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

"...and we talked then in quiet, the old man and I, about those who go off into the wilderness to pray, to be alone with the Lord, and what it must be like, those lonely nights under the stars with the howling desert wind." - The Road to Cana , Anne Rice

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

Tired And lonely, So tired The heart aches. Meltwater trickles Down the rocks, The fingers are numb, The knees tremble. It is now, Now, that you must not give in. On the path of the others Are resting places, Places in the sun Where they can meet, But this Is your path. And it is now, Now, that you must not fail. Weep If you can, Weep But do not complain. The way chose you. And you must be thankful. -Dag Hammarskjoldb

"This is a freedom in the midst of action, a stillness, in the midst of other human beings. The mystery is a constant reality to him who, in this world, is free from self-concern, a reality that grows peaceful and mature before the receptive attention of assent. In our era, the road to holiness necessarily passes through the world of action." -Dag Hammarkjold

"The light died in the low clouds. Falling snow drank in the dusk. Shrouded in silence, the branches wrapped me in their peace. When the boundaries were erased, once again the wonder: that I exist." -Dag Hammarskjold