Thank you, Darlene. Children are liberated by love. So many adults are still imprisoned because of the mistreatment and thoughtless words (lack of love) they experienced and heard when they were just children. It takes a long time to recover... to be healed.

"This feeling of being lonely and very temporary visitors in the universe is in flat contradiction to everything known about man (and all other living organisms) in the sciences. We do not "come into" this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean "waves," the universe "peoples." Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe. This fact is rarely, if ever, experienced by most individuals. Even those who know it to be true in theory do not sense or feel it, but continue to be aware of themselves as isolated "egos" inside bags of skin."

-Alan Watts, The Book, pp.8,9

"If you are loving, you receive love, because love always returns to itself. If you demand love, you receive demands for love. As you sow, so do you reap."

- Paul Ferrini, Reflections of the Christ Mind, p.106

"Going to church doesn't make a man a Christian any more than going to a garage makes him an automobile."

Billy Sunday

Thanks for that golden nugget, Redwood. We could reshape its gold into many nice ornaments: going to church doesn't make one a Christian any more than jumping in the river makes one a fish; - than eating grass makes one a cow; - than jumping out of trees makes one a bird; - than wearing a dress makes one a woman; - than wearing pants makes one a man; - :)

"A God who would let us prove his existence would be an idol."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

DEEP... a heavy nugget.

"Something that comes as a bombshell to the newer aspirant is how painful spiritual life is. Here you have turned to religion because life without it was intolerable. But now that you have made the new start, life still is intolerable. You are suffering just as much as before; perhaps in different ways, but certainly as much, if not more. You wonder why this should be."

- John Yale, "Suffering"

"The failures of a conscientious man are considerably more upsetting than those of the man who does not care. The unguarded word, the involuntary flash of old selfishness, the unmeant wounding of another - these sting the tender heart like nettles."

John Yale, "Suffering"

"Love of God is the very essence of spiritual life; without it religious practices are nothing but sheer physical and mental exercises. The sanctimonious observance of rites and ceremonies, or the worship of God for temporal interest, no matter how solemn, does not constitute spirituality."

- Satprakashananda