Many / One

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Compiled by JoAnn Kite

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Spiritual Genius, The Mastery of Life's Meaning
Winifred Gallagher
The author interviews several people who are spiritual geniuses, those who are masters of Life's meaning and how to express this in their life experiences.

1 "The world's apparent brokenness conceals a hidden unity." Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

2 "Physics, biology, and other sciences increasingly reveal a complementary picture of the universe as a vast web of interrelationships."

3 "The whole world is much more globally connected. That means we're aware of our neighbors as being fully human just as they are, not as we think they should be. We can't go backwards from this point. We've got to move forward." Bette Edl, American Franciscan hermit

4 "Everything a person does affects all being." Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

5 "Pure consciousness, called the universal Self, is all that exists."

6 "The story line in all religions tells of a happy ending that blossoms as a result of ordeals necessarily confronted and surmounted. These trials add to the ultimate glory." Huston Smith

7 "The Christian 'unio mystico', Jewish 'devekut', Muslin 'fana', Hindu 'samadhi', and Zen 'Kensho' manifest the same intense consciousness of ultimate reality's underlying unity and goodness."

8 "Things are more integrated, unified, whole than they seem to us." Huston Smith

9 "We're all cast in the divine image, whether we're Eskimos or Hottentots, so we're more alike than otherwise." Huston Smith

10 "Spiritual genius is the uniquely human ability to seek life's meaning. It's the voice inside us that keeps asking What's it all about? Who am I? How can I make a difference? This inclination to wonder why we exist is not rarefied, but a basic human trait… We're born with a craving to know our larger purpose."

11 "I understand God in terms of love, compassion, justice. The Qur'an says everything in the world has been created for a just purpose." Riffat Hassan, Muslim Feminist teacher

12 "That God is one means there's a oneness at the core of all being in whom everything…converges." Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

13 "Islam teaches justice and respect for the human being and does not condone oppression."

14 "Once a person truly awakens to the hidden holiness that underlies and unifies creation, his or her inevitable behavioral response is goodness, or treating others as the 'self' that all share."

15 "Because we have free will, we can choose to behave in ways that either enhance or hinder the movement of creation toward perfect completion in the divine."

16 "Find the divine in everything. There has to be a part of you that knows that, at the end of the day, it's all working for God." Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

17 "When you talk about God, you're talking about what connects everything to everything else." Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

18 "I believe people are sacramental – the means by which God communicates God's nature to us." Dr. Tony Campolo, American Baptist minister

19 "God doesn't just hear our prayers but prays them through us as well. There's a huge transformation when you forget your self and realize that your hands and eyes are God's. Once you're with, or the same as, God, you aren't praying for your own needs, because you have none." Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

20 "We can choose to develop awareness,…. which allows us to be responsible agents instead of helpless victims." Tenzin Palmo, English Buddhist nun

21 "There's only oneness." Karunamayi, Hindu spiritual mother

22 "Mind has great power, and its nature is the same for all beings. So, at a very deep level, one person's enlightenment is enlightenment for all." Tenzin Palmo, English Buddhist nun

23 "Once one has truly realized the mind's true nature…you just see incredibly expansive interconnection." Tenzin Palmo, English Buddhist nun

24 "God is the self of the universe, so in finding your true inner self, you find God." Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

25 "God loves us a billion times more than a mother! Far beyond anything we can experience in our minds and intellects!" Karunamayi, Hindu spiritual mother

This body of quotes compiled by JoAnn Kite