Quotes of the Mystics

“At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal, from which God disposes of our lives, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will. This little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us.” ~ Thomas Merton, ‘Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander’ p. 158

“We bring to the table our kin: the bacteria and the lichen, the moss of forest floors, the flora and the fauna, the gilled ones of the sea, and the feathered ones of air, we bring the crawling creatures and the furry mammals.” ~ Bruce Sanguin, If Darwin Prayed: Prayers for Evolutionary Mystics, p. 187

“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams—this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness—and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!” ~ Cervantes’s ‘Don Quixote’

“Every time we receive the bread of life and the cup of God’s covenant we are giving permission for God to work within us. More than giving permission, as we receive this provision of God with intentionality we are praying God’s work within us. Every time we receive the bread and the wine we are taking part in breaking down the egoistic walls we ourselves have built up between us and God.” ~ C. Ashley Dotson