Recently finished the book: Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior.
by: Dan Millman.
Honestly I'm not so sure I liked the entire book, didn't appreciate his holier-than-thou style of writing and it just seemed so manipulated and crafted. I also think he plagiarized in many areas. In fact, he quoted directly from Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" and yet never gave one mention to Whitman. I also think much of the wisdom in the book comes directly from Mother Teresa quotes. Plagiarized or original there were some jewels within the book. And those jewels are the quotes that follow. Hope you enjoy them.
*Until I awoke, I hadn’t realized that I’d been asleep. I wondered if enlightenment was like that.
*God comforts the disturbed and disturbs the comfortable.
*I grew thirsty and my fear intensified. It wasn’t the sudden fear of a gun in my ribs—just a quiet kind of knowingness, a stark inevitability that unless someone rescued me soon, I would die.
*To really help people, you first need to understand them—but first understand yourself, prepare yourself; develop the clarity, the courage, the sensitivity to exert the right leverage, in the right place, at the right time. Then your actions will have power and you will notice how just a little leverage can be very effective.
*Abe Lincoln once said that if he had six hours to chop down a tree, he’d spend the first five hours sharpening the axe. You have a great task ahead, but you are not yet sharpened. It will take time and require great energy.
*The road ahead might be difficult—even dangerous—but at least it was open.
*Ignorance, as well as wisdom, is handed down from one generation to the next like a precious heir loom.
*Just handle what’s in front of you now, and the future will take care of itself. Otherwise, you’ll spend most of your life wondering which foot you’ll use to step off the curb when you’re still only halfway to the corner. Plans are useful, but don’t get attached to them; life has too many surprises. Preparation, on the other hand, has value, even if the future you planned never comes.
*All paths, all activities—professions, sports, arts, crafts—serve as a means of internal development, merely a boat to get across the river. Once you get across, you no longer need the boat.
*It’s not the way to the peaceful warrior; it’s the way of the peaceful warrior. The journey itself creates the warrior.
*Faith has little to do with belief. Faith is the courage to live your life as if everything that happens does so for your highest good and learning. Like it or not.
*Our lives are like a flower. We appear so fragile, and yet, when we meet obstacles, we push through them, always growing toward the Light.
*Acting without understanding may create even more problems. Sometimes you need to simply relax into life, and to trust. No matter how pressing life may feel at times there’s no need to rush, and nowhere to rush to. You have plenty of time to accomplish what you wish in this life or the next.
*In the darkest, most chaotic times—when things fall apart—such times often mark quickening as your mind readies itself to make a giant leap. When you feel like you’re going nowhere, stagnating, even slipping backwards—your soul is only backing up to get a running start.
*Our prayers are always answered. But sometimes God says no.
Why would God say no?
Why does a loving parent say no? Sometimes children’s wants run counter to their needs. People turn to God when their foundations are shaking, only to discover it is God who’s shaking them. The conscious mind cannot always foresee what is for the highest good.
*Discomfort is one way our Basic Self gets our attention. Although pain may serve as a wake up call, it’s usually the Basic Self’s second-to-last resort. It only sends harsh messages when the gentler ones—your intuitions and dreams—have been ignored.
*Unless the roots of a tree are deep, it can’t blossom; unless the tower has a strong foundation, it will crumble. You’ve got to clean up the basement before you move into the penthouse.
*Before you can see the Light, you have to deal with the darkness.
*Every human capacity is amplified by energy. The mind becomes brighter, healing accelerates, strength increases, imagination intensifies, emotional power and charisma expand. So energy can be a blessing. But energy must flow somewhere. Where energy meets obstructions, it burns—and if energy builds up beyond what a given individual can tolerate, it demands release. Anger grows into rage, sorrow turns to despair, concern becomes obsession, and physical aches become agony. So energy can also be a curse. Like a river, it can bring life, but untamed it can unleash a raging flood of destruction.
*The body will do whatever it has to in order to bleed off excess energy. If it isn’t spent consciously, in creative endeavors and physical activity, the urge for release will take the form of angry outbursts, or cruelty, or nightmares, or crime, or illness, or abuse to alcohol, tobacco, other drugs, food, or sex. Blocked energy—and the desire to feel release—is the sources of all addictions. Don’t try to manage the addictions; instead, clear the obstructions.
*Those who seek to escape the world through spiritual experiences are barking up the wrong tree, because their search only intensifies the sense of dilemma that motivated the search in the first place. The desire to rise above the boredom, fleshiness, and morality of this world is natural and understandable. But those who practice self-involved techniques to distract themselves from the dilemmas of daily life are going to ascend the ladder only to find out it’s leaning against the wrong wall. Daily life is your training ground. Spirit gives you everything you need, here and now. You evolve not by seeking to go elsewhere, but by paying attention to, and embracing, what’s right in front of you. Only then can you take the next step.
*Courage is like a muscle; it gets stronger with practice. People don’t test their spirit until they’re faced with adversity.
*My soul is one of those who came in the final rescue mission. There are many like me who feel a call to serve; who know deep inside that they are here to do something, but cannot quite articulate what that something may be. All have in common a certain restlessness—a deep sense of being somehow different, of being oddballs, visitors here, never quite fitting in. We feel at times a longing to ‘go home’ but we’re not exactly sure where that is. We often have giving, but rather insecure natures. But we are not here to ‘fit in,’ as much as we might like to. We are here to teach, to lead, and to heal.
*Life is hard either way, whether you space out and give up, or whether you go for it.
*If you want peace of mind, I suggest you resign as general manager of the universe.
Relax and stop trying to figure everything out. You don’t have to know everything about the ocean to swim in it.
*Seems like sometimes life is peaceful—like now. Other times there’s a storm—can’t control that storm—but you can trim the sail, tie things down, get through that storm and you’re a lot stronger.
*Now I understood the Taoist saying “He who says does not know; he who knows does not say”—not because the wise don’t speak, but because It cannot be spoken. Words fall as short of It as a rock thrown at the stars.
*Outer travel at best only reflects the inner journey, and at worst substitutes for it. The world you perceive only provides symbols for what you seek. The sacred journey is inside you; before you can find what you’re looking for in the world, you have to find it within. Otherwise, a master may greet you, but you’ll walk right past without hearing.
*There is no way to peace; Peace is the Way. There is no way to happiness; Happiness is the Way. There is no way to love. Love is the Way.
*I can summarize all I’ve learned in my life with six words: try to be…a little kinder.
*The quality of our lives is shaped by what we do, moment to moment—by each choice we make and each action we take. Will we choose the main highways or the back roads of life? Will we travel the mountain paths or seek the forest wilderness? Will we contract or expand, struggle with or embrace life unfolding? Each of us must answer such questions for ourselves and make our own choices on this sacred journey, as the winding path appears beneath our feet.
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