Many / One

A database of 11,000+ illuminated guiding quotations in 40 categories from 600+ inspired books by our most brilliant and influential authors.
Compiled by JoAnn Kite

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The Unfolding Self: Varieties of Transformative Experience
Ralph Metzner

1 "The eye or voice of conscience…is the eye of the Self within."

2 "From the many to the one, from duality to unity – the direction of growth and evolution is toward integration, toward oneness."

3 "A ray of clear light travels throughout all creation."

4 "By going to my center, my central axis, I can experience the central axis, pole, or pillar of the world – the cosmic hub, the navel of the world (omphalos)."

5 "According to the Jewish Kabbalah teachings, evil occurs when the function of discrimination or judgment (Gevurah) is separated from its natural complement – loving kindness or mercy (Hesed). The implication is that discriminative judgment must be integrated with kindness or compassion for this opposition to be transformed. A similar moral attitude is implied by the Buddhist teachings that advocate a balanced integration of discriminative wisdom and compassion."

6 "Out of the turmoil and darkness of dying comes the sparkling vitality of the newborn self. This new self is connected to the eternal source of all life, that source from which we all derive, the divine essence within."

7 "The evolutionary transformation of society and of humanity must take place first in the individual, and the transformation of the individual requires a turning inward, toward self – not in narcissistic self-absorption but in aware self-confrontation."

8 "According to Christ's teaching, every man and woman has, and is, a being of light within."

9 "A mandala represents the whole, unified field of consciousness."

10 "The networks of thought energy, the collective tapestry of consciousness, links all humans and all forms of life."

11 "The human psyche is purified, transformed and loved by the fire of God, with which it becomes increasingly unified."

12 "Each human being is, in essence, a divine spirit of pure light. This light can come 'down' or 'through', into mind and body, into outward expression and manifestation."

13 "Humanity is truly at an evolutionary choice point: we know in our hearts that either we are going to have to grow up very fast, change ourselves in radical ways, or we will destroy major portions of the biosphere and perhaps ourselves as well. We have a desperate need for greater awareness of our own inner dynamics and processes if we are going to survive the present global crisis."

14 "The language of symbols is common human language. It is the language we still use and understand – in dreams, in poetry and art, in the visions and voices that tell us of the sacred and the mystery."

15 "The Inner Self abides always in the heart…One should draw him out, as one may the wind from the reed. Him one should know as the pure, the immortal." Katha Upanishad

16 "The tree of life symbolizes the interdimensional central axis, with its energy centers and branching channels, that is our connection with the realms of spirit and hence immortal life."

17 "Ancient sacred texts refer to the intelligence of the heart, the eye of the heart. This is the heart center, where we see with the feeling light of love."

18 "Divinity is the fire of life within every being."

19 "God stands in the same relationship to the universe as Self stands to the body and personality…in the words of one of the aphorisms of the Gurdjieff student A. R. Orage; 'God is the I of the universe.'"

20 "Those who are asleep live each in a private world; those who are awake live in the one Great World." Herakleitos, ancient Greek sage

21 "I live my life in growing orbits, which move out over the things of the world…I am circling around God, around the ancient tower, and I have been circling for a thousand years." Rainer Maria Rilke, 'Selected Poems of Rainer Maria Rilke'

22 "The mandala is the central symbol of individuation, integration, or wholeness. One could say that a key component of the transformation of vision in psychospiritual development is the perceiving of the visual field as a kind of mandala. American Indian vision seekers have reported that they see the 'circle of the Sky' touch the 'circle of the Earth', forming one great hoop…it is Buckminster Fuller's sphere of 'omnidirectional awareness', moving always with us."

23 "We have an eye of contemplation, which sees with higher or spiritual light the ultimate reality of oneness."

24 "Whether we speak of union with God or with the Tao, of cosmic consciousness or of wholeness, there is a common core here in all of us. We are one in this – further, we are interconnected with the natural world and the cosmos in which we live."

25 "The atom is, in many ways, seen to behave as much like a wave as a particle. It can perhaps best be regarded as a poorly defined cloud, dependednt for its particular form on the whole environment, including the observing instrument…Both observer and observed are merging and interpenetrating aspects of one whole reality, which is indivisible." Fritjof Capra, 'The Tao of Physics'

This body of quotes compiled by JoAnn Kite