"The function of real discipline is not to provide us with maps, but to sharpen our own sense of direction so that when we really get going we can travel without maps."

-- Thomas Merton

"A certain level of suffering is a necessary prerequisite for the journey."

-- Ram Dass

"The higher goal of spiritual living is not to amass a wealth of information, but to face sacred moments."

-- Abrahahm Heschel

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."

-- A Course in Miracles

"The first step in spiritual growth is to do what we love to do and to become aware of doing it."

-- a. sujata

"If you are irritated by every rub, how will you ever be polished."

-- Rumi

"It is impossible to preserve a self-image and reach any depth in spiritual work."

-- Rudi (Swami Rudrananda)

"Great teachers take no credit for their students growth, yet they will go to any length to teach them what they need to know."

-- Vimalia McClure

"No matter how much we may like to pussyfoot around it, all of us who postulate a loving God eventually come to a single terrifying idea: God wants us to become Himself (of Herself or Itself).

-- M. Scott Peck

"It is an axiom of spiritual growth that your deepest gifts are often capped by your most stubborn obstructions."

-- David Deida