More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
How we pay attention to the present moment largely determines the character of our experience and, therefore, the quality of our lives.
The effort required to keep boredom and other unpleasantness at bay must continue, moment to moment.
One can speak about Buddhism shorn of its miracles and irrational assumptions. The same cannot be said of Christianity or Islam.
Most people who believe they are meditating are merely thinking with their eyes closed.
spirituality” in the widest sense of the term—is an indispensable part of understanding the nature of the mind.
We think that there is something hiding our reality and that it must be destroyed before the reality is gained. It is ridiculous.
When you are able to rest naturally, merely witnessing the totality of experience, and thoughts themselves are left to arise and vanish as they will, you can recognize that consciousness is intrinsically undivided. In the moment of such an insight, you will be completely relieved of the feeling that you call “I.” You will still see this book, of course, but it will be an appearance in consciousness, inseparable from consciousness itself—and there will be no sense that you are behind your eyes, doing the reading.
For our purpose, the only differences between a cult and a religion are the numbers of adherents and the degree to which they are marginalized by the rest of society.
If one person on earth possessed psychic powers to any significant degree, this would be among the easiest facts to authenticate in a lab.
it is possible to justify a life of spiritual practice and self-transcendence without pretending to know things we do not know.
For every insight of lasting value produced by drugs, there was an army of zombies with flowers in their hair
I believe we should be very slow to draw conclusions about the nature of the cosmos on the basis of inner experiences—no matter how profound they may seem.
I could not agree more.
Teach a person to meditate, pray, chant, or do yoga, and there is no guarantee that anything will happen. Depending upon his aptitude or interest, the only reward for his efforts may be boredom and a sore back. If, however, a person ingests 100 micrograms of LSD, what happens next will depend on a variety of factors, but there is no question that something will happen.
Consciousness is simply the light by which the contours of mind and body are known.
A middle path exists between making religion out of spiritual life and having no spiritual life at all.
