Every now and again take a good look at something not made with hands - a mountain, a star, the turn of a stream. There will come to you wisdom and patience and solace and, above all, the assurance that you are not alone in the world.

- Sidney Lovett, pastor, politician, and environmentalist

Usually we think that brave people have no fear.
The truth is that they are intimate with fear.

- Pema Chodron, American born Tibetan Buddhist.

We must have the courage to face whatever is present.

- Jack Kornfield, American psychologist, writer and teacher in the Vipassana movement in American Theravada  Buddhism.

We rely on the earth, and the earth relies on us. Whether the earth is beautiful, fresh, and green or arid and parched depends on our way of walking. Please touch the earth with mindfulness, with joy and concentration. The earth will heal you, and you will heal the earth.

- Thich Nhat Hanh, founder of the Plum Village Tradition of engaged Buddhism

Life flowing silently and irresistibly into ever fuller life, into a living peace all the more profound, all the richer and stronger and more complete because it knows all your pain and unhappiness, knows them and takes them into itself and makes them one with its own substance...Just letting go, just allowing myself to be carried along, just asking this irresistible sleeping river of life to take me where it's going - and knowing all the time that where it's going is where I want to go, where I have to go: into more life, into living peace.

- Aldous Huxley, English writer and philosopher, from his 1962 novel "Island"

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 to always 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.

- J. Miller, American poet

In recent years there seems to be a convergence of views about what facilitates the unfoldment of the human person. Study of infant research reveals that healthy early development occurs as there is an attuned response from "self regulating others" (Stern 1985); within object relations theory, "holding" and "mirroring" from the caretaker allows the emergence of the "true self" (Winnicott 1987); in self psychology, it is empathic attunement that catalyzes the "nuclear self" (Kohut 1984); in humanistic psychology the "structure of self" and "self actualization" develop as needs for safety, belongingness, love, and respect are met (Maslow 1962; Rogers 1951); in attachment theory, accessible and responsive attachment figures support the growth of a secure and confident child (Cassidy and Shaver 1999); some recent thinking in the field of positive psychology points to compassion as key to healthy human development (Cassell 2005); and finally even current neuroscience speaks of "the shaping physiological force of love," finding that "attachment relationships" and "limbic resonance" with significant others shape the "neural core of the self" (Lewis, Amini, and Lannon 2001, Seigel 1999)

It appears that all these different approaches perceive, though from quite different vantage points, that human being flourishes within an empathic, respectful communion with others, a communion we believe can be called "love". It seems that it is love that facilitates the innate drive of synthesis, wholeness, and actualization; love that supports the human journey over the course of a lifetime; love that allows the human spirit to thrive. Looking even more closely at the operation of this love, however, we can see that this is a particular type of love. This is a love that can see and embrace the whole of who we are - in short, an empathic love.

- John Firman and Ann Gila, "The Psychotherapy of Love, Psychosynthesis in Practice"

Grandfathers whispering in the wind
Rejoice at the life you are a part of
Natural energy bound to natural laws
You will survive this
Temporary madness imposed upon you
Natural life is longer
Than oppressors
Illusionary insanity
Spirits experience human deeds
But need not end
This is just one place of changes
Spirit life is forever if you want
The universe is your home
You can survive here
Do not let them kill you
Keep your spirit strong
For distant stars and distant drums
Are the memories of spirit drums
Are the memories of spirit infancy
Children of earth let the spirit live
So you can grow in your place
In the universe.

- John Trudell, poet, recording artist, actor and speaker

Gone was everything you ever thought with nothing to recall
Yesterday of no consequence, tomorrow not at all
Forgiven and absolved, nothing left to fight.
Your time had reached the moment,

Came the lightning, came the light.

- Olivia Harrison, from her "Came the Lightning, Twenty Poems for George"

Which is more important: acquiring more possessions or becoming more conscious? Which works better: getting or letting go? There is a problem with owning a lot. There is a problem with getting more and more.  The more you have and the more you get, the more you have to look after. The more you might lose. Is that owning or being owned? But if you give up things, you can give up spending your life looking after things. Try being still in order to discover your inner security. If you have inner security, you will have what you want anyway. Also you will be less harried, and you will last longer.

- From, "The Tao of Leadership", by John Heider