Soul-Rousing Words to Help Open the Spiritual Dimension: Pico Iyer — Edison — Henry James — Elaine Stritch — Eckhart Tolle — Yoko Ono — Tom Robbins

Pico Iyer:

I think writing is really about a journey of understanding. So you take something that seems very far away and the more you write about it, the more you travel into it and you see it from within.
I sometimes think that so much of our life takes place inside our heads in memory or imagination or interpretation or speculation — that if I really want to change my life, I might best begin by changing my mind.
A writer is a palmist — reading the lines of the planet.
The less you struggle with a problem — the more it's likely to solve itself. The less time you spend frantically running around — the more productive you are likely to be.
We can't change the world except insofar as we change the way we look at the world — and, in fact, any one of us can make that change, in any direction, at any time.

Mel Bochner: All language has hidden agendas & motives. The first thing that power corrupts is language.

Charlie Chaplin: If it isn't funny — it isn't art.

Henry James: It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance.

Virginia Johnson: We learn our sexual preferences and orientations.

Thomas A. Edison: Religion is all bunk.

Elaine Stritch: Fear is the basis of what everybody does wrong in their lives.

Gerd Stern: You've got to go out of your mind to use your head.

From the days of John the Baptist until now, The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away. Matthew 11:12

Earth is too small
for the spirit. Too cramped
where dwelling is but hunching
(the trenches of self-elevations)
Vasyl Stus

Scarlett Johansson (about SNL photographer Mary Ellen Matthews): Her whimsy was infectious.

Graham Nickson: Drawing is the most crucial pathway to understanding in art and is the common bond between the disciplines of painting and sculpture.

Margaux Hemingway: If you are at one with your body — then you are at one with yourself.

Eckhart Tolle: It is through gratitude for the present moment that the spiritual dimension of life opens up.

Yoko Ono: Smile in the mirror. Do that every morning & you'll start to see a big difference in your life. You change the world by being yourself.

Simone Weil: Attention is the rarest & purest form of generosity.

Michael Palin: "You've got to maintain that ability to make yourself laugh and make others laugh in whatever circumstances. To remain as silly as possible is quite important to me. People ask me, 'What do you want on your tombstone?' I want one that says, 'Gone to lunch.' To be silly after I'm dead — that's quite important, I think." New York Times February 9, 2025

James Stephens: Curiosity will conquer fear even more than bravery will.

Tom Robbins: From the outside my life may look chaotic but inside I feel like some kind of monk licking an ice cream cone while straddling a runaway horse.