Skull Loc: California

Short quotes from any spiritually beneficent tradition or person.

This 1913 definition is broad and deep, so I hope it appeals to fellow posters.

"1. Consisting of spirit; not material; incorporeal; as, a spiritual substance or being.

2. Of or pertaining to the intellectual and higher endowments of the mind; mental; intellectual.

3. Of or pertaining to the moral feelings or states of the soul, as distinguished from the external actions."

Skull Loc: California

"Not to do any evil, to cultivate good, to purify one’s mind,
this is the teaching of the Buddhas."

Buddha, from his Dhammapada, v. 183

Rufus Loc: Deep South

:thumbup: Not bad. a good starting point.

Skull Loc: California

You never know yourself till you know more than your body. The Image of God was
not seated in the features of your face, but in the lineaments of your Soul.
In the knowledge of your Powers, Inclinations, and Principles, the knowledge of yourself chiefly consisteth.
Which are so great that even to the most learned of men, their Greatness is Incredible; and
so Divine, that they are infinite in value.
Alas the WORLD is but a little centre in comparison of you.

Thomas Traherne, Centuries

Rufus Loc: Deep South

Amen. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: Praise Almighty God. Go to Him for everything. He is the master. All good things come from Him. We shall praise Him when we are in need and praise Him for all He provides when we are living with abundance,

Skull Loc: California

Man is the maker of happiness and misery. Further, he is the creator and perpetuator of his own happiness and misery. These things are not externally imposed; they are internal conditions.
Their cause is neither deity, nor devil, nor circumstance, but Thought.
They are the effects of deeds, and deeds are the visible side of thoughts. Fixed attitudes of mind determine courses of conduct, and from courses of conduct come those reactions called happiness and unhappiness.
This being so, it follows that, to alter the reactive condition, one must alter the active thought. To exchange misery for happiness it is necessary to reverse the fixed attitude of mind and habitual course of conduct which is the cause of misery, and the reversed effect will appear in the mind and life.
A man has no power to be happy while thinking and acting selfishly; he cannot be unhappy while thinking and acting unselfishly. Wheresoever the cause is, there the effect will appear. Man cannot abrogate effects, but he can alter causes.
He can purify his nature; he can remould his character.
There is great power in self-conquest; there is great joy in transforming oneself.

James Allen

Rufus Loc: Deep South

With GOD all things are possible. Without God, nothing of lasting value is possible. Nothing which leads to nothingness and hell.

fiatlux

There is, for me, no such thing as self-conquest: how can the self defeat the self? Absurd! Man cannot purify his own nature, he cannot remold his character. In what image and to what purpose?

Skull Loc: California

fiatlux: I find no value in swapping opinions. In discussion of matters of high import, ie spirituality, all parties to the discussion must be open-minded.

Why not find a gem-like quote that your opinion or view is based on and post it here?

iFrank Loc: San Antonio

This post looks like "An open meeting of closed minds". What are you reading ---Words.

fiatlux

Yes. But Christians want belief systems and ignore the Buddha, Jesus.

Skull Loc: California

From the Rama Gita, Rama teaches:

8. All action results in incarnation. For one, who is attached to it, come dharma
and its contrary, leading to happiness and misery. Thence, arises the body, and
from it again, karma or action. In this way, like a wheel, the course of worldly life revolves
without an end.

9. The root cause of it is ignorance (ajnana). For the purpose of warding off this
course of worldly life, removal of ignorance or nescience is the only means.
Knowledge alone is capable of destroying this nescience. Action cannot destroy it
as it is born of nescience, and is not it’s contrary.

Skull Loc: California

"Fearlessness, singleness of soul, the will Always to strive for wisdom; opened hand And governed appetites; and piety,
And love of lonely study; humbleness, Uprightness, heed to injure nought which lives Truthfulness, slowness unto wrath, a mind That lightly letteth go what others prize;
And equanimity, and charity Which spieth no man‘s faults; and tenderness Towards all that suffer; a contented heart, Fluttered by no desires; a bearing mild,
Modest and grave, with manhood nobly mixed, With patience, fortitude and purity;
An unrevengeful spirit, never given To rate itself too high--such be the signs, O Indian Prince! of him whose feet are set On that fair path which leads to heavenly birth!"

From Bhagavad Gita, ch. 16, Arnold's version

fiatlux

Number 2: "Of or pertaining to the intellectual and higher endowments of the mind; mental; intellectual." To this "attribute" Jesus addressed the parable of the swine and pearls.

Skull Loc: California

I am hoping this portion of the 'sower' parable will come to pass. May there be few 'swine' who may read these:

Mt-23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit,