Saturday, October 29, 2011

From ‘Devotions. Wisdom from the Cradle of Civilization’ collected by Danielle and Olivier Follmi


Be melting snow
Wash yourself or yourself

- Rumi (13th Century)



If we become aware that each one of us is an aspect of the face of
God – like the facet of a diamond -
then we can adore God in brotherhood and mutual love.

- Khaled Bentounès (20th – 21st Century)



Talk of tomorrow is not one of the conditions of the path.

- Rumi (13th Century)



That which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the
bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space

- Kahlil Gibran (20th Century)



Set your eyes on life’s ephemera and you will see eternity

- Faouzi Skali (20th – 21st Century)



There are many ways to search but the object of the search is always
the same. Don’t you see that the roads to Mecca are all different, one
coming from Byzantium, the other from Syria, others running through
land or sea? The roads are diverse, the goal, one …

- Rumi (13th Century)



My friend, you lost yourself along this path because it is not your own.
You followed the alleyways and avenues that others travelled because
they were bustling and you thought you knew them

- Faouzi Skali (20th – 21st Century)



Elevate yourself above time and space:
leave the world and be a world unto yourself

- Mahmud Shabistari (13th – 14th Century)



My heart can take on any form:
a meadow for gazelles, a cloister for monks,
A temple for idols, the Ka’ba for pilgrims,
the tablets of the Torah, the leaves of the Qur’an.
I believe in the religion of love whichever way it's caravan turns;
love is my religion and my faith.

- Ibn ‘Arabi (12th – 13th Century)



Never ask directions from someone who knows the way,
or you will never be able to get lost.

- Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (18th – 19th Century)



Set your eyes on your death and
you will receive each breath of life as a gift.

- Faouzi Skali (20th – 21st Century)



Look for the answer in the same place that you found the question.

- Rumi (13th Century)



Live every day as if you were
going to live one hundred years.
Live as if you were living the
last day of your life.

- Proverb attributed to Ibn ‘Arabi (12th – 13th Century)



Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace
the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished,
the pursued and that which you would escape.

- Kahlil Gibran (20th Century)



Wisdom is a view from on high, from the narrow path
between two precipices, two extreme ideas.

- Amin Maalouf (20th – 21st Century)



Lack of sincerity, my friend, turns you into a shadow. You
live only for the image of yourself. What a strange spectacle to
see a man driven by his shadow! Come, life your eyes to the
sun of Being and understand the source of truth and illusion.
Do not remain a prisoner of the eyes of this world

- Faouzi Skali (20th – 21st Century)



The deeper that sorrow carves into your being,
the more joy you can contain

- Kahlil Gibran (20th Century)



Where is God? Any place you let him in.

- Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotsk (19th Century)



Should you sit upon a cloud you would not see the boundary lines
between one country and another,
not the boundary stone between a farm and a farm.
It is a pity you cannot sit upon a cloud.

- Kahlil Gibran (20th Century)



When you are joyous, look deep into your heart, and you shall find it is
only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

- Kahlil Gibran (20th Century)



The chains of the world exist nowhere but within you.
Protect yourself from your own tricks, and the demon itself will give up
the battle for lack of allies

- Faouzi Skali (20th – 21st Century)



You often say, “I would give, but only to the deserving.”
The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.
They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.

- Kahlil Gibran (20th Century)



One good word is enough warmth for a whole winter

- Arab proverb



He who wears his morality as his best garment were better naked

- Kahlil Gibran (20th Century)



A being capable of a destiny other than his own is a fertile soul.

- Rabbi Elisha ben Abuyah (1st Century C.E.)



If you feel more important than many human beings, think of only one
thing your entire life: releasing your soul from this malady

- Faouzi Skali (20th – 21st Century)



Close
the language-door and open the love-window.
The moon won't use the door,
only the window.

- Rumi (13th Century)



For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words may indeed
unfold it's wings but cannot fly.

- Kahlil Gibran (20th Century)



To know yourself is to live one hundred lives.

- Attar (12th – 13th Century)



If you respect someone and respect his history
it's because you believe he belongs to the same human race as you do,
not to some inferior version

- Amin Maalouf (20th – 21st Century)



The Truth you are seeking, my friend, is always beyond yourself.

- Faouzi Skali (20th – 21st Century)



You are the way and the wayfarers.
And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him,
a caution against the stumbling stone.
Ay, and he falls for those ahead of him,
who though faster and surer of foot,
yet removed not the stumbling stone.

- Kahlil Gibran (20th Century)



That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.
This is the entire Torah; the rest is commentary. Go and learn

- Hillel the Elder (1st Century B.C.E – 1st Century C.E)



Neither on a world scale nor within any society
should anybody feel so scorned, depreciated, mocked, or demonized
that in order to be able to live among his fellow-citizens
he is forced to conceal or be ashamed of his religion, color, language,
name, or any other ingredient of his identity

- Amin Maalouf (20th – 21st Century)



As a single leaf turns yellow
but with the knowledge of the whole tree,
So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all.

- Kahlil Gibran (20th Century)



Come, come, whoever you are,
Wanderer, idolater, worshipper of fire, come
Even though you have broken your vows a thousand times,
come, and come yet again,
Ours is not a caravan of despair

- Rumi (13th Century)



My friend, stop searching
For the why and the how
Stop spinning the wheel of you soul.
Right where you stand
At this moment
Everything is given you
In the utmost perfection.
Accept this gift
Squeeze the juice of the passing moment.

- Faouzi Skali (20th – 21st Century)



Listen to the words of the passing moment:
“At this very moment of this long journey, where are you?”

- Faouzi Skali (20th – 21st Century)



A society that neglects its youth looks like an old-age home. When it
abandons it's elderly, it looks like an orphanage. Blessed are the young
who are inspired by the wisdom of the ancients! Blessed are the old
who take heart in the enthusiasm of the young!

- Jewish saying



Truth is a mirror that fell
from the hand of God and was
broken. Everybody picked up a
fragment and announced that
he had found the whole truth

- Arab proverb



Sometimes you have to keep quiet to be heard

- Stanislas Jerzy Lec (20th Century)



Set your eyes on your limits and you will perceive the Unlimited.

- Faouzi Skali (20th – 21st Century)



Thanks to the repentance of a single person,
the entire world is forgiven.

- Rabbi Meir (2nd Century C.E.)



When you pray you rise to meet in the air those who are praying at
that very hour, and whom, save in prayer, you may not meet.

- Kahlil Gibran (20th Century)



It would be disastrous if the current globalization were to be a
one-way process, with “universal transmitters” on one side and
“receivers” on the other, with the “norm” set against the “exceptions”;
with on the one hand those who think they have nothing to learn
from the rest of the world, and on the other those who believe that
the rest of the world will never listen to them.

- Amin Maalouf (20th – 21st Century)



The vision of his essence does not take place except when what has
never been disappears, and what has never ceased to be remains.

- Ibn ‘Arabi (12th – 13th Century)



When I want to understand what is happening today or try to decide
what will happen tomorrow, I look back.

- Omar Khayyam (11th – 12th Century)



Love calls:
Everything, at every moment.
We are leaving for the heavens.
Will you accompany us?

- Rumi (13th Century)

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