We are already wisdom.

It's a little embarrassing that after 45 years of research and study, the best advice I can give to people is to be a little kinder to each other.

- Aldous Huxley, English writer and philosopher, and a leading advocate for the Perennial Philosophy

The center you hold to gives shape to your unique destiny. Buffeted by events, you remain true to this center. Regardless of what you do, when you keep doing it, your actions will define your character. The force that keeps you connected to this center is your philosophy or inner truth.

"In the pursuit of learning, one knows more every day; in the pursuit of following life, one does less every day. One does less and less until one does nothing at all, and when one does nothing at all there is nothing that is undone."

- Kari Hohne, Cafe au Soul

Living from a place of silence doesn't mean never talking, never engaging or doing things; it simply means that we are not disturbed inside; there isn't constant internal chatter. If we're truly silent, then no matter what situation we find ourselves in, we can enjoy the sweet spaciousness of silence.

- Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnamese Buddhist, peace activist, poet, author, teacher, and founder of the Plum Village Tradition of Engaged Buddhism

It is really true what philosophy tells us, that life must be understood backwards. But with this, one forgets the second proposition, that it must be lived forwards. A proposition which, the more it is subjected to careful thought, the more it ends up concluding precisely that life at any given moment cannot really ever be fully understood; exactly because there is no single moment where time stops completely in order for me to take position (to do this): going backwards.

- Soren Kierkegaard, Danish theologian, philosopher, poet. and social critic who is widely considered to be the first existential philosopher.

Through times thick and days thin,
Love always wins.
Through sun and rain and snow and hail,
Love does not fail.
Love resides in us. Love surrounds us.
Love, we can trust.
Love is our guide, always by our side.
There when we cry and when we fly high.
May beings everywhere share
Love untethered,
Love strong and gently weathered.
Love old and wise and smooth,
There always to soothe.
Love holds us in clarity and uncertainty,
In community and alone.
Love's light always shines bright,
Through rain and clouds.
When our vision is blocked
With misty notions of what's real,
Love will always heal.
Love never fails.
Love always prevails.

- Anonymous

It takes a great spirit, one with much practice of studied rebellion, to be ready to cast off the shackles of society from a place of loving defiance rather than fearful anger. And to playfully say to the world, "I have tasted your stale bread and underdeveloped wine, and have had quite enough now. I decline your offer to gorge upon such lesser fruits. I prefer to feast upon bread, hot and fresh and wine that is mouth-filling and unctuous. Join me if you like. It is an abundant feast and there is plenty for all."

- Alana Fairchild, Australian author

We think we get over things.
We don't get over things.
Or say, we get over the measles
but not a broken heart.
We need to make that distinction.
The things that become a part of our experience
never become less a part of our experience.
How can I say it?
The way to "get over" a life is to die.
Short of that, you move with it,
let the pain be the pain,
not in the hope that it will vanish
but in the faith that it will fit in,
find its place in the shape of things
and be then not any less pain but true to form.
Because anything natural has an inherent shape
and it will flow towards it.
And life is as natural as a leaf.
That's what we're looking for:
not the end of a thing but the shape of it.
Wisdom is seeing the shape of your life.

- Albert Huffstickler, an American poet