The Royal Mountain

"Looking upon myself from the perspective of society, I am an average person. Facing myself intimately, immediately, I regard myself as unique, as exceedingly precious, not to be exchanged for anything else. No one will live my life for me, no one will think my thoughts for me or dream my dreams. In the eyes of the world, I am an average man. But to my heart I am not an average man. To my heart I am of great moment. The challenge I face is how to actualize the quiet eminence of my being." -Abraham Joshua Heschel

"The passage of hours is either an invitation to despair or a ladder to eternity. This little time in our hands melts away ere it can be formed. Before our eyes, man and maid, spring and splendor, slide into oblivion. However, there are hours that perish and hours that join the everlasting. Prayer is a crucible in which time is cast in the likeness of the eternal. Man hands over his time to God in the secrecy of single words. When anointed by prayer, his thoughts and deeds do not sink into nothingness, but merge into the endless knowledge of an all-embracing God. We yield our thoughts to Him who endowed us with a chain of days for the duration of life." -Abraham Joshua Heschel

"Prayer revives and keeps alive the rare greatness of some past experience in which things glowed with meaning and blessing. It remains important, even when we ignore it for a while, like a candlestick set aside for the day. Night will come, and we shall again gather round its tiny flame. Our affection for the trifles of living will be mixed with longing for the comfort of all men."  -Abraham Joshua Heschel

If we can learn to read our own responses to our own experience--a text we are writing unconsciously everyday we spend on earth--we will receive the guidance we need to live more authentic lives."  -Parker Palmer

"You wake from dreams of doom and--for a moment--you know: beyond all the noise and gestures, the only real thing, love's calm and unwavering flame in the half-light of an early dawn."  -Dag Hammarskjold

"Concerning the hardness of the heart--and its littleness--Let me read with open eyes the book my days are writing--and learn."  -Dag Hammarskjold

Rose of My Heart - Johnny Cash