Browsing through the spirituality section of my bookshelf, I found myself reflecting on some of my favorite spiritual quotes about life. They reminded me to pause. Spiritual quotes can offer meaning and insight when life feels overwhelming or uncertain. I’ve gathered a collection of my favorite spiritual quotes with the hope of creating a little nourishment for the soul.
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My earliest introduction to spirituality came through the United Church of Canada. Sundays were marked by time spent in a church pew. My grandmother played the organ, my mother taught Sunday School, and both were active community leaders in the United Church Women.
Discovering New Spiritual Paths
Christianity was tested when I chose to marry a self-proclaimed agnostic. I had to learn what that meant-a person who neither fully believes nor disbelieves in God. Over time, our marriage faced its own challenges.
In 1987, Les, our children, and I moved to Calgary. I had a sense that this city, with its sizable population, would have a community dedicated to spiritual development. I began exploring different faiths and eventually, we joined the Calgary Centre for Spiritual Living (known at the time as the Centre for Positive Living).
Les and I began to align spiritually as my curiosity about spirituality expanded beyond Christianity, while he became drawn to the writings of Richard Bach. Les often gifted friends copies of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
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While visiting a friend, I came across Ram Dass’s book Be Here Now. At the time, it made no sense to me-it felt almost psychedelic. Fast forward about five years, and during a visit to the library, a book fell on my head. It was Be Here Now again! But this time, the cryptic images and puzzling sentences drew me in. “Don’t think about the past. Just be here now. Don’t think about the future.
Key Spiritual Teachers and Their Wisdom
Dr. Clarke Moustakas
The director of this small educational institution, Dr. Clarke Moustakas, was a founder of the Humanistic Psychology movement and left a lasting impression. I remember meeting him for the first time. He was in the lobby, cleaning up a mess, and I mistook him for the janitor. His humility, kindness, and wisdom were unmistakable.
Moustakas also emphasized the importance of Martin Buber’s philosophy, particularly his concept of the I and Thou relationship. Buber, a Jewish existentialist philosopher, taught that there is a sacredness in reciprocal relationships-when we truly see the divine in one another. “Spirit is not in the I but between I and You.
And of course I treasured Moustache’s own words. I sometimes paraphrase it as, “If I am not for me, who will be?
Dr. Ernest Holmes
Les and I completed an eight-week class based on Dr. This teaching emphasizes the power of thought and universal principles, which complemented my background in psychology. It highlights the influence of our thoughts and beliefs on mental health, healing, and resilience. Dr. “We are surrounded by an infinite Possibility. It is goodness, life, law, and reason.
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For many years I wrote in my journal during Sunday service at the Calgary Centre for Spiritual Living. “Most people believe they are a victim of someone or some circumstance.
Here are some additional quotes I reflected on:
- “What in you needs to get moving?
- “Life gives us what we pay attention to.
- “Vitality trumps age.
- “There is nothing to fix but something to know. There is nothing to heal but something to reveal.
- “You are greater than your experience.
Eckhart Tolle
One evening, The Calgary Centre of Spiritual Living hosted a workshop by a little-known spiritual sage, Eckhart Tolle. He came to Calgary to promote his book The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. “Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have.
Jean Houston
When I had the opportunity to spend four days with Jean Houston, PhD, at Hollyhock-a retreat center nestled in the lush, green landscape of Cortes Island, British Columbia-I didn’t hesitate to sign up. During the retreat, I experienced an out-of-body moment that deepened my belief in a way of knowing that transcends the need for logical understanding. Of her 26 books, my favorite is A Mythic Life: Learning to Live Our Greater Story.
Years later, when Houston-then in her seventies-visited Calgary to deliver the keynote address at a Centers for Spiritual Living conference, I jumped at the chance to attend. “May I be so bold as to offer you a gift? If I may, read on.
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Carolyn Myss
My friend, Dianne Edwards, had completed her training as a Science of Mind minister and was living in Findhorn, an eco-village and spiritual community in northern Scotland. She invited me to visit. During my visit, medical intuitive and spiritual teacher Carolyn Myss happened to be leading a personal development session. Although I was an open skeptic, I decided to attend.
“The power of your words is a sacred gift. “Archetypes are the psychic lenses through which we view ourselves and the world around us.
Spiritual Retreat: A Time for Reflection and Renewal
Our Lord's words inviting the soul to retreat are: 'Come with Me into a silent place apart, and I will speak to your soul. He demands, therefore, a recollectedness of mind, and earnest self-control, a careful quiet of soul, in the absence of which His grace will not be given. God cannot deal with a distracted soul. We see then the necessity of faithfully observing the silence imposed on us during retreat.
The retreat is God's opportunity, and He will use it. Let me wait and see. I have just to do simply and earnestly what I am told.
The man who wishes to make a really good retreat needs three things, generosity towards God, a firm confidence in Him, and great frankness and obedience towards his spiritual director. Generosity and confidence go hand in hand, and spring from the firm conviction that an infinitely good God, Who thought it worth while to die for us on a cross of pain, will not abandon His creatures in spite of their unfaithfulness, but will help them with His grace and strength onward towards the great goal.
The value of meditating on terse spiritual sayings lies in their pointed power of stirring the mind to reflection.
It may cost us a great deal to buy this hidden treasure, but it is worth while. Great things are in store for us if we are but faithful now. We should feel ourselves on the eve of our retreat as standing on the threshold of a great spiritual kingdom.
I hope you found one or more spiritual quotes about life of personal meaning or inspiration. Breathe in the concept. Find a place in your heart to have it land and ground. Share with others what the quotation means to you.
Spiritual Advice
- Never give up.
- Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose.
- Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit.
Quotes Offering Guidance on How to Grow Spiritually
These quotes are part of the Living in Harmony compilation. I believe in a spiritual world - not as anything separate from this world - but as its innermost truth. Every hardship; every joy; every temptation is a challenge of the spirit; that the human soul may prove itself. The great chain of necessity wherewith we are bound has divine significance; and nothing happens which has not some service in working out the sublime destiny of the human soul.
Here are some additional quotes I reflected on:
- Each one has to find his peace from within.
- Prayer at its highest is a two-way conversation--and for me the most important part is listening to God's replies.
- Become aware of God, in whose presence you are while you pray . . .
- Meditation is to be aware of what is going on - in our bodies, in our feelings, in our minds, and in the world.
- Life is both dreadful and wonderful. To practice meditation is to be in touch with both aspects.
- Meditation is not a means to an end. It is both the means and the end.
All wilderness seems to be full of tricks and plans to drive and draw us up into God's light. We're fields of energy in an infinite energy field.
The reason so many people hesitate to go on retreat is that they are afraid of having light shed on their soul and being obligated to correct something in themselves. It is a sad thing. So they have a life of superficiality, a life of distraction, a life of noise, to avoid coming face to face with themselves. The voice of God begins to speak the minute we are alone with our conscience. And there are souls who do not want to hear that voice because it is going to tell them something they might be doing wrong . . .
Staying silent is like a slow growing cancer to the soul and a trait of a true coward. There is nothing intelligent about not standing up for yourself.
If we want to let loose and let reality sink in, silence can be a welcoming partner. It becomes a refuge, a sanctuary for peace and clarity. It helps us reset and provides a canvas on which new thoughts and perspectives can emerge. If we want to understand its imprint, we must put silence in context. This allows us to retreat, reflect, rejuvenate, and gain redeeming strength. We escape then triviality and find depth and meaning.
Although it often appears to be the case, retreating to God is not an impulse bred of cowardice. I think it’s a very brave thing to do.
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