Contemplative Quotes - Page 6

• To be contemplative we must become converted to the consciousness that makes us one with the universe, in tune with the cosmic voice of God.

  Joan D. Chittister

  Voice, Tunes, Consciousness

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• Usually when I draw, I try to be in a contemplative mood. I try to keep my mind as empty, vacant and tranquil as possible. The outer mind is like the surface of the sea. On the surface, the sea is full of waves and surges; it is all restlessness. But when we dive deep below, the same sea is all peace, calmness and quiet, and there we find the source of creativity.

  Sri Chinmoy

  Creativity, Sea, Mind

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• I was thinking about dying the other day the death thought came while I was sitting on the toilet peeing - that's where I have my most contemplative thoughts.

  Madonna Ciccone

  Thinking, Dying, Sitting

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• While the accompanimental [sic] figures come from Prelude, the melody is wholly original to this theme. First stated on a lonely duduk, and then in octaves by the violins and violas, it is a melancholy and contemplative tune.

  Bear McCreary

  Lonely, Tunes, Violin

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• You cannot grow in the integrative dance of action and contemplation without a strong tolerance for ambiguity, an ability to allow, forgive, and contain a certain degree of anxiety, and a willingness to not know-and not even need to know. This ever widens and deepens your perspective. This is how you allow and encounter Mystery and move into the contemplative zone.

  Richard Rohr

  Strong, Moving, Perspective

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• A lot of people do their practice. They meditate on compassion. Then they yell at people afterwards. That is not quite working. One of the things I try to emphasize is contemplative meditation - bringing your thought and intention into meditation.

  Sakyong Mipham

  Compassion, Practice, People

  "Earth Protector: An Interview with Sakyong Mipham (complete interview)". Interview with Ray Hemachandra, rayhemachandra.com. July 30, 2015.

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• We become, after the arrival of the printing press in general, more attentive more attuned to contemplative ways of thinking.

  Nicholas G. Carr

  Thinking, Way, Printing

  Source: bigthink.com

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• My biggest past mistakes have been when I made decisions out of ego rather than spirit. When I acted too quickly. When I wasn't contemplative or reflective or prayerful enough, and I ended up making what I would only later see to be unwise decisions.

  Marianne Williamson

  Mistake, Past, Decision

  "A Conversation with Marianne Williamson: Powerful pioneer in new thought and spirituality". Interview with Maranda Pleasant, www.marandapleasantmedia.com.

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• You know, Monsieur, that, although the contemplative life is more perfect than the active life, it is not, however, more so than one which embraces at the same time contemplation and action, as does yours, by God's grace.

  Vincent de Paul

  Faith, Contemplative Life, Perfect

  Saint Vincent de Paul, Pierre Coste (1992). “Correspondence, conferences, documents”, New City Pr

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• I try to influence this improvisation in two ways. One is by centering on reflections, in both senses of the word: acoustic reflections as well as visual reflections from a mirror or surface, and then reflecting on the material in a contemplative way. The other influence is listening to the tails of the sounds that you make.

  Pauline Oliveros

  Reflection, Mirrors, Two

  Source: www.artpractical.com

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• Inspirational Psychology includes the practical application of identifying the thoughts and mistaken beliefs that cause us pain, along with a contemplative practice to discover our true nature, which is Love.

  Lee L Jampolsky

  Pain, Practice, Psychology

  Source: www.psychologytoday.com

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• Your mind is the greatest home entertainment center ever created. It requires contemplative silence to really discover who you truly are. You have immense talents, resources and abilities that are untapped.

  Mark Victor Hansen

  Home, Silence, Mind

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• Another of the things I started to do during this time was what Buddhists normally call "meditation" or, in Christian terms, "contemplative prayer". It began to supersede deipnosophy as my favorite hobby.

  Sara Maitland

  Christian, Buddhist, Prayer

  "Beyond peace and quiet" by Sara Maitland, www.theguardian.com. November 7, 2008.

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• I cannot imagine why my vision will have some value in the world..and yet I know it will..I think I will count because I am patient and recueilli (contemplative) in some degree.

  Gwen John

  Thinking, Vision, Degrees

  Mary Taubman, Gwen John (1985). “Gwen John”, Ashgate Publishing

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• A contemplative should pay equal attention to concentration, energetic effort and equanimity, and not exclusively to one of these factors only.

  Gautama Buddha

  Effort, Attention, Pay

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• One could surely argue that the Buddhist tradition, taken as a whole, represents the richest source of contemplative wisdom that any civilization has produced.

  Sam Harris

  Buddhist, Taken, Civilization

  "Killing the Buddha". Shambhala Sun, March 2006.

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• Science is a contemplative possession of reality through exclusion of all illusion, error and ignorance.

  Georges Canguilhem

  Ignorance, Reality, Errors

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• Sometimes people will think, I need to have pre-sanctioned spiritual joy. Getting joy from my contemplative meditation practice or getting joy from reading Thich Nhat Hahn books. Those things can be joyful but I think it’s the small, simple joys of playing with dogs or having sex with someone you love or going for a walk outside, stuff that we tend to ignore.

  Moby

  Spiritual, Dog, Sex

  "Moby | Inside the brain of a genius. Meditator. Vegan. Outlaw". Interview with Maranda Pleasant, www.marandapleasantmedia.com.

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• Could the purr be anything but contemplative?

  Irving Townsend

  Cat

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• There is always a temptation to diddle around in the contemplative life, making itsy-bitsy statues.

  Thomas Merton

  Wisdom, Contemplative Life, Temptation

  Thomas Merton (1998). “Contemplation in a World of Action: Second Edition, Restored and Corrected”, p.176, University of Notre Dame Pess

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• The only thing to seek in contemplative prayer is God; and we seek Him successfully when we realize that we cannot find Him unless He shows Himself to us, and yet at the same time that He would not have inspired us to seek Him unless we had already found Him.

  Thomas Merton

  Wisdom, Prayer, Inspired

  Thomas Merton (2011). “Thoughts In Solitude”, p.61, Macmillan

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• Happiness lies in virtuous activity, and perfect happiness lies in the best activity, which is contemplative

  Aristotle

  Lying, Philosophical, Perfect

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• One of the strange laws of the contemplative life is that in it you do not sit down and solve problems: you bear with them until they somehow solve themselves. Or until life solves them for you.

  Thomas Merton

  Contemplative Life, Law, Down And

  Thomas Merton, Robert Inchausti (2007). “Echoing Silence: Thomas Merton on the Vocation of Writing”, p.23, Shambhala Publications

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• For in order that man may do well, whether in the works of the active life, or in those of the contemplative life, he needs the fellowship of friends.

  Thomas Aquinas

  Men, Contemplative Life, Order

  Saint Thomas Aquinas, Catholic Way Publishing (2014). “The Summa Theologica: Complete Edition”, p.2558, Catholic Way Publishing

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• In contemplative prayer we seek to become the person we are called to be, not by thinking of God, but by being with God. Simply to be with God is to be drawn into being the person God calls us to be

  John Main

  God, Religious, Prayer

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