Week 28 - A Heart of Wisdom

"Teach us to count our days, then we shall acquire a heart of wisdom."
Psalm 90

Quote of the Week 27 - Tao Te Ching

The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The named is the mother of ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one can see the manifestations.
Tao Te Ching

Quote of the Week 26 - True Worship, Imageless Prayer

"When one is truly worshipping God, he has no image in his mind. True worship of God is without any picture in the mind or notions in mind about the appearance or nature of God. To truly worship God without images is the Esoteric meaning behind the command – ‘thou shalt have no other images before me.’ God is an imageless prayer for man."
Source Forgotten

Quote of the Week 25 - Jewish Shamanism

"…the Jewish shamanic tradition …emphasizes the sacredness of the earth, and that all organisms, even stars and planets, are imbued by the Creator with a divine consciousness. Every blade of grass is empowered by a spirit being. All trees speak to one another, and all rocks and plants have healing powers that can be accessed through their spirits."
"Jewish Shamanism is …about a way of thinking, a way of being in the world, a way of consciousness that perceives magic in the ordinary, miracle in the "natural course of events." Where most people will be awestruck at the sight of a passing comet, the Jewish shaman will be awestruck at the sight of a fallen leaf."
From Magic of the Ordinary, Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism, by Rabbi Gershon Winkler

Quote of the Week 24 - Every Form

"The best form in which to worship God is every form".
Neem Karoli Baba
"Which aspect of God do you prefer, the personal or the impersonal?"
Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa

Quote of the Week 23 - Selfless Love and Self Preservation

The most powerful force in existence is the power of selfless love.
The second most powerful force in existence is the power of self-preservation.
In between these two stands the ego, the sense of separate self.
When ego focuses on the power of selfless love, it moves towards sainthood; you’re part of the solution and all is well.
When ego focuses on the power of self-preservation, it moves away from sainthood; you’re part of the problem and all hell breaks loose.

Steven J. Gold

Quote of the Week 22 - The Purpose of Spiritual Practice

Many spiritual aspirants have a misconception that the purpose of spiritual practice is just to achieve divine bliss, divine ecstasy and divine oneness.
These are just partial benefits. The purpose of spiritual practices is to accelerate the evolutionary development of the soul so that the person can be of greater service to mankind and the planet Earth.
From The Origin of Modern Pranic Healing and Arhatic Yoga by Master Choa Kok Sui

Quote of the Week 21 - How the Soul Leaves the Body

Different methods of how the soul leaves the body either when the body is asleep or when the person is meditating:

The first method is the Roll-over Technique. When the body is sleeping, the soul simply rolls over and out of the body.

The second technique is the Swinging or Pendulum Technique. The soul swings to the left and then swings to the right until it swings out of the body.

The third technique is the Inner Sound Technique. The inner sound becomes extremely loud and the inner consciousness is pulled out of the body through the sound, by listening to the inner sound. The sound is like a very loud buzzing sound, louder than the sound of a jet plane engine.

The fourth technique is the Spiraling Technique. The soul just simply spirals out of the body. The Inner Sound Technique is usually accompanied by the Spiraling Technique.

From The Origin of Modern Pranic Healing and Arhatic Yoga by Master Choa Kok Sui

Quote of the Week 20 - The Existence of God

"The existence of God is self-evident."
Master Choa Kok Sui

Quote of the Week 19 - For Free

"Every one who is thirsty, come and drink. He who has no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good. Let your soul delight in abundance." Isaiah 55:1-3

This very clearly contains a message that biblical words are often used figuratively and not literally. Obviously, the thirst and hunger referenced here is not on the physical level, and the satisfaction of these desires is likewise to be fulfilled other than on the physical level, and for free, or for a price that everyone can afford, with assets that everyone has available to them. The key is to "listen carefully" in order to partake of the abundance available on the level of the soul, an obvious reference to meditation on the inner sound, the "still, small voice within" (which phrase is contained in another portion of the Prophets).