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Temple of the Soul Ministry
Many thanks to Sonja and Francie and their search for joy which resulted in most of these quotes.

"Since victory and defeat there must be, the victory to be philosophically prayed for is that of the more inclusive side, of the side which even in the hour of triumph will to some degree do justice to the ideals in which the vanquished party's interests lay."
--William James

"And Alice picked up the little cake and on it read, 'Be yourself.' 'How funny,' Alice thought, 'what else could I be!'"
-- Lewis Carroll

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters, compared to what lies within us."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

We don't have to be loyal to the events that shaped our essence, our is-ness, to retain this essence.
- Heather Lanier (pronounced LAN-yay)

Everything the Power of the World does, is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard the earth is round like a ball, and so are the stars. The wind, in it's greatest power, whiles. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.
Black Elk, Oglala Lakota holy man

I love the urgency of poetry, that every word is necessary and packed with meaning. No word is superfluous in a poem. A well crafted poem should make you say "Ah, yes, exactly!"
I want my life to read like a magna opus.
Francie T. Stark (from a letter to Kristina Acosta)

Often the creative force is slowed or stopped because something in the psyche has a very low us and we are down there groveling at it's feet instead of bopping it over the head and running free.
Clarissa Pinkola Estes (from Women who Run with the Wolves)

Spirit transcends all, so it includes all.
So Spirit is the highest "level" in the holoarchy, but it is also the paper on which the entire holoarchy is written. It's the highest rung on the ladder, but it's also the wood out of which the entire ladder is made. It is both the Goal and the Ground of the entire sequence.
Ken Wilber (A Brief History of Everything)

I have never doubted that the Radical Right Wing gets its ramrod of envious rage from the insufferable vision of others enjoying what they, the abstemious, self-proclaimed God-fearing haven't enjoyed in years.
Nancy Friday (from The Power of Beauty)

"If you think that something small cannot make a difference - try going to sleep with a mosquito in the room."

"Believe that your life is worth living and your beliefs will help create the fact."
-- William James

My dad always used to say, "If you're falling off a cliff, you may as well try to fly. You have nothing to lose."
-- Captain John Sheridan, Babylon 5  

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than bythe ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
--Mark Twain.

"I've got to keep on breathing because the sun will rise tomorrow and I don't know what the tide will bring." Castaway

"It is the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance. It is the dream afraid of waking that never takes a chance. It is the one who won't be taken who cannot seem to give. And the soul afraid of dying who never learns to live"
--Bette Midler  

"The unleashed power of the atom has changed our modes of thinking and we thus drift toward unparalleled catastrophe."
--Albert Einstein, 1946

"If we assume that life is worth living and that man has a right to survival, then we must find an alternative to war."
--Martin Luther King, Jr.

"...War is an old habit of thought, an old frame of mind, an old political technique, that must now pass as human sacrifice and human slavery have passed."
--Herman Wouk

"We have to shake ourselves and start to think in a way that's different from the way in which we've ever thought before."
Dr. Jonas Salk

We have reached a place where it is not a question of 'can we live in the same world and cooperate' but 'we must live in the same world and cooperate.'"
--Eleanor Roosevelt

"A new consciousness is developing which recognizes that we are one species. Our loyalties are to the species and the planet. Our obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves, but also to that cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring."
--Carl Sagan

"With a new difficulty of any kind, it is the reception that you give it mentally, and the attitude that you adopt towards it in your own thought, that completely determine its effect upon you. That is what matters. What matters to you, truly, is not people or things or conditions in themselves, but the thoughts and beliefs that you hold concerning them. It is not the conduct of others, but your own thoughts that make or mar you. You write your own history for tomorrow and for next year by the thoughts that you entertain today. You mould your own life destiny day by day, entirely by the manner in which you react mentally to experience as it comes. Right reaction is the supreme art of life."
--Emmet Fox

"Life is made up of small pleasures. Happiness is made up of those tiny successes. The big ones come too infrequently. And if you don't collect those tiny successes, the big ones don't really mean anything."
-- Norman Lear

"The purpose of life is the expansion of happiness."
-- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

"The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it's the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him with his friendship."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson  

"We are, each of us angels with only one wing; and we can only fly by embracing one another."
-- Luciano de Crescenzo  

"You are a child of the Universe, no less than the moon and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the Universe is unfolding as it should."
--Ehrmann, Max  

"Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional."
-- M. Kathleen Casey

"The battle to keep up appearances unnecessarily, the mask, whatever name you give creeping perfectionism; robs us of our energies."
-- Robin Worthington  

"The greatest discovery of my life is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude."
-- William James  

"Risk more than others think is safe. Care more than others think is wise. Dream more than others think is practical. Expect more than others think is possible. "
--Cadet Maxim  

"The Longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past, we cannot change the fact that people act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one thing we have, and that is our attitude… I am convinced that life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our ATTITUDES."

"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves."
--William Shakespeare

All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough. They'll say you're the wrong height or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. They will tell you no. And YOU WILL TELL THEM YES."
-- Nike ad  

"Life isn't about keeping score. It's not about how many people call you and it's not about who you've dated, are dating, or haven't dated at all. It isn't about who you've kissed, what sport you play, or which guy or girl likes you. It's not about your shoes or your hair or the colour of your skin or where you live or go to school. In fact, it's not about grades, money, clothes, or colleges that accept you or not. Life isn't about if you have lots of friends, or if you are alone, and it's not about how accepted or unaccepted you are. Life just isn't about that. But life is about who you love and who you hurt. It's about how you feel about yourself. It's about trust, happiness, and compassion. It's about sticking up for your friends and replacing inner hate with love. Life is about avoiding jealousy, overcoming ignorance, and building confidence. It's about what you say and what you mean. It's about seeing people for who they are and not what they have. Most of all, it is about choosing to use your life to touch someone else's in a way that could never have been achieved otherwise. These choices are what life's about."
-- Nike ad